Experimental investigation a simultaneous application of pulsed electric field and pressure for juice extraction

Abstract

Pulsed electric field (PEF) of microsecond duration and high intensity (in the kilovolt-per-centimeter range) has the ability to trigger functional modifications in biological cells. Although the biophysical mechanisms underlying the induced biological effects are not yet clear, promising applications have been found in biology, medicine and environment. The principal effect resulting from pulsed electric field (PEF) interaction with the biological cell is the phenomenon of eletroporation which is a creation of pores on membrane cells in order to increase the permeability. The influence of strength and pulses number of pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment on juice extraction from a vegetable food was investigated in this work. This paper is aimed to analyze the efficiency of the PEF pretreatment of carrot juice extraction process even when the control factors undergo slight random variation. The experiments were carried out on a laboratory experimental bench. The work concerned the choice of three factors which are the high voltage level, the number of pulses and the pulse duration. Obtained results pointed out that investigated parameters of PEF treatment have significant effect not only in juice yield, but also for improvement of the chemical quality of final product.