It is reported in different studies that coronaviruses can survive on material surfaces (such as metals, glass or plastic) up to 9 days. For this reason, PASS will develop plasma assisted sanitation systems for food packaging materials and equipment and/or tools used for processing and handling food products. The main goal of the research is the identification and assessment of specific plasma parameters able to induce the inactivation of Covid-19, to be used as input for the realization of a pre-industrial prototype whose commercialization will be the final output of the entire project. Moreover, the main functional properties of plasma treated materials will be assessed in order to verify eventual induced modifications on their characteristics, mainly related to inertness and effects on the intrinsic quality and safety of the packed food during shelf-life.
Unibo Team Leader:
Pietro Rocculi
Unibo Departments:
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica, Modellistica, Elettronica e Sistemistica
Coordinator:
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Partners:
Lund University
AlmaPlasma
Total EU Contribution: € 652,830
Project Duration in months: 7
Start Date: 1 June 2020
End Date: 31 December 2020
As part of the EIT's Crisis Response Initiative, this activity directly contributes to the European Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This activity has received funding from EIT Food, the innovation community on Food of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the EU, under the Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation