Plasma-activated Water for Cleaning Production Facilities.

Plasma-activated water (PAW) can be a possible alternative to reduce the consumption of cleaning chemicals and cleaning time when cleaning systems for processing cosmetics and other hygiene-critical products. Its reactive species, which are formed during activation, have a germicidal effect. In the following, it was investigated whether PAW can also be used as a cleaning agent. For this purpose, a process for the production of PAW was first developed, with which PAW with pH values in the range of 2 to 3 could be produced. The stability of the properties of PAW after production was also tested. The cleaning effect of PAW was then determined using three different test soils from the food sector. Both the swelling tests and the cleaning tests in a flow channel showed that PAW has a comparable swelling capacity and cleaning effect to that of conventional cleaning agents. It is assumed that these results can also be transferred to the cleaning of product residues from the cosmetics sector, such as creams or lotions. In the future, PAW offers great potential for more efficient design of cleaning processes, particularly with regard to the possible combination of cleaning and disinfection and the associated saving of individual process steps, which can significantly increase the production time for cosmetic products. PAW can also have advantages over conventional cleaning agents in terms of disposal, as the reactive species can usually be reacted or neutralised in a targeted manner and can therefore be discharged into the sewage system at low cost. Overall, there is a wide range of possible applications for the use of PAW within the cosmetics industry, where significant cost savings are possible for users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]