The present invention relates to a novel process for the
remote plasma surface treatment of substrate particles at
atmospheric pressure. The invention is motivated by the urge to overcome major drawbacks of particle treatment in low pressure plasmas and in-situ particle treatment at
atmospheric pressure. The former requires complex and mostly expensive vacuum installations and vacuum locks usually prohibiting continuous
processing. Independent of the
system pressure, in-situ
plasma treatment causes particle charging and therefore undesirable interaction with the
electric field of the
discharge, which is seen to contribute to the process of reactor clogging. Additionally, the filamentary discharges
modes of
atmospheric pressure plasmas are inflicted with inhomogeneous surface treatment. Furthermore, short radical lifetimes at elevated pressures complicate a
remote plasma treatment approach as widely used in low pressure applications. The key-element of the invention is that by reducing the dimension of the atmospheric
discharge arrangement to the
micrometer range,
transonic flow conditions can be achieved in the
discharge zone while maintaining moderate flow rates. The resulting
superimposition of high
drift velocity in the gas flow and the inherent
diffusion movement is to prolong the displacement distance of activated species, thus making a
remote plasma treatment of substrate particles feasible and economically interesting. The circumferential arrangement of e.g. micro discharge channels around the treatment zone of
variable length allows a remote
plasma treatment independently of the discharge mode and benefits additionally from the aerodynamic focusing of a particle-gas
stream to the centre, reducing reactor clogging. Furthermore, taking
advantage of non-thermal discharges, there is no restriction of the concept of the outlined invention in the material properties of the particulate solids especially not with regard to the treatment of
temperature sensitive materials as often encountered in
polymer or pharmaceutical industries. In conclusion,
atmospheric pressure plasma treatment close to ambient gas temperature as well as continuous
processing is a
specialty of the invention disclosed here.