Plasma-assisted agriculture: history, presence, and prospects—a review

Abstract

The growing demand for food represents an enormous problem for agri-food industries. It is driven by global population growth on the one hand and constrained by greenhouse gas reduction targets on the other. Accordingly, the implementation of new energy-efficient, low-carbon, and biodiversitypreserving technologies has become an absolute priority. In this work, the basic processes and requirements for the successful implementation of low-temperature atmospheric-pressure plasmas generated in air are considered in the various steps of the agricultural food production chain. This paper briefly reviews the history of plasma science in agriculture as well as discusses the pros and cons of low-pressure plasma versus atmospheric-pressure plasma. Particular attention is focused on plasmas generated using low-cost gases, such as synthetic or ambient air. The influence of various plasma components is discussed. These include electromagnetic fields (specifically ultraviolet-visible near-infrared radiation) and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in the typical pre-harvest and post-harvest processing in the agri-food value chain. Finally, state-of-the-art cold air plasma generation and its potential deployment at the laboratory scale and under real farming conditions for industrial-scale production are examined.

Comparison of Presowing Wheat Treatments by Low-Temperature Plasma, Electric Field, Cold Hardening, and Action of Tebuconazole-Based Disinfectant

“…One quarter of the seedlings were taken out on one day at −14 • C 8 1 ; after the second day at −16 • C, the second quarter of the seedlings was taken out 8 2 , the third one a day later at −18 • C 8 3 , and, finally, the last quarter after another day at −20 • C 8 4 . After this, they were exposed to defrosting 9 , thawing 10 , and completion of growing 11 . The relative frost resistance of seedlings 12 was determined as the proportion of seedlings that survived freezing.…”

“…The criterion for the quality of processing was the effect on the frost resistance and morphophysiological characteristics of the seedlings. However, the proposed mechanisms of the physiological effects on seeds with a tebuconazole-based seed disinfectant can be found in [22,23]; cold hardening in [19]; electric field in [15,16]; and plasma in [8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…At present, chemical methods of presowing preparation are most often used to protect, sanitize, and improve the resistance of wheat plants. However, some authors indicate [9][10][11][12] that promising plasma techniques will be able to replace chemical methods due to their efficiency. This would make a significant contribution to the transition to environmentally friendly farming.…”

Characteristics of 2.45 GHz Surface-Wave-Sustained Argon Discharge for Bio-Medical Applications

“…The low-temperature, non-equilibrium atmospheric pressure plasmas have attracted increasing interest as simple and less expensive plasma sources operating in open space for applications in biology, medicine, agriculture, and the food industry [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Various types of atmospheric pressure plasma sources were developed for such applications.…”

Electron Impact Ionization of Metastable States of Diatomic Molecules

“…The kinetics of nonequilibrium, low-temperature plasmas is driven by the presence of radicals and excited species that can be regarded as reactivity enhancers, activating channels otherwise inaccessible and modifying the route to products. Mechanisms activated by excited species can significantly affect the efficiency of plasma technologies impacting different fields of applications, i.e., CO 2 plasma reduction for environment [1], plasmaassisted combustion [2], plasma medicine, and agriculture [3,4].…”