Pulsed nonthermal plasma can be applied as a powerful air purification technology.
The 'Pulsed Corona Technology' is also refered to as 'Cold Plasma Technology' or 'Non-Thermal Plasma' because decomposition of molecules occurs at room temperature. In contrast to a thermal plasma (known to the layman as fire), the only parts of the molecule to reach extreme temperatures are the electrons. Because electrons have just 0.05% of the mass, compared to the other atomic particles, the overall molecule temperature increase is negligible.
These high-temperature electrons are however able to escape their parent molecules due to their high temperatures, resulting in an ionized gas comprised of charged particles. These are also refered to as 'free radicals', because of their electric charge and are thus very reactive. Paths comprised of charged particles allow high voltage electricity to jump, creating essentially miniature lightning bolts and in turn ionizing more of the surrounding gas. This creates a field of reactive particles in which harmful molecules will be recombined into different molecules.
Apart from effectiveness, energy consumption is where transient plasma can make a big difference in the cost of operation of air purification technology. While the initial investment between wet scrubbers and the fast transient plasma system is estimated to be similar, the energy consumption of the fast transient plasma system is estimated to be only 10% that of wet scrubbers.