Plasma Water Decontamination Using Air as Feed Gas: Targeting Nigeria as a Detailed Case Study

Access to safe drinking water remains a critical public health challenge in Nigeria, where microbial contamination, agricultural runoff, industrial effluents, and naturally occurring pollutants compromise water quality across urban and rural communities. This study presents the design, implementation, and evaluation framework for a point-of use and community-scale plasma-based water decontamination system that utilizes ambient air as the feed gas to generate reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) for microbial inactivation and chemical contaminant degradation. Non-thermal atmospheric-pressure plasma (NTAPP) technology offers a chemical-free, decentralized solution compatible with solar-battery power systems, making it particularly suitable for Nigerian contexts where conventional treatment infrastructure is inadequate or unreliable. The proposed system employs a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) or pulsed corona reactor configuration to generate plasma-activated water (PAW) containing ozone (O₃), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), hydroxyl radicals (•OH), and nitrogen oxides (NOx). A critical analysis of the literature reveals that while NTP demonstrates significant promise for water treatment, substantial knowledge gaps remain regarding performance in complex natural water matrices, byproduct formation control, and energy efficiency at scale (Abdallah & Bilad, 2023; Chen et al., 2025). Field deployment is proposed across three representative Nigerian settings to assess performance under locally relevant water qualities and operational constraints. Key deliverables include a functional prototype, quantitative performance
data targeting at least 3 to 5 log reductions in bacterial indicators, techno-economic and life-cycle assessments, and policy recommendations for scale-up. This work addresses a significant gap in local evidence regarding the viability, efficacy, and operational feasibility of air-fed plasma water treatment under Nigerian socio-technical
conditions.

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How to cite this Article: Mdue, I., Dajoh I.M., & Abana, S. N. (2025). Plasma Water Decontamination Using Air
as Feed Gas: Targeting Nigeria as a Detailed Case Study. International Journal of Engineering, Science, and
Environmental Research, 1(2), 218-227.