Evaluation of a static treatment chamber to investigate kinetics of microbial inactivation by pulsed electric fields at different temperatures at quasi-isothermal conditions

A static parallel electrode treatment chamber with tempered electrodes has been designed to obtain kinetics data on microbial inactivation by pulsed electric fields (PEF) at different temperatures at quasi-isothermal conditions. Distribution of the electric field strength and temperature within the treatment zone was estimated by a finite element method. A good agreement was observed between the temperatures estimated by numerical simulation and temperatures measured by a thermocouple in the treatment zone before and after the PEF treatments (values of RMSE below 3%). Influence of the treatment temperature on PEF inactivation (30 kV/cm) of Salmonella typhimurium was investigated at temperatures between 4 and 50 °C in media of pH 3.5 and 7.0. Treatment temperature had an important effect on microbial inactivation for both values of pH. At pH 3.5 the inactivation of S. typhimurium was irrelevant at 4 °C but about 1.5, 2.9, 4.0 and 5.0 Log₁₀ reductions were obtained after 30 pulses (90 μs) at 15, 27, 38 and 50 °C, respectively. At pH 7.0, around two Log₁₀ cycles of inactivation were observed after 50 pulses (150 μs) at 4 °C. At temperatures in the range between 15 and 50 °C the treatment temperature practically did not influence PEF resistance of S. typhimurium. A model based on the Weibull distribution adequately described kinetics of inactivation of S. typhimurium at different temperatures. The treatment chamber designed in the investigation could be useful to obtain kinetics data on PEF destruction of microorganisms or other components of interest at a uniform distribution of electric field strength and homogeneous and quasi-isothermal conditions in a wide range of temperatures.