News Release

Potato technology may help move mail

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DOE/Idaho National Laboratory

The same technology that helps deliver wholesome Idaho potatoes to family kitchens may be an effective tool against terrorism.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory are teaming with a small business located in Aberdeen, Idaho, to experiment with destroying anthrax using ozone.

The O3Co. has developed a patented process to deliver high concentrations of ozone - 300 to 800 parts per million - to freshly harvested potatoes as they travel along conveyor belts. Ozone destroys harmful bacteria such as Erwinia, responsible for soft rot, silver scurf, and pink rot, allowing farmers to safely store their potato crops for months.

INEEL researchers believe this same process can be used to sterilize mail. They are testing their theory with harmless surrogates for anthrax spores. The ozone tests are just one part of the ongoing research INEEL is conducting to combat terrorism in support of DOE's national security mission.

"We recognized the potential right after the first anthrax started showing up," says O3Co. President Lynn Johnson. "We were trying to contact the INEEL at the same time they were calling us. We've had such success with agricultural pests that we felt it would work on this."

Unlike chlorine dioxide, a hazardous chemical used to treat potatoes and disinfect anthrax-contaminated facilities, ozone leaves no residue and for potatoes, takes just seconds to work.

Ozone can be created in nature by lightning, or through a high-voltage system such as O3Co.'s patented Corona Discharge Ozone Generator. The electricity breaks apart oxygen molecules and releases one atom. Some of these single atoms attach themselves to a standard oxygen molecule. This creates an unstable and temporary form of oxygen - ozone - that carries three oxygen atoms instead of the standard two.

The highly unstable nature of ozone is both its bane and balm. The instability causes the extra oxygen atom to want to attach to something, and carbon is its favorite something. Since viruses and bacteria such as anthrax are virtually all carbon, those extra oxygen molecules attach themselves and create carbon dioxide. This oxidation cremates the bacteria.

However, ozone dissipates quickly, reuniting to form oxygen or carbon dioxide. You may smell it for only a few seconds after a lightning bolt strikes nearby. One of the tricks is delivering enough of a concentration for sufficient time to allow the ozone to work. Johnson solved this problem by developing a tunnel that potatoes travel through before being put into storage.

The INEEL research will reveal just how great the concentrations of ozone need to be and how long the ozone must be applied to destroy anthrax in mail. Preliminary tests subjected the simulant spores to concentrations as great as 12,000 parts per million for periods up to two hours. Biologists then try to grow bacterial cells from the 'ozonated' samples. No growth means the spores died and the process worked. Preliminary results indicate that a 60-minute exposure to high levels of ozone inactivates the spores.

"We couldn't pass up the opportunity to work with O3Co.," said Ken Watts, a manager in INEEL National Security research and development. "We have some theories we want to test and they have the infrastructure. The relationship is working so well that we're creating a CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development Agreement) to formalize it."

Other INEEL counterterrorism research areas include detecting nuclear material in a city using stationary locations and moving platforms such as taxis and buses, destroying biological agents with microwaves and accelerators, and developing lightweight armor for people and vehicles.

The INEEL is a science-based, applied engineering national laboratory dedicated to supporting the U.S. Department of Energy's missions in environment, energy, science and national security. The INEEL is operated for the DOE by Bechtel BWXT Idaho LLC.

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Technical contacts: Ken Watts, 208-526-9628, kdw@inel.gov
Lynn Johnson, O3zone Company, 208-397-3033
Alternate media contact: Teri Ehresman, 208-526-7785, ehr@inel.gov


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