"Ozone Minimization and Sterilization Maximization"…Development of Air Purification Technology Using Plasma

Senggiyun Chief Researcher Choi Jun's Team "Completed Commercialization, Expecting 1.2 Billion KRW Sales and 1 Million USD Export in 3 Years"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Air purification technology using plasma has been developed that minimizes ozone generation while achieving 99.8% bacterial sterilization.

The Korea Institute of Industrial Technology announced on the 3rd that it has succeeded in developing plasma generation electrodes and dedicated power supply manufacturing technology capable of removing 99.8% of bacteria in the air.

Plasma is the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid, and gas, and is currently applied across various industries from semiconductors to medical fields. With the sterilization function of plasma also being proven, related research and development is actively underway.

However, since ozone (O3) is generated when high energy is applied to create plasma, the core of the technology development is to minimize ozone generation while maximizing sterilization power.

The research team at KITECH developed technology capable of removing 99.8% of Staphylococcus epidermidis, which is known to be more difficult to eliminate than Escherichia coli. In particular, compared to existing technologies, it met all the following conditions: △ a wider treatment space (8m³ → 60m³), △ a shorter time period (3 hours → 1 hour), and △ a higher initial bacterial concentration in the air (1.25x10³ → 1.67x10³ CFU/m³). Certification was completed by the Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL). Additionally, the ozone generation level is 0.003 ppm, which is one-tenth of the domestic indoor air purifier ozone emission standard of 0.03 ppm, marking the lowest level in Korea.

The research team minimized ozone generation by primarily removing bacteria through high concentrations of reactive species (OH·O radicals) within the plasma. By controlling power supply characteristics (frequency, voltage, etc.) through optical diagnostics of the plasma, they optimized sterilization performance by plasma. They also completed the design and manufacturing of a dedicated power supply optimized for plasma electrodes. When applying the dedicated power supply, power consumption is reduced by about 40% compared to existing products, enabling air sterilization for a 30-pyeong area with only 3W, reducing manufacturing costs by 80%, and improving processing speed by about 10 times.

Unlike existing digital circuit power supplies, the new design uses analog components to lower manufacturing costs, and by omitting the analog-to-digital signal conversion process, processing speed has been further increased. This technology has been commercialized as a plasma air sterilization purifier through technology support to specialized small and medium-sized enterprises in air sterilization purifiers. According to the companies, domestic sales of 1.2 billion KRW and exports of 1 million USD are expected over the next three years.

Choi Jun, group leader at KITECH, stated, “This achievement was made possible through multidisciplinary convergence of chemical and biological engineering, electrical engineering, physics, and electronic engineering,” adding, “We plan to expand the technology to areas such as virus removal like COVID-19 and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) elimination in the future.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.