Cold-plasma treatment of seeds to remove surface materials
AssigneeWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
InventorsFerencz S. Denes, Raymond A. Young, Sorin Manolache, John C. Volin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Seeds are treated in a cold plasma in a reaction chamber to etch the surface of the seeds to remove surface materials, such as fungicides and insecticides, or to disinfect the surfaces. The cold plasma process is carried out using etch gases which do not harm the seeds and for selected periods of time sufficient to remove surface materials without necessarily affecting the viability of live seeds after treatment. Tumbling the seeds while exposing the seeds to the plasma allows the surfaces of the seeds to be etched uniformly.
Claims34
A method for treating seeds comprising:
- (a) igniting a cold plasma in a gas from a source of gas and maintaining the plasma under conditions that provide etching by the plasma and not deposit from the plasma;
- (b) exposing the seeds to the plasma for a selected period of time, wherein the seeds to be treated are seed corn, to plasma etch the surfaces of the seeds to remove surface material from the seeds;
- and
- (c) tumbling the seeds while exposing the seeds to the plasma to thereby allow the surfaces of the seeds to be etched uniformly.
A method for treating seeds comprising:
- (a) igniting a cold plasma in a gas from a source of gas and maintaining the plasma under conditions that provide etching by the plasma and not deposit from the plasma;
- (b) exposing the seeds to the plasma for a selected period of time to plasma etch the surfaces of the seeds to remove surface material from the seeds, wherein the gas in which the plasma is ignited is water vapor emitted from the seeds;
- and
- (c) tumbling the seeds while exposing the seeds to the plasma to thereby allow the surfaces of the seeds to be etched uniformly.
A method for treating seeds comprising:
- (a) enclosing the seeds to be treated in a reaction chamber, wherein the seeds to be treated are seed corn;
- (b) evacuating the reaction chamber to a base level;
- (c) supplying gas to and establishing a selected gas pressure in the reaction chamber;
- (d) igniting a cold plasma in the gas in the chamber such that the plasma provides etching and not deposit from the plasma and exposing the seeds to the plasma for a selected period of time to plasma etch the surfaces of the seeds to remove surface material from the seeds;
- and
- (e) tumbling the seeds while exposing the seeds to the plasma to thereby allow the surfaces of the seeds to be etched uniformly.
A method for treating seeds comprising:
- (a) enclosing the seeds to be treated in a reaction chamber;
- (b) evacuating the reaction chamber to a base level;
- (c) supplying gas to and establishing a selected gas pressure in the reaction chamber;
- (d) igniting a cold plasma in the gas in the chamber such that the plasma provides etching and not deposit from the plasma and exposing the seeds to the plasma for a selected period of time to plasma etch the surfaces of the seeds to remove surface material from the seeds, wherein the surface material removed from the seeds includes a material selected from the group consisting of fungicides, insecticides, and pesticides;
- and
- (e) tumbling the seeds while exposing the seeds to the plasma to thereby allow the surfaces of the seeds to be etched uniformly.
A method for treating seeds that have a fungicide, pesticide or insecticide coating comprising:
- (a) enclosing seeds having a coating thereon of a material selected from the group consisting of fungicides, insecticides, pesticides, and mixtures thereof in a reaction chamber;
- (b) evacuating the reaction chamber to a base level;
- (c) supplying gas to and establishing a selected gas pressure in the reaction chamber;
- (d) igniting a cold plasma in the gas in the chamber such that the plasma provides etching and not deposit from the plasma and exposing the seeds to the plasma for a selected period of time sufficient to plasma etch the surfaces of the seeds to remove the coating of surface material from the seeds and convert the coating materials to gas phase components in the reaction chamber;
- and
- (e) removing the gas phase components from the reaction chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.