Fungal decontamination by cold plasma :

an innovating process for wood treatment

Charlotte LECLAIRE1, Elodie LECOQ3, Geneviève ORIAL2, Franck CLEMENT3, Faisl BOUSTA2
1Cercle des Partenaires du Patrimoine, LRMH, 29 rue de Paris 77420 Champs sur Marne - France
2Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques, 29 rue de Paris 77420 Champs sur Marne - France
3Laboratoire d’Electronique des Gaz et des Plasmas, Université de Pau et des Pays de l ’Adour, 64013 Pau - France

Biodeterioration of wood samples causes esthetical damages limiting its use according safety issues
⇒ assessment of a fungicide treatment performed by a new clean process : plasma afterglow

Definition : Plasma afterglow Application to cultural

heritage :
• Cold plasma = ionised gas produced
by subjecting a gas to an electric field  Dry process answers new
between two electrodes. environmental issues (vs. chemical
⇒ production of reactive species : treatments)
atoms, molecules, radicals, photons...  Plasma Afterglow is generated at
Experimental set-up Afterglow discharge atmospheric pressure and ambient
(LEGP)
temperature.
• Plasma afterglow issued from DBD 60
Gas in

Outer
(Dielectric Barrier Discharges) : electrode
mm
 Material integrity is assured
(non-invasive process)
⇒ only neutral species interact with Inner
electrode Dielectric
the surface of the exposed material coating
 Large chamber can be filled to
Gas out
treat large pieces
Schematic representation of the industrial reactor used
for the process (AXCYS Technologies).

Assessment of plasma afterglow decontamination

Samples preparation Results a b

Blue-stain fungi were first isolated from contaminated

maritime pine pallets. From several species, Influence of gas mixture
Aureobasidium pullulans is one of the main strains N2/O2 : 80/20, 95/5 and
responsible of wood discoloration. 100/0 and time exposure is
c d
assessed.
Diminution of viable fungal
spores is function of time
exposure : results performed
Decayed wood sample from Beynel Aureobasidium Fungal liquid
Manustock manufacture. pullulans culture by both microscopic
Fluorescence microscopic observations of fungal
observations and plate counts. spores after different time exposure : (a) control,
(b) 1 min, (c) 2 min, (d) 15 min

An aliquot of Aureobasidium
pullulans liquid culture is spread on
nitrocellulose membrane filter. Fungal suspension spread on
1,E+06
control 1 min 2 min 14 min
Numbers of survivors (CFU / mL)

membrane filter

1,E+05

Efficiency assessment 1,E+04

⇒ Cell viability after afterglow treatment ?

1,E+03

Fluorescence microscopy : Synthetic medium 1,E+02

double staining procedure cultures :
⇒ qualitative information quantitative plate count 1,E+01

1,E+00
100/0 95/5 80/20
Dead cells
Colonies
Gas mixture (N2/O2)
Forming Units
Viable cells
(CFUs) are Evolution as a function of time exposure and gas composition of the
counted after 5 population of spores exposures submitted to afterglow. (logarithmic scale)
days incubation
Colonies of Aureobasidium

Cell staining : viable cells fluoresce green

pullulans on Malt Agar
medium ⇒ Total inhibition after 15 minutes
(FDA) and dead cells fluoresce red (PI)

Conclusion and Perspective

Good efficiency of plasma afterglow as a curative treatment on microorganisms after 15 minutes
⇒ Optimisation on contaminated maritime pine samples.

Assessment of a preventive treatment coupling plasma discharge and biocide spray.
This work is financially supplied by the French national research national program ANR-PLASMAPAL.
Partners : BEYNEL-MANUSTOCK, FP BOIS, ARNAUD SA, ACXYS Technologies,, Projection Plasma Système, FCBA, LRMH-CPP, LEGP, USBB, LAPLACE
COST Action IE0601 – Braga, Portugal, 5-7 November 2008.