General Physics Seminar Thursday 28 February 2002


Cold plasma's put to work

Hennie Mastwijk

Agrotechnological Research Institute, Wageningen University for Life Sciences,
Wageningen, The Netherlands



Recent advancements in the field of plasma technology have led to the development of practical processing systems. Devices that are currently available operate at temperatures in the range of 30 to 50 oC. Most significant is the development of systems that are operated in free air at ambient pressure. The availability this kind of technology has led to the formulation of novel applications in agriculture and the food industry. These include surface decontamination of heat sensitive plastics, plasma coated PET beer bottles and reduction of bacterial counts that are found at fresh vegetables and meat.

About the speaker:
Hennie Mastwijk ('69) studied physics at the University of Utrecht. As a FOM PhD student he finished his thesis 'Cold Collisions of Metastable Helium' in '97 at the Debye institute for Chemistry and Physics. His current affiliation is at the Institute for Agro Technological Research (ATO B.V.) part of the Wageningen University and Research centre.