A study done by Daikin Industries Ltd., in cooperation with Prof. Tatsuo Shioda and Assistant Prof. Tadahiro Sasaki, Dept. of Virus Infections, Research Institute of Microbial Disease, Osaka University have demonstrated that Daikin’s unique Streamer technology has more than 99.9% inactivation effect against the Omicron variant, which is one of the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) variants, with Streamer compared to without Streamer discharge.
In seeking to verify the effectiveness of Streamer technology since 2004, Daikin has previously demonstrated its effectiveness over 60 types of harmful substances, such as bacteria, allergens, and viruses including influenza virus (type A, H5N1), RSV, and mouse noroviruses with public institutions, to be suppressed or inactivated by Streamer technology. Furthermore, Daikin has confirmed more than 99.9% of inactivation effects against the conventional variant, the mutant strains of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, and 99.8% of inactivation effects against the Delta variant. Now, Daikin can announce more than 99.9% of inactivation effects against the Omicron variant after 2 hours of Streamer discharge when compared to without Streamer.
This demonstration shows the results of experiments using a device that generated Streamer discharge under test conditions and does not indicate the effectiveness of an actual Streamer product in use under actual conditions (living space).
Irradiation with Streamer discharge for two hours inactivated 99.93%, and for four hours inactivated 99.97% of the Omicron variant of Coronavirus (SAR-CoV-2), when compared to without Streamer discharge.
In the verification test, hCoV-19/Japan/ TY38-873/2021 strain (Omicron variant) was used. Two acrylic boxes of about 31L were placed in a safety cabinet in the BSL-3 facility, and Streamer discharge device was installed in one of the acrylic boxes. Seesaw shakers with a 6-well plate were placed in both boxes, and 0.5 ml of virus solution was placed in each well of the plate. Streamer irradiation was performed on one 6-well plate while stirring with a seesaw shaker. After 1, 2, and 4 hours, the virus solution was collected, and the virus titer was measured by the TCID50 method using Vero E6/TMPRSS2 cells.
Developed by us in 2004, streamer discharge technology performs oxidative decomposition of harmful substances. It is nothing but a plasma discharge featuring an innovative air purification technology that stably generates high-speed electrons, a feat that was hard to achieve until then. These high-speed electrons, when combined with harmful substances such as viruses, bacteria and allergens in the air, decompose at a rapid rate.
To date, we have collaborated with top universities and public research institutes to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technology against over 60 types of harmful substances including influenza such as A-type H5N1, A-type H1N1, mouse norovirus, bacteria and now the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).