Plasma technologies for textile, food, health and environment

The state-of-the-art was focused on the treatments applied on textiles (at laboratory and industrial scales) and the industrial equipments available. Plasma actions and example of applications on textile (natural, artificial and synthetic) - Etching/cleaning: cleaning of the surface before finishing, increase of shade of PET, anti-felting, - Fonctionnalisation : oleophobic properties, hydrophobic, hydrophilic for compatibilization, adhesion promotion (epoxy/RFL process on PET or aramide), dyeability improvement, - Crosslinking : improvement of ageing, barrier effect (solvent resistance, no release), - Deposition of thin polymer film (fluor, silicone), - Inorganic deposition (metal for biocompatibility, metallic oxides, glass¿). Available industrial equipments available (non exhaustive) for textile treatment - Japan: Unitika, Hitachi : first industrial equipments in 1987, - United States: Sigma-Aldrich which proposed several kinds of treatments - Europe: FZM GmbH (Germany), Tecnoplasma (Italy), Hot Line industrie (France), equipment of the PLASMATECH consortium (Dow Corning Plasma Solutions, Europlasma, Eltro, AcXys, Frauhnofer). Capabilities of the industrial equipment builders of the members of the Group of Textile - Europlasma : low pressure, gas phase, batch and reel to reel within batch, - AcXys : atmospheric, treatment of finished products, 3D treatment, coating of finished goods eg shoes, sport goods, - Eltro : low pressure, continuous way, treatments of tops, - Dow Corning Plasma Solutions: atmospheric pressure, wide area reel to reel continuous process, liquid chemical deposition with retained chemical functionality, single pass multi-layers coatings. The equipment builders offers are complementary. European projects on plasma technologies and textile: 11 projects (including the EC-ACTECO project elaborated during the PLASMATECH) were listed in which the majority of the members of the group of textile has participated.

The analysis of the most relevant topics regarding plasma technologies and the abatement of pollution and the decrease of environmental impact due to specific production processes or the consumption of natural resources, resulted in the following identified topics: - Exhaust gas treatment (NOx, VOCs, Greenhouse gases, microbiology, particles) considering atmospheric processes (Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas ¿ APP) - Clean chemistry ¿ (plasma catalysis) influence of various type of discharge concepts, including APP - Plasma ignition (including propulsion: internal combustion engines, turbines; and waste treatment) - Plasma surface coating and treatment vs. chemical treatment (dry vs. wet treatments). The assessment of the state of the art of the related conventional- and plasma-technologies with specific relevance to the potential or actual abatement of pollution, and/or the decrease of conventional-processes-environmental-impact has been considered through patent inspection and collection of invited talks material. Plasma catalysis has been recognised as one of the most efficient approaches for the VOCs abatements. Low pressure and atmospheric pressure plasma chemistry have been identified as efficient and effective technologies for achieving enhanced properties on surfaces for textile and food packaging, hardware decorative and functional applications, allowing environmental friendly surface fictionalisation. The improvement of ignition in combustion processes by setting the optimal plasma parameters or by using appropriate materials for combustion chambers could lead to considerable fuel savings. Additional analysis of environmental aspects of textile and food processes and possible application of plasma technologies. - Deep inter-relation with Environment Park and some WG-En members with WG-Text members for the assessment of Textile industry needs and available plasma processes. - Environment Park submission of project at regional level for the extension of Clean NT Lab activities for the treatment of polymers with special attention to the Textile, Food packaging and paper industrial sectors, information through local sources and plasma unit manufacturers. - Environment Park, in collaboration with University of Milano Bicocca, promoted several targeted action on the territory for promoting plasma technology especially for textile applications and specific surface fictionalisation. - Several activities of needs analysis and feasibility studies where carried out by Environment Park S.p.A for the dissemination of plasma processes applied to thermo resistant substrates especially Physical Vapour Deposition of thin ceramic films for eco-efficient applications. - Submission of new projects NANOTEX and MULTIPROTEX in the FP6 NMP3- March 2005 call. - Preparation of new submission in the FP6 NMP3- September 2005 call.

The Symposium was organized on 18th-19th May in Stresa (Italy) on the Lago Maggiore, in the Grand Hotel Bristol after the consensus of the Plasmatech network, mainly for its central position and its proximity to many industries relevant to the 4 fields of interest. This place had the advantage of avoiding the traffic problems in Milan, its proximity to the main airport that is Malpensa, the presence of transport facilities (train station, and boats), and the charm of the region that helps attracting attendants and organizing a social event. The coordinators took care of the organization of the event. Most of the technical details were finalized by the JRC for its geographic proximity to the Symposium venue. This event was foreseen as an industrial symposium and not an academic research conference, in order to diffuse the network activities and main results. The symposium representing also the final general meeting of the Plasmatech project, it was free for all the Plasmatech partners (for 1 person by partner organization). The other participants paid the registrations fees. For major flexibility, the possibility was offered to participate only to 1 day of Symposium at a reduced cost. The early registration to the Symposium also provided for a discount registration fee. The financial part was taken care of by the JRC for the whole event, except for the Social tour on the lake as well as for the management of 1 invited speaker that was done by IFTH. The promotion of this event was done by each of the Plasmatech partner who distributed the flyer prepared by the coordinators to their industrial contacts. The flyer was also distributed to some Innovation Relay Centres, and the symposium was promoted also through the Plasmatech and corporate websites, as well as through different industrial associations (FAST and TexClubTec in Italy, Cubtex in France, ECRIN organisation in France, IVLV in Germany, Eucomed in Belgium, etc.).

The update of the state-of-the art on plasmas used for food applications has allowed to identify different fields of use of the technology: - Plasma treatment of packaging: barrier coatings, optical coatings (metallisation, interference...), smart coatings (thermo-, light-sensitive...), disinfections, - Plasma treatment of food: sterilisation, changing wettability, solubility and shelf life, - Plasma treatment of devices: sterilisation, treatment of devices for analytics, coatings for filtration, waste gas treatment in food production, - Plasma technical topics: plasma at vacuum conditions, plasma at atmospheric pressure, plasma analytics and analytics by plasma In the pre-listed topics, the discussions were mainly focused on the 2 following topics: - Sterilization: Presentations from different groups about plasma sterilisation with different plasma sources working in different pressure regimes were discussed. Compared to the state-of-the art conventional sterilization methods (especially hydrogen peroxide for industrial applications), the plasma processes lead to low thermal loads of sterilized materials and no dangerous or toxic chemicals have to be used. - Different kinds of barrier films/coatings were listed: -- Barrier films studied at laboratory scale: on polyethylene against organic solvents (CH/CF-barriers), against oxygen (SiOx coatings), barrier films on membranes for fuel cells to reduce methanol permeability, barrier films for thin film solar cells -- Barrier coatings on PET films developed by Tetrapak Switzerland (SiOx coatings) for liquid packaging applications: Industrial PECVD equipment (low heat input, batch process with a speed of 200 m/min). -- PECVD barrier coating of plastic containers e.g. PET-bottles used by Tetrapak Germany (Glaskin Coating Process) and by Sidel (Actis Process).

Although plasma technologies have been in development for more than 20 years, the first industrial use for a medical device application did not occur until 1995. In summary, the medical plasma applications concerned the surface modifications of the medical devices and sterilization. More recently, specific functionalities were foreseen to be introduced on medical devices surfaces. - Surface modifications of the medical devices: Plasma technologies and plasma actions: - Cold plasma chemistry: change of chemical composition, etching, cleaning, surface activation, thin films deposition on polymers - Cold plasma sputtering: Thin films deposition (PVD) on metals and ceramics (Physical) - Hot plasma temperature: Fusion of powders Specific biological properties developed : - Osteoconductive coatings. - Osteoinduction with bone growth enhancement. - Deposition grafting of chemical functionalities with specific biological functions. - Protein immobilisation on surfaces to induce desired cell responses. - New functionalities. - Antimicrobial adhesion and release. - Antiadherent properties for proteins / macromolecules, cells tissues. - Sterilization achieved by plasma: Several plasma sterilizers are already on the market but plasma is not the active principle of sterilization. In fact, H202, peracetic acid or ETO are the active sterilizers. Several projects are ongoing, both internationally and at the CE level to investigate plasma action to sterilize/clean surfaces. In this research plasma is acting due to the synergetic effect of active radicals (H, O) UV emission. Several mechanisms are integrated as sterilization mechanisms: - Low pressure, - Thermal effect, - Direct destruction of DNA by UV radiation, - Erosion by intrinsic photodesorption, - Etching of microorganisms by a radical.

The web site was developed with a horizontal structure (opposed to vertical framed organisation). The addressee is: www.plasmatech.net (operational since June 2003). The structure and the content of each page are the followings: - 5 main pages and subpages : - Home page: link to the 4 main informational pages easily recognised by (plasma) images, and to the 5 general information pages (contacts, site map, etc.). The opening of the webpage features a FlashTM animation showing images related to 4 fields of applications, which makes the site more aesthetic and attractive. The Plasmatech introduction sentence is the one that will appear in the results description on internet search engines. - Project description: general description of the Plasmatech network - Who¿s who: this page is organised in tables for easier access and better lisibility describing each working group and with direct link to the ¿member contact pages¿. - Member contact page: Each member is referenced in 2 pages with a common structure. This sub page is shared in 2 parts: -- Public part: general contact details and activity description -- Private part: Reference to find gaps/needs/interest/offers from partners. - News and Agenda: this page informs on the next meeting dates and agenda, and other interesting events for the consortium. In particular, the information relative to the preparation and the dissemination of the PLASMATECH symposium was implemented on the web site. - Forum: is the main communication channels within the network for discussions and exchange of information. 2 parts: -- Public part: accessible to everyone (Plasmatech members and non) / tool for promotion of the network thematic (link with WP 5 ¿ dissemination). -- Private part : exchange of specific information restricted to Plasmatech partners (login/password) / access to downloadable files provided by Plasmatech partners (state-of-the art, databases, market studies, etc...) - 5 pages for usual tools and information: search, links, contact, site map, glossary The web site was implemented on the JRC server and the maintenance was carried out by a subcontract for the duration of the project.

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