Application of non-thermal Plasma as an Alternative for Purification of Bacterial Cellulose Membranes

Innovation to mitigate environmental impact and alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals, encourages the cosmetic industry to explore new methodologies and materials. Biopolymers become attractive, such as bacterial cellulose that has biocompatibility, high crystallinity and wettability. During the production of cellulose, there is the purification process, which is essential for safety in the applicability, as it removes metabolites and bacterial cell debris. Currently, the most adopted methodology is the immersion of the membranes in NaOH solution, however, there is no concise methodology, causing, besides the generation of chemical residues, discrepancies between authors. In this sense, the proposed work aims to use cold plasma technology (NTP) to verify the action in the BC purification process. With the association of gases, after 15 minutes of treatment with NTP in membranes, no new membranes appeared when they were placed back in the culture medium. Attesting the potential of NTP in the BC purification process, optimizing time and avoiding the generation of aggressive chemical residues.