Cold plasma zapper could rid homes of allergens

Allergies are an increasing problem, with over 12 million sufferers in the UK alone.

The cost to the UK economy from allergies is believed to be around £7bn in lost productivity each year.

Now a low-cost consumer device designed to remove allergens from the home is being developed in an EPSRC-funded project by researchers at Liverpool University, working with Dyson.

The device, which is based on a technology known as Cold Atmospheric pressure Plasma (CAP), is designed to reduce the concentration of airborne allergenic agents from within an indoor environment. These allergens include house dust mites, pollen, household chemicals such as cleaning products, and fungal spores, according to Dr James Walsh at Liverpool University, the project’s leader.

Cold plasma is a form of ionised gas in which energetic electrons and ions coexist alongside a wide variety of highly reactive chemical compounds.

It has recently been discovered that when cold plasma comes into contact with contamination in the air, such as an allergy-causing fungus or chemical, it has a very powerful decontamination effect.