Constant Rate Expressing of Juice from Biological Tissue Enhanced by Pulsed Electric Field

Abstract

Pulsed electric field (PEF) is an innovative technology, which can be successfully combined with solid/liquid expressing of juice from biological materials. The fresh juicy plants contain the juice in closed cells. The application of PEF ensures the electropermeabilization of cellular membranes, which facilitates the expulsion of liquid from the interior of cells. This article describes the influence of PEF on the kinetics of juice extraction from the layer of sugar beet particles expressed at a constant rate. Experimental study was carried out using a laboratory filter-press cell connected to a PEF treatment system. The PEF was applied by two different modes: as a pretreatment operation before pressing and as a treatment during pressing. The application of PEF to nonpressurized cake leads to increase of energy consumption and higher applied voltage. The PEF treatment of excessively pressurized cakes enhances the juice yield; however, the expressing of juice is significantly delayed. The best result is obtained when the sugar beet tissue is treated with PEF at 1.5–5 bars. The influence of PEF parameters on the juice yield was also studied. The intensity of PEF was varied from 0 to 1000 V/cm and the number of pulses was varied between 0 and 1000. It was established that the optimal parameters of PEF after the cake pressurization at 5 bar were in the next range: intensity of PEF E = 500 V/cm and duration of PEF application 0.03–0.05 s.     

Drying Kinetics of Apple Tissue Treated by Pulsed Electric Field

The aim of this work was to study the influence of pulsed electric field (PEF) on the drying kinetics of apple tissue. Therefore, mathematical models that are commonly used in the literature were applied to describe the process. PEF treatment of the samples was carried out at an intensity of E = 5–10 kV/cm and 10–50 pulse numbers. Subsequently, the apples were convectively dried at 70°C and air velocity of 2 m/s. Based on electrical conductivity measurement, the cell disintegration index Z _p was computed. Midilli et al.'s(Drying Technology, Vol. 20, pp. 1503–1513, 2001) model was evaluated as the most adequate to describe the moisture transfer in PEF-treated and intact samples. PEF pretreatment induced a reduction in drying time of up to 12% when 10 kV/cm and 50 pulses were applied. For instance, after 60 min of drying, the dimensionless moisture ratio for PEF-treated (10 kV/cm, 50 pulses) samples was 0.18 compared to 0.26 for the untreated apples. The effective moisture diffusivity, calculated on the basis of the Fick's second law, was 1.04 × 10^?9 m/s for intact samples and from 1.09 × 10^?9 to 1.25 × 10^?9 m²/s for PEF-treated samples at 10 pulses at 5 kV/cm and 50 pulses at 10 kV/cm, respectively.     

Effect of Pulsed Electric Field and Osmotic Dehydration Pretreatment on the Convective Drying of Carrot Tissue

The influence of pulsed electric field (PEF) and subsequent centrifugal osmotic dehydration (OD) on the convective drying behavior of carrot is investigated. The PEF was carried out at an intensity of E = 0.60 kV/cm and a treatment duration of t_PEF = 50 ms. The following centrifugal OD was performed in a sucrose solution of 65% (w/w) at 40°C for 0, 1, 2, or 4 h under 2400 × g. The drying was performed after the centrifugal OD for temperatures 40-60°C and at constant air rate (6 m³/h).

With the increase of OD duration the air drying time is reduced spectacularly. The dimensionless moisture ratio Xr = 0.1 is reached for PEF-untreated carrots after 370 min of air drying at 60°C in absence of centrifugal OD against 90 min of air drying after the 240 min of centrifugal OD. The PEF treatment reduces additionally the air drying time. The total time of dehydration operations can be shortened when OD time is optimized. For instance, the minimal time required to dehydrate untreated carrots until Xr = 0.1 is 260 min (120 min of OD at 40°C and 140 min of drying at 60°C). It is reduced to 230 min with PEF-treated carrots.

The moisture effective diffusivity D_eff is calculated for the convective air drying based on Fick's law. The centrifugal OD pretreatment increases drastically the value of D_eff. For instance, 4 h of centrifugal OD permitted increasing the value of D_eff from 0.93 · 10^-9 to 3.85 · 10^-9 m²/s for untreated carrots and from 1.17 · 10^-9 to 5.10 · 10^-9 m²/s for PEF-treated carrots.     

Effect of Pulsed Electric Field and Osmotic Dehydration Pretreatment on the Convective Drying of Carrot Tissue

The influence of pulsed electric field (PEF) and subsequent centrifugal osmotic dehydration (OD) on the convective drying behavior of carrot is investigated. The PEF was carried out at an intensity of E = 0.60 kV/cm and a treatment duration of t _PEF  = 50 ms. The following centrifugal OD was performed in a sucrose solution of 65% (w/w) at 40°C for 0, 1, 2, or 4 h under 2400 × g. The drying was performed after the centrifugal OD for temperatures 40–60°C and at constant air rate (6 m³/h).

With the increase of OD duration the air drying time is reduced spectacularly. The dimensionless moisture ratio Xr = 0.1 is reached for PEF-untreated carrots after 370 min of air drying at 60°C in absence of centrifugal OD against 90 min of air drying after the 240 min of centrifugal OD. The PEF treatment reduces additionally the air drying time. The total time of dehydration operations can be shortened when OD time is optimized. For instance, the minimal time required to dehydrate untreated carrots until Xr = 0.1 is 260 min (120 min of OD at 40°C and 140 min of drying at 60°C). It is reduced to 230 min with PEF-treated carrots.

The moisture effective diffusivity D _eff is calculated for the convective air drying based on Fick's law. The centrifugal OD pretreatment increases drastically the value of D _eff . For instance, 4 h of centrifugal OD permitted increasing the value of D _eff from 0.93 · 10^?9 to 3.85 · 10^?9 m²/s for untreated carrots and from 1.17 · 10^?9 to 5.10 · 10^?9 m²/s for PEF-treated carrots.     

Pulsed Electric Field Pretreatment for Osmotic Dehydration of Apple Tissue: Experimental and Mathematical Modeling Studies

The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of pulsed electric field pretreatment (PEF) on the osmotic dehydration of apple tissue. Osmotic dehydration was carried out in sucrose solution at 40°C and 100 rpm in a water-bath shaker. PEF pretreatment was performed using varying field strength of 5 and 10 kV/cm and 10 and 50 pulses. On the basis of electric conductivity measurement, the cell disintegration index was calculated. The course of osmotic dehydration was described by means of water loss, solid gain, weight reduction, and water content changes. Moreover, the course of the process was described by different mathematical models that are commonly used in the literature. PEF application before osmotic dehydration significantly increased water loss after 60 minutes of the process. In turn, no significant differences were found in the case of solid gain. The highest osmotic dehydration efficiency ratio (WL/SG) was noticed for samples treated by PEF at the electric field strength of 5 kV/cm and 10 pulses. The statistical analysis of mathematical modeling of the process showed the equations utilized generally exhibit a good fit to the experimental data.     

Drying Characteristics of Pulsed Electric Field-Treated Carrot

This study was designed to establish the interaction effect of various components of pulsed electric field (PEF) system on drying characteristics of carrot, a vegetable rich in carotenoid. Carrots were treated in PEF system of 0.5, 1, and 1.5 kV/cm electric field strength, 0.5 and 1 μF capacitance, and pulse numbers of 10, 30, and 50. The samples were subsequently dried at 70°C until reaching an acceptable moisture content level. Drying rates were significantly (P < 0.05) influenced by PEF treatment. Variation in drying constant was not significantly influenced by the interaction effect of electric field components but by the energy per pulse. The Henderson and Perry model was fitted to the drying curve and it gave correlation coefficients ranging between 0.86 and 0.96.     

环糊精及其衍生物在生物领域中的应用

根据近年相关文献报导,本文阐述了以环糊精为主体分子对客体分子的包埋模式,系统地介绍了环糊精及其衍生物在制药学、仿酶学及食品科学等生物领域中的应用及其进展。     

Synergistic Effect of PVDF-Coated PCL-TCP Scaffolds and Pulsed Electromagnetic Field on Osteogenesis

Bone exhibits piezoelectric properties. Thus, electrical stimulations such as pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) and stimuli-responsive piezoelectric properties of scaffolds have been investigated separately to evaluate their efficacy in supporting osteogenesis. However, current understanding of cells responding under the combined influence of PEMF and piezoelectric properties in scaffolds is still lacking. Therefore, in this study, we fabricated piezoelectric scaffolds by functionalization of polycaprolactone-tricalcium phosphate (PCL-TCP) films with a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) coating that is self-polarized by a modified breath-figure technique. The osteoinductive properties of these PVDF-coated PCL-TCP films on MC3T3-E1 cells were studied under the stimulation of PEMF. Piezoelectric and ferroelectric characterization demonstrated that scaffolds with piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃ = −1.2 pC/N were obtained at a powder dissolution temperature of 100 °C and coating relative humidity (RH) of 56%. DNA quantification showed that cell proliferation was significantly enhanced by PEMF as low as 0.6 mT and 50 Hz. Hydroxyapatite staining showed that cell mineralization was significantly enhanced by incorporation of PVDF coating. Gene expression study showed that the combination of PEMF and PVDF coating promoted late osteogenic gene expression marker most significantly. Collectively, our results suggest that the synergistic effects of PEMF and piezoelectric scaffolds on osteogenesis provide a promising alternative strategy for electrically augmented osteoinduction. The piezoelectric response of PVDF by PEMF, which could provide mechanical strain, is particularly interesting as it could deliver local mechanical stimulation to osteogenic cells using PEMF.     

Tumour Cell Membrane Poration and Ablation by Pulsed Low-Intensity Electric Field with Carbon Nanotubes

Electroporation is a physical method to increase permeabilization of cell membrane by electrical pulses. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can potentially act like “lighting rods” or exhibit direct physical force on cell membrane under alternating electromagnetic fields thus reducing the required field strength. A cell poration/ablation system was built for exploring these effects of CNTs in which two-electrode sets were constructed and two perpendicular electric fields could be generated sequentially. By applying this system to breast cancer cells in the presence of multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs), the effective pulse amplitude was reduced to 50 V/cm (main field)/15 V/cm (alignment field) at the optimized pulse frequency (5 Hz) of 500 pulses. Under these conditions instant cell membrane permeabilization was increased to 38.62%, 2.77-fold higher than that without CNTs. Moreover, we also observed irreversible electroporation occurred under these conditions, such that only 39.23% of the cells were viable 24 h post treatment, in contrast to 87.01% cell viability without presence of CNTs. These results indicate that CNT-enhanced electroporation has the potential for tumour cell ablation by significantly lower electric fields than that in conventional electroporation therapy thus avoiding potential risks associated with the use of high intensity electric pulses.     

电场作用灭活军团菌的机理研究

试验考察了次氯酸钠溶液、Fenton试剂对军团菌作用后,扫描电镜照片所显示的细胞形态,并与电场杀灭军团菌后的试验结果相比较,论证了电场杀菌技术对于杀灭军团菌的主要作用机理,证明电场杀菌技术所产生的强氧化性物质在杀灭军团菌过程中起着关键作用。     

高压脉冲电场破乳的影响因素探讨

在高压脉冲电场中,W/O乳状液的分散相液滴产生聚结和沉降,可与连续相分离开来。采用以新型电极作为内电极的同心圆柱状破乳装置对模拟W/O乳状液进行破乳,对其影响因素电极、试验电压、破乳时间、温度等进行试验研究。试验结果表明：采用3#电极时破乳率最高;随着试验电压的提高,时间增长,温度升高,其破乳率都能提高。对各影响因素的影响机理进行了分析,同时指出了试验的不足之处。     

电场增强等离子体作用下甲烷转化动力学研究

Methane conversion was studied with electric field enhanced plasma (EFEP) technique at the atmosphere pressure and low temperature ranging from 323 K to 373 K. The conversion of methane is up to 60%-80%. The kinetics of methane conversion was studied using naicroreactor. The reaction model of power function type was obtained as: r = 90.99exp (-26980/RT)C0226A(mol·m-3·s-1). The global kinetics parameters were calculated by the variable simple-pure shape method. The calculating results are in good agreement with experimental data.     

生物除磷的电场强化作用及其规律研究

本课题通过对比试验对生物除磷的电场强化作用及其规律进行了初步研究,结果表明,在试验条件下(电流密度:i=0．04-0．08mA／cm2),无论那个反应时段(厌氧段、好氧段)施加电场,对提高、稳定生物除磷效率都有积极的作用;对比研究发现,在相同的电流密度下,好氧段电场强化对除磷效果的促进作用更明显,在最佳工况(好氧段强化,i=0．08mA／cm2),电场强化反应器TP平均去除率高达92％,比对照组普通生物反应器高出15％。另外,试验分析了剩余污泥的含磷量,数据显示,电场强化生物反应器剩余污泥含磷率达5．04％(干重),比对照组普通生物反应器高0．68％,进一步表明了电场可强化活性污泥的超量吸磷能力。     

脉冲电场对Fe-C-P系合金熔体凝固过程的影响研究

在Fe-C-P系合金熔体的凝固过程中加入脉冲电场能有效减轻晶界偏聚,改善凝固组织,同时也引起了元素的迁移和重新分布,C元素与P元素呈现出相似的迁移规律,随着电压的增加,P元素偏析标准偏差从1.67降到1.26,C元素也由1.03降到0.65. 处理后的熔体凝固组织中夹杂物主要分布在中心区域,凝固组织中未观察到含磷夹杂物,存在少量MnS和Al2O3夹杂物.     

高压脉冲电场技术在污泥资源化利用的试验

采用高压脉冲电场技术(PEF)处理城镇污泥,分析电场强度、频率、波形、占空比对污泥破壁效果的影响,并优化不同控制条件下的试验效果。结果表明:4种控制参数对污泥破壁效果均有很大的影响;其中,占空比越低,污泥破壁效果越佳;在120 min处理时间内,电场强度为12 kV/cm、频率为50 Hz、占空比为10%、波形为方波时,SCOD增幅为398.8%。这是首次在研究中使用该技术进行污泥处理将SCOD的含量提高近4倍。说明,PEF技术参数的优化有着显著提高污泥资源化利用的潜力。     

生物除磷的电场强化作用研究及动力学初探

本课题通过对比试验对生物除磷的电场强化作用及其动力学进行了初步研究,结果表明,在试验条件下(电流密度:i=0．04～0．08mA／cm2),无论哪个反应时段(厌氧段、好氧段)施加电场,对提高、稳定生物除磷效率都有积极的作用;且厌氧放磷反应及好氧吸磷反应都近似地符合一级动力学规律,电场可增大厌氧放磷及好氧吸磷速率常数,从而提高、稳定生物除磷效率。     

Self-Organization of Fullerene Derivatives in Solutions and Biological Cells Studied by Pulsed Field Gradient NMR

Fullerene derivatives are of great interest in various fields of science and technology. Fullerene derivatives are known to have pronounced anticancer and antiviral activity. They have antibacterial properties. Their properties are largely determined by association processes. Understanding the nature and properties of associates in solvents of various types will make it possible to make significant progress in understanding the mechanisms of aggregation of molecules of fullerene derivatives in solutions. Thus, this work, aimed at studying the size and stability of associates, is relevant and promising for further research. The NMR method in a pulsed field gradient was used, which makes it possible to directly study the translational mobility of molecules. The sizes of individual molecules and associates were calculated based on the Stokes–Einstein model. The lifetime of associates was also estimated. The interaction of water-soluble C₆₀ fullerene derivatives with erythrocytes was also evaluated. The values of self-diffusion coefficients and the lifetime of molecules of their compounds in cell membranes are obtained. It is concluded that the molecules of fullerene derivatives are fixed on the cell surface, and their forward movement is controlled by lateral diffusion.     

纳秒脉冲电场灭菌对舒心糖浆质量影响的初步研究

探讨纳秒脉冲电场灭菌对舒心糖浆质量变化的影响作用。以性状、密度、p H值、有效成分黄芪甲苷含量为质量评价指标,考察纳秒脉冲电场灭菌对舒心糖浆的影响作用。舒心糖浆在经纳秒脉冲电场灭菌前后在外观、密度、p H值、黄芪甲苷含量均无明显变化。纳秒脉冲电场灭菌对舒心糖浆质量无影响,可作为一种新型灭菌方式来继续深入研究。     

高压脉冲电场对餐厨垃圾发酵产气特性的影响

为了实现餐厨垃圾的减量化,采用高压脉冲电场(pulsed electric field,PEF)对餐厨垃圾预处理后接种厌氧污泥进行厌氧发酵,考察pH、挥发性有机酸(VFA)与日产气量的关系,分析PEF对餐厨垃圾厌氧发酵的影响.结果表明:在温度50℃条件下,日产气量与pH成正比例变化趋势,与VFA呈反比例关系.经PEF(电场强度为9.0 kV·cm-1)预处理后,接种20％厌氧污泥,餐厨垃圾干物质产气量(285.1 mL·(g·TS)-1)与TS去除率(28.5％)均达到最高,高于无PEF预处理餐厨垃圾的干物质产气量(267.3 mL·(g· TS)-1)和TS去除率(26.8％).PEF能够杀死餐厨垃圾样品中的微生物,改善接种后微生物的生存环境,减少微生物发生种间竞争的概率,利于提高产气量.