The influence of size and shape of microorganism on pulsed electric field inactivation.

In this paper the effect of microorganism size and shape on the killing efficiency of pulsed electric field (PEF) is investigated both experimentally and using a transient finite element program. The effect of cell size, membrane thickness, cell shape (spherical, elliptical, and cylindrical) on the calculated transmembrane voltage is studied. It has been found that both the cell size and cell membrane thickness have significant effect on the induced field across the cell membrane. The findings of the simulation results have been evaluated by comparing the trends with some experimental results. Five different types of microorganisms that have different shapes and dimensions have been inoculated with water at a conductivity level of 100 µS/cm and have been treated with the application of a pulsed electric field of 70 kV/cm. Significant difference in bacteria reduction was noticed between the treated cells which could be attributed to the cell size and shape.

Factors affecting the inactivation of the natural microbiota of milk processed by pulsed electric fields and cross-flow microfiltration.

Prior to processing milk and cream were standardised and homogenised. Skim milk was cross-flow microfiltered (CFMF) prior to treatment with pulsed electric fields (PEF) or high temperature short time (HTST) pasteurization. The effect of temperature of the skim milk and product composition on the efficacy of PEF treatment was determined. The electrical conductivity of the product was related to fat and solids content and increased 5% for every g/kg increase of solids and decreased by nearly 0·7% for every g/kg increase of fat. From the three microbial groups analyzed (mesophilic, coliform, and psychrotroph) in milks differences (P<0·05) in the inactivation of mesophilic microorganisms were observed between the counts following PEF treatment, while HTST pasteurization resulted in higher reductions in all different counts than those obtained after PEF. Increasing the skim milk temperature prior to PEF treatment to about 34°C showed equivalent reductions in microbial counts to skim milk treated at 6°C in half the time. The reductions achieved by a combination of CFMF and PEF treatments were comparable to those achieved when CFMF was combined with HTST pasteurization. A higher reduction in coliform counts was observed in homogenised products subjected to PEF than in products that were only standardised for fat content.

Effect of pore size on the calculated pressure at biological cells pore wall.

A transient nonlinear finite-element program has been used to calculate the electric field distribution as a function of time for a spherical cell with a pore in a conducting medium during application of a subnanosecond rise time "step" wave, including the effects of dipolar saturation in the water-based cytoplasm and cell medium. The time-dependent pressure on the pore wall has been computed as a function of time as the system polarizes from the change of the energy in the electric field to the left (inside the pore) and to the right (inside the membrane) of the pore wall. The computations suggest that dipolar saturation, while significant, has little effect on the time-dependent electric field distribution but a substantial effect on the field-induced pore wall pressure. Also, the effect of pore size on both the computed electric field and field-induced pressure was studied. As the pore size increases, a collapse in both the electric field and field-induced pressure has been noticed. This suggests that as the pore size increases, the driving force for further opening the pore is not electrical.