PEF in food processing poles

Agnieszka Wantuch
AGH University of Science and Technology
Department of Electrical and Power Engineering
al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
[email protected]

Abstract — Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEF) is a laboratory level to liquid products, such as milk and dairy
relatively new, non-thermal food conservation method. It products, fruit juices, egg products and other liquid food
is uses the electric fields to eliminate pathogens and control products, indicate its great potential in food processing [4,5].
food spoilage microorganisms. The chief benefit of this
technology is the possibility of extending the shelf life of II. ELECTROPORATION
food products without using heat. Thanks to this, it is Electroporation is the process of subjecting biological
possible to preserve the right quality as well as nutritional material to impulses of an electric field, which increases the
and taste values. This paper is of revive nature. The article permeability of cell membranes due to the formation of holes
presents PEF technology and the possibilities of its in them [6]. The presence of pores allows the membrane to
application. The author works on the mathematical model transfer various components (ions, particles or more complex
of the product cell based on the long line model. compounds) into the cell. The pore diameter, depending on the
given parameters, may be in the range from 1 to 10 nm.
Keywords — pulsed electromagnetic field (PEF), food preservation,
electroporation, non-thermal process. This phenomenon can be reversible or irreversible,
depending on the strength of the electric field, number of
pulses, their duration, type of signal, as well as the properties
I. INTRODUCTION
of the material exposed to the field. Depending on these
Food is a source of nutrients necessary for the proper parameters, PEF gives the opportunity to influence food
functioning of the human body, but microbes also use the same processing, preserving the nutritional value of products [7].
ingredients. Contamination of food with pathogenic Reversible electropolation also facilitates drying (accelerates
microorganisms that cause food poisoning threatens health and water removal), pressing, freezing and extraction. In addition,
even human life [1]. Pathogens in food are most often bacteria, products pretreated with PEF are characterized by a greater
viruses and fungi, as well as toxins produced by certain types presence of nutrients, such as vitamin C, carotenoids, and
of bacteria and mold. To be able to store food unchanged for an mineral compounds. Irreversible electropolation [8], leading to
extended period, it is necessary to preserve it, i.e. use methods the total destruction of cells, can be used, among others in the
to extend its shelf life and protect it from the adverse effects of process of cold pasteurization.
physical (such as temperature, light), chemical (oxidation), or
biological (development) microorganisms.
III. BASIC OF PEF INTERACTIONS
Non-thermal processes (pressure, ultrasonic, PEF and PEF technology has been studied by many scientists in a
others) have recently gained importance due to the significant wide range of liquid food products [9-11]. Although it is
increase in demand for foods with high nourishing value and considered a non-thermal treatment, the use of electric fields
properties similar to fresh products, replacing thermally with high voltage amplitude can cause a temperature rise in a
preserved food. product that has been processed due to the Joule ohmic heating
Food preservation using a pulsed electric field technology effect. The rate of volumetric heat generation in food during
relies on its ability to pierce cell membranes, thereby killing pulses depends on the applied electric field strength and
microorganisms. The product is inserted between two electrical conductivity of the food product [12]. To avoid
electrodes into the treatment chamber and subjected to high- excessive product temperature rise during the process, use
intensity electrical pulses of 10 to 80 kV/cm [2,3]. These are pulses with a low repetition rate and short duration. However,
short-term pulses that cause the current to flow for a few this may be the reason for less effective action.
micro- or milliseconds. The high electric field leads to The efficacy of PEF interactions depends on many
inactivation of microorganisms, impulses cause the formation variables. One of the most important parameters is the intensity
of pores in their cell membrane, and thanks to such a short of the electric field.
pulse duration, the food does not heat [3], thus PEF affects the
content of vitamins in preserved food to a much lesser extent Power densities p required to apply field strength E in a
than thermal processes. material with conductivity σ shows the relationship (1) [13]:
Effective attempts to apply PEF technology at the
p = σ E2 (1)
Subwencja: 16.16.120.773

978-1-7281-1038-7/19/$31.00 ©2019 European Union

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 using PEF interactions, the energy W supplied to the system V. IMPORTANT FACTORS IN PEF TECHNOLOGY
can be calculated from the formula (2) [13]: The effectiveness of PEF technology is influenced by
several factors related to the type of equipment used, including
U ⋅ I ⋅τ ⋅ f setting processing parameters, the type of processed product,
W= (2)
ν and the microorganisms that occur [16].
Technical factors, which usually determine the
where: U - voltage (V), I - current intensity (A),  - pulse characteristics of the device, can be modified and set
length (s), f - frequency of PEF pulses (Hz), v - product flow according to the relevant data to provide the required
(ml/s). machining. However, some data depend on each other, so you
To be able to compare the effects of PEF on products in cannot change them without modifying the others associated
flow and those not in flow, you can calculate the average with them. Restrictions imposed by internal product or process
number of pulses per unit volume of PPV for products in flow factors are also important. The electric field strength is
using (3) [14]: considered the most important factor when deactivating
microorganisms in PEF technology.
n ⋅ f ⋅V The electric field at any point in space is characterized by
PPV = (3) the electric field strength vector E, equal to the ratio of the
ν force F acting on the stationary point electric charge q, located
at this point, to the value of this charge (4):
where: PPV - average number of pulses per unit of volume; n -
number of PEF interaction chambers; V - volume of the F
interaction chamber (ml). E= (4)
Above are selected relationships related to PEF. The q
complexity of the formulas and the difficulty of calculations
increases with the number of variables. It follows that if voltage is applied to two points separated
by dielectric material, an electric field is created in the area
IV. DEVICE FOR PROCESSING WITH PEF TECHNOLOGY between these points with an intensity E proportional to the
potential difference U and inversely proportional to the
Figure 1 shows a schematic of a typical PEF food
distance d between them, as shown in (5) [16]:
processing machine.
U
E= (5)
Processed d
product
where: E - electric field strength (kV/cm); U - voltage applied
(V); d - distance between electrodes (cm).
Control and High voltage
Processing
monitoring system generator chamber To describe the generated electric field, you can then use
the Laplace equation, where  is the electric potential (6):

∇ 2ϕ = 0 (6)
Raw
product
Each live cell has a transmembrane potential, where at rest
the cytoplasmic side of the membrane is negatively charged
Fig 1. Diagram of the PEF food preservation device [3]. and can range from -50 to -200 mV [17]. The critical electric
field strength corresponds to such an external field strength
In Poland one of the devices that allows conducting that is capable of inducing a membrane potential of about 1 V,
laboratory tests related to PEF technology is Ertec SU-1, which is the threshold for the disruption of the cell membrane
which is owned by the Department of Animal Product [16]. Membrane potential is the potential difference between
Technology and Quality Management of the Faculty of the interior of the cell and its surroundings (VM = Vw - Vz)
Biotechnology and Food Sciences of the Wrocaw University [18]. For the treatment to be effective, the electric field
of Environmental and Life Sciences. The device enables strength must be kept as low as possible. Its high value may
voltage up to 30 kV, which at the electrode distance of 0.73 cause dielectric liquid decay or other undesirable reactions.
cm gives maximum electric field strength of 41.10 kV/cm. The frequency of the applied electric field is in the range
After modification of the device control software by the of 1 to 1000 Hz. However, there are processes in which it can
Krakow team, it is possible to set the process conditions to be over 1000 Hz [8].
several hundred PEF pulses, with them widths in the range 1- Processing time is another important factor. Short pulses
400 s and the distance between them in the range 1-10 s [15]. are used to avoid heating of the product. The total machining

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 time is determined by the product of the pulse width and the where: EC - critical intensity (kV/cm); VC - critical voltage
number of their application (7): (V); fk - cell shape factor (fk = 1.5 for spherical
microorganisms); r - cell radius (μm).
t = n ⋅τ (7) The critical intensity value for plant cells is 1 - 3 kV/cm
(with a cell size of 40 - 200 μm), and for microorganisms 12 -
where  depends on the shape of the pulse. 50 kV/cm (for a cell size of 1 - 10 μm) [20].
It was found that the best results of microbial inactivation For microorganisms with an elongated shape, the factor fk
give impulses between 1 and 5 μs [17]. In bacterial can be calculated from the formula (9) [21]:
membranes, pores are formed that, when they reach a critical
diameter, cannot be repaired and cause cell death, increasing L (9)
fk =
the effectiveness of conservation. Current and voltage d
L−
waveforms of electrical impulses in the treatment chamber 3
should be constantly observed.
Impulse shape is also influenced by PEF (Fig. 2). where L is the length and d is the diameter of the cell (m).
Exponential impulses, square waves, bipolar waves or The above equations show that the external electric field
oscillatory pulses have practical significance in the discussed induces higher transmembrane potentials in larger cells.
technology [3]. The number of pulses depends on the Energy density per pulse is the electrical energy received
characteristics of the device used and the characteristics of the by the treated product in the PEF chamber. It depends on the
raw material. The energy used depends on the electric field electrical properties of the product and the shape of the pulse,
strength, processing chamber design, product conductivity and its peak voltage and width. According to (10), the unit energy
processing time. To accurately describe the process input per pulse W should be estimated by the integral during
conditions, the pulse characteristics (including peak voltage), the recorded voltage and current waveforms in the treatment
shape, width and polarization must be provided [19]. chamber [19]:
∞
1
W = ³ U (t )I (t )dt (10)
m0
where: m - mass of the test sample.

VI. THE MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE PRODUCT CELL

An electrical discharge occurs in the food product. Surge
discharge can be treated as an electromagnetic wave
propagating in cells. The amount of energy carried by the
electromagnetic wave is determined by the Poynting vector:
1
S= (E × B) (11)
μ

One effect of electromagnetic propagation is the thermal

effect. Raising the product temperature too high will result in
loss of valuable nutritional properties, so consider this during
the fixing process.
Considering the duration of electrical impulses used in
Fig. 2 Pulse shapes commonly used in PEF treatments [19].
PEF technology, it can be assumed that the cells will
experience wave effects, similar to long lines (Fig. 3).
The effectiveness of PEF inactivation also depends on
biological factors, i.e. the individual characteristics of
microorganisms. Susceptibility to inactivation by PEF depends
on the type, species, shape, size or physiological state of the
microorganism.
The shape and size of microorganisms determines the
intensity of the external electric field necessary to cause
changes in the structure of the cell membrane. The critical
electric field strength (EC) that causes irreversible
electroporation is calculated from the formula (8) [13]: 
Fig. 3 Long line segment model [22].
VC
EC = (8)
fk ⋅ r

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 The need to take into account wave phenomena means that https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288922778_Pulsed_Electric_F
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