Is Plasma Activated Water the Next CEA Breakthrough?
July 7, 2025 What is plasma activated water (PAW), and what should controlled environment agriculture (CEA) growers know about it? Our sister site CEAg World recently sat down with Nate Eylands, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Horticulture at the University of Minnesota, and Neil Mattson, Ph.D., CEA Professor at Cornell University, to discuss their research on PAW and its potential benefits for the CEA industry. You can catch the full CEAg Talk below for an overview of the topic.
From the full conversation, here’s more detail on next steps for PAW implementation:
For Starters, What Is Plasma Activated Water?
Dr. Eylands: Well, we need to understand what plasma is before we talk about PAW. Plasma is a fourth state of matter; it’s an aggregation of high-energy particles with special chemical activity.
We can categorize plasma as either thermal or nonthermal. Nonthermal plasma is the kind we’re talking about here, and it can be employed near or submerged in water. Basically, it’s injecting water with a high-energy field to elicit chemical reactions between the atmosphere and water. I always think of lightning striking a body of water.
We generate a bunch of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, like hydrogen peroxide, nitrite, ammonia, nitrogen, and all these interesting compounds that are dissolved into the water.
How Can PAW Be Used in Greenhouses and Other CEA Operations?
Dr. Mattson: There are a lot of potential applications in CEA. PAW could be a source of nitrogen for plants, and we’re excited about that because it might qualify for organic production if it’s generated on-site. There aren’t many organic sources of plant-available nitrogen right now.
Dr. Eylands mentioned the reactive oxygen species, like hydrogen peroxide. Those can have sanitizing effects just like we would use hydrogen, peroxide, or other reactive oxygen species to sanitize irrigation lines, equipment, or soaking seeds.
One thing I’m really excited about through other collaborators that we’ve seen is that it seems like there are biostimulant effects on the plant so it can greater defend itself from pests and disease. So, really, PAW could be part of a systems approach with growing plants in controlled environments, where it could improve plant fertility.
Dr. Eylands: What’s really exciting is that we don’t know all the applications PAW has yet. We call it the Swiss army knife of agriculture because we have seed germination properties, we’re seeing seedling vigor increase, and we’re seeing pesticide applications. We’re seeing all of these enhanced benefits within the plant system. I think Dr. Mattson touched on most of PAW’s potential applications, but who knows? There are things that we haven’t even explored yet.
Is It Practical for Growers to Implement PAW Now?
Dr. Mattson: If you’re a grower implementing PAW, you’d be an early adopter at this stage. If I was a seed supplier or on the research side of the industry, it would be more practical. PAW isn’t ready to be used on a commercial scale yet, and I’ll talk about some of the logistical considerations.
You have to get specific equipment, and the equipment can only produce so much PAW at a time. The cheaper equipment still costs several thousand dollars, and you can only produce a few liters per hour. I would say using PAW at the seedling stage when low volumes are required seems like a good fit right now, unless we get more affordable, industrial-type equipment in the near future.
Dr. Eylands: We’re just scratching the surface when it comes to PAW; we have a long way to go. It’s going to take more research and industry members to adopt it early on. I always compare PAW to LED lighting. Growers knew it had benefits, but it took a while to implement it in their operations.
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