Investigation of inactivation process for microorganism collected in an electrostatic precipitator

As a result, ROS concentration was the greatest under the wire electrode. The result of the colony count showed that microorganisms were inactivated by the corona discharge. The observation using the fluorescence microscope showed that the amount of dead microorganisms was greater than that of the living microorganisms after the inactivating treatment. The SEM observation revealed that the cell walls were destroyed, and the result obtained with the spectrophotometer showed an increase in the amount of 250-nm-absorbing substance. These results indicated ROS destroys cell walls and causes cell content to flow out, whereby microorganisms collected in an ESP are inactivated. It was also revealed that the collection efficiency can be improved without increasing ozone concentration and energy consumption in the two-stage type ESP.