Applied Engineering in Agriculture Vol. 36(1): 55-60 © 2020 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ISSN 0883-8542 https://doi.org/10.13031/aea.13699 55 INACTIVATION OF AEROSOLIZED NEWCASTLE DISEASE VIRUS WITH NON-THERMAL PLASMA C. Schiappacasse, P. Peng, N. Zhou, X. Liu, J. Zhai, Y. Cheng, J. Shao, V. Verma, N. Singh, P. Chen, K. A. Janni, Y. Liang, S. Noll, R. R. Ruan HIGHLIGHTS  Non-thermal plasma treatment completely inactivated Newcastle disease virus (NDV).  Higher airborne virus concentrations at lower humidity levels & higher flow rates.  Nebulization (20 min) did not inactivate NDV . ABSTRACT. The airborne transmission of poultry viruses, such as Newcastle disease virus, is major health and economic concern. The poultry industry currently lacks a cost-effective solution to prevent airborne transmission. The present study explored non-thermal plasma’s ability to inactivate poultry viruses, by challenging a laboratory-scale non-thermal plasma reactor with aerosolized Newcastle disease virus at increasing flow rates (i.e., decreased direct treatment time). Viruses were inactivated below the green fluorescent protein (GFP) focus-forming units per mL (GFU/mL) limit of detection at the flow rates 18, 23, and 28 liters per minute (LPM). However, this study did not differentiate between inactivation effects caused by direct NTP treatment and indirect NTP treatment (viruses exposed to ozone after collection on gelatin membrane filters). A strong relationship (R 2 =.99) was observed between decreasing relative humidity and increasing airborne virus concentrations. Twenty minutes of nebulization did not significantly change liquid virus concentration in the nebulizer. Keywords. Aerosol, Airborne, Newcastle disease, Non-thermal, Pathogen, Plasma, Virus. oultry diseases, such as avian influenza, pose serious threats to human health and economic stability. For example, in 2003 a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza spread through Asian poultry facilities. The virus exhibited human mortality rates of 50% among infected individuals. It was incredibly disruptive to the regional poultry industry due to massive culling of infected birds and restrictions placed on poultry meat exports (Paarlberg et al., 2007). Similarly, in 2015 a regional outbreak in Minnesota, resulted in an estimated $647.2 million in economic damage and affected over 2500 jobs (University of Minnesota, Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, 2015). One possible influenza transmission modality is airborne transmission, as either a viral aerosol, or on a contaminated dust particle (Terrier et al., 2009; Influenza, 2017). Therefore, to ensure public safety and economic stability, it is necessary to develop technologies capable of eliminating airborne pathogens, such as avian influenza. Air treatment with non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology represents a possible solution to the issue of airborne pathogen transmission. NTP, also called cold plasma, describes a partially ionized gas containing high-energy photons (UV), free Submitted for review in September 2019 as manuscript number PAFS 13699; approved for publication as a Research Article by the Plant, Animal, & Facility Systems Community of ASABE in January 2020. The authors are Charles Schiappacasse, Graduate Research Assistant Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, St. Paul, Minnesota; Peng Peng, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota; Nan Zhou, Graduate Research Assistant, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, St. Paul, Minnesota; Xiaoying Liu, Postdoctoral Researcher, Jie Zhai, Graduate Student, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota; Yanling Cheng, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, Junjie Shao, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Vikram Verma, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota; Nandini Singh, Undergraduate Research Assistant, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Paul Chen, Associate Professor, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, Kevin A. Janni, Professor, Biosystems Engineering, Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering Department, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota; Yuying Liang, Associate Professor Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Sally Noll, Professor Animal Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota; R. Roger Ruan, Professor and Director of Center for Biorefining, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Corresponding author: Roger Ruan, University of Minnesota Twin Cities-Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering, 1390 Eckles Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108; phone: 612-625- 1710; e-mail: ruanx001@umn.edu. P