Wastewater poses a serious challenge to the environment and its treatment and reuse is becoming increasingly important. Conventional treatment methods have many disadvantages, such as high energy consumption, the use of reagents and high costs. Recently, advanced oxidative processes such as peroxidation and cold plasma have been increasingly used. Cold plasma is a partially ionised gas containing reactive species such as ions, electrons and free radicals that effectively remove pollutants by oxidation. In this master thesis, the effect of hydrogen peroxide and cold plasma on E. coli and B. subtilis was investigated. We found that longer exposure times and higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide increased the inactivation rate of the bacteria. At a concentration of 1.5 mL/L, 100 % inactivation of E. coli was achieved after 30 minutes, while B. subtilis showed slower inactivation. At lower concentrations (0.5 mL/L), only 9% inactivation was achieved, with B. subtilis showing a better success rate. Cold plasma was more effective than hydrogen peroxide in inactivating the bacteria, with efficacy also increasing with increasing exposure time. A simple device for generating cold plasma was developed to perform tests on bacterial cultures. The results show that cold plasma has great potential for wastewater treatment, but further research is needed to optimise the device and determine its exact effect.
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