Patent ID: 7695673

Claim:
Process for sterilizing a contaminated object, comprising: inserting the object in a sterilization chamber having at least one discharge tube in communication therewith, feeding the tube with a liquid or gaseous stream, and submitting the stream to an electric field so as to generate a plasma, thereby exposing said contaminated object to the action of sterilizing species that are present in a post-discharge zone or in a zone of excitation of said plasma, measuring at least one of UV emission intensity and optical absorption due to a density of resonant states of UV photon species in the sterilization chamber as a function of gas pressure to determine a gas pressure that maximizes UV radiation intensity and that maximizes the presence of UV photon emitting species in the sterilization chamber, measuring at least one of UV emission intensity and optical absorption due to a density of resonant states of UV photon species in the sterilization chamber as a function of stream flow rate to determine a flow rate that maximizes UV radiation intensity and that maximizes the presence of UV photon emitting species in the sterilization chamber, and applying the stream at a flow rate and a gas pressure in the sterilization chamber that maximizes UV radiation intensity and the presence of UV photon emitting species in the sterilization chamber.