Abstract
Pathogens in water and liquid food can be inactivated by pulsed electric field treatment (PEFT), a process that induces irreversible electroporation on cell membranes. As a physical disinfection method, PEFT is fast (e.g., 6-log inactivation in 100 ms) and effective broadly to all pathogens, including “superbugs” that are resistant to multiple antimicrobials. Moreover, no chemicals are consumed and no disinfection byproducts generated during PEFT. PEFT has been applied to inactivate many microorganisms in various water and liquid food samples, but the practical implementation in water and food industry is limited by the high energy consumption to sustain a high-strength electric field (e.g., >10 kV/cm) and technical challenges to achieve such electric field without the risk of arcing. These limitations can be overcome by low-voltage-powered (e.g., <5 V) locally enhanced electric field treatment (LEEFT). The electrodes installed in a LEEFT device are modified with nanowires so that the electric field is not uniform but enhanced locally near the tips of the nanowires due to the “lightning rod effect.” The microorganisms present in such regions can be effectively inactivated. In this talk, some recent progress on the electrode development and mechanism studies of the LEEFT technology will be covered.
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