Continuous Flow Treatment Chamber for Liquid Food Processing through

Pulsed Electric Field

Rai Naveed Arshad1,*, Zolkafle B. Buntat1, Ali M. Dastgheib2, Yanti M. M.

Jusoh3, Abdullah Munir4, Rana Muhammad Aadil5, Mohd Hafizi Ahmad1

1
IVAT, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia; 2Islamic Azad University,
Marvdasht Branch, Iran; 3Food and Biomaterial Engineering Research Group, Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia; 4Department of Electrical Engineering NEDUET
Karachi 75270, Pakistan, 5National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of
Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan.

*Corresponding Author; Email: rainaveed@yahoo.co.uk

Submitted: ……18-07-2019………… Accepted: …………………….

Abstract
In pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment, non-uniform distributions of the electric field
and temperature are problematic within a treatment chamber. The helical shape has a
favorable feature of flow that facilitates to resolve these issues. This work was performed to
determine the optimal design of the helically shaped treatment chamber and its proficiency
in the quality and stability of liquid foods. The uniformity of the electric field was evaluated
using numerical simulation. The simulations were validated through three different designs
of the helical chambers to treat the liquid samples of mango, pineapple, and coconut milk.
The consequence of the treatments and the storage time were monitored through
physicochemical and microbial analysis of the treated samples. This treatment process causes
a temperature rise of less than 10%. The beverages treated inside the helical treatment
chamber were stable up to 7 days of storage at ambient storage condition (25°C) by
minimizing quality changes and reducing microbial growth.

Keywords: Non-thermal pasteurization; pulse electric fields; treatment chamber; shelf-life;

microbial growth reduction.
1. Introduction

The conventional thermal pasteurization improves the shelf life of the liquid food along

with undesirable changes (flavor, color, and odor) in the treated sample. Multiple studies have

supported the usage of emerging procedures such as pulsed electric field (PEF), microwave

(MW) and ultrasonication (US) as an alternative to the thermal processing in liquid food

treatment (Morales-de la Peña et al., 2018, Rosello-Soto et al., 2018, Lafarga et al., 2018). The

PEF technology acts as a most prominent non-thermal process to inactivate microorganisms

in liquid foods with a minimum adverse effect on the physical characteristics of the products

(McAuley et al., 2016, Ramaswamy and Ramachandran, 2016, Aadil et al., 2018). This

process is based on a phenomenon called electroporation of the cell membranes (Salinas-Roca

et al., 2017). It starts to rupture the membrane and result in a reversible or irreversible loss of

membrane permeability depending on the generation of critical electric field strength (Bachtler

and Bart, 2018). A large number of studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of PEF

treatment (Yeo and Liong, 2013, Žgalin et al., 2012, Haberl et al., 2013, Mok et al., 2017, El

Kantar et al., 2018, Roobab et al., 2018). It is also helpful to increases the shelf-life of the

treated liquid food stored at a low temperature from 7 to 21 days (Toepfl, 2011). However, in

spite of such achievements, more homogeneous distribution of temperature and electric field

to the whole treated sample is questionable (El-Hag et al., 2006, Ohshima et al., 2016,

Mohamed, 2012, Masood et al., 2018).

The peak field intensity, treatment homogeneity, and subsequently, the efficiency of

microbial inactivation are mainly affected by the design of the treatment chamber (Masood et

al., 2018). The design of the treatment chamber takes into consideration the shape of the

insulator or configuration of electrodes (Buckow et al., 2011). A properly designed chamber

is essential to bring about a much powerful and uniform electric field to reduce the

microorganisms in the juices. Some principles are mandatory for a successful treatment of
liquid food with electric-field strengths; such as: (i) remove any direct interface between the

electrode and the liquid food as it prevents dissolving of particles due to electrochemical

reactions (electrolysis) (Roodenburg et al., 2005, Li et al., 2005), (ii) keep the insulator in the

region of safe electric field, (iii) increase the length of the treatment zone to raise the residence

time (Masood et al., 2018), (iv) ring electrode creates a larger area as compared to the sharp

edge electrodes (Timoshkin et al., 2006). Moreover, most of the treatment chambers were

designed to treat specific liquid food because they affect adjustments of the treatment zone to

the characteristic impedance of the cable (Huang and Wang, 2009). It is an incredible obstacle

in the examination of inactivation rates. This problem can be solved by using a coaxial

chamber with the inner electrode connects to a high voltage pulse supply and outer to the

ground terminal (Pizzichemi, 2007). Thus, the internal electrode permits adjustments at

different values of resistivity.

If the flow of the liquid is laminar, then there is a possibility that heterogeneous treatment

will likely to occur (Raso et al., 2016; Buchmann et al., 2018). However, most of the published

literature has used laminar flow in continuous processing due to the low frequency of the pulse

generator. The exposure of particles (e.g., microbial cells) to different locations of the

treatment zone with electric field strengths is only possible by increasing the mixing effects

and the creation of turbulence at low flow velocities through stirring the liquid food

(references). As a result, it leads to a more homogeneous distribution of temperature and

electric field to the whole treated sample. The helical geometry develops a turbulent flow of

sample irrespective of its viscosity (Islek, 2004). Hence, a treatment chamber developed with

helical geometry can improve the performance of the PEF treatment in terms of electric field

uniformity to the whole sample, longer exposure time, and minimizing the temperature rise.

The parallel configuration of electrodes produces a field improvement problem at the edges,

and co-linear electrodes overestimated the actual electric field strength inside the treatment
zone (Buckow et al., 2012, Bermaki et al., 2017). Hence, the combination of coaxial electrodes

with helical treatment zone provides a uniform pulsed electric field to the whole sample

without a dielectric breakdown.

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of helical treatment

chamber for increasing the shelf life of the treated liquid foods. It also considers the

inactivation kinetics of bacteria through different electric fields and different length of the

helical treatment zone.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Raw Material

The juice samples of mango, pineapple, and coconut milk were produced in a controlled,

clean environment. The fruit pulps and solid particles were separated by passing the fruit juices

through paper filters (MN6151/4) to avoid unexpected electric field discharge during the PEF

treatment (Ikhu-Omoregbe, 2009). In contrast with pineapple and mango juices, the sample

of coconut milk was used without filtering. Treated and non-treated samples were stored under

the same environmental conditions for seven days to allow the microbial growth

(EVRENDILEK et al., 2001, El-Hag et al., 2006).

2.2. Helical Treatment Chamber

The treatment zone was made by a Pyrex glass tube with an inner diameter of 8mm and

1mm wall thickness arranged in a helical shape, as shown in Figure 1. A hollow Stainless-

Steel cylindrical electrode with a diameter of 4.5 cm was placed at the center of the treatment

zone and used as a high voltage electrode. Another steel electrode was used as a ground

terminal at the outer side of the helical glass. Three different lengths (20, 30, and 50cm) of the

chamber were fabricated to study the effects of length. Clay was used as electrical insulators
to fill the gap between the swirls of the glass pipe. Both the electrodes and the helical chamber

was washed with detergent and wiped with a cotton cloth soaked in acetone.

[Insert Figure 1 here]

2.3. Simulation Study

The COMSOL Multiphysics TM was used for simulating the electric field distribution in

the helical treatment chamber. Helical treatment chamber was designed in COMSOL, as

shown in figure 2. Most of the mesh was automatically produced and improved manually at

the curved part of the treatment zone. All this simulation was done by a desktop computer, and

it took almost 10 minutes to complete the entire computation.

[Insert Figure 2 here]

2.4. Experimental Setup

For this project, a coaxial Blumlein lines pulse forming system developed at the IVAT,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; was used to analyze the efficiency of PEF treatment, as shown

below Figure 3. It is composed of a high voltage supply (high voltage AC transformer model

Haefely PZT 100-0.1, a rectifier & voltage regulator model Kosijaya K-5051), to generate a

maximum peak voltage of 50kV, a rotating spark gap as a switching medium, Tektronix probe

model P6015A to measure the voltage waveforms across the test cell, and the digital

oscilloscope to record the generated pulses. The high voltage pulse generator operated at a

maximum pulse repetition rate of 200 pulses/sec and a pulse width of 65 nsec. The

experimental test began with the temperature at 25- 26 °C and humidity of 54 - 56 %.

[Insert Figure 3 here]

 In this study, the volume of the liquid in the treatment zone was set to 100 ml for 20 cm,

160 ml for 30 cm, and 270 ml for the 50 cm. The flow rate was 240 𝑚𝑙⁄𝑚𝑖𝑛. So the residence

time of the 30 cm chamber was 40 sec.

2.5. Analysis of Shelf Life

The effectiveness of the PEF system is measured through chemical and microbial tests on

treated and untreated samples of the three different fruit juices. These tests were accomplished

in the Food and Biomaterial Engineering Research Group (FoBERG) under the Faculty of

Chemical and Energy Engineering, UTM. These tests were carried out to measure the shelf

life after seven days. The temperature and humidity during the storage were 25-26 ℃ and 55-

65%, respectively. Immediately after seven days, all treated and non-treated samples were

analyzed through the chemical and microbial analysis.

2.6. Chemical Analysis

Most of the scientific information about the effects of PEF on fruit juices focuses on

measurements of physicochemical characteristics such as pH, °Brix (total soluble solids),

conductivity, and viscosity (Kayalvizhi et al., 2016). About reaching that goal, a popular

chemical device assessment called YSI (ProDSS Digital, USA) was used.

2.7. Microbial Analysis

Bioscience test by a spectrophotometer is one of the most popular methods for detection

of microbial growth rate in fruit juices. The inactivate microorganisms in treated, untreated,

and freshly squeezed juices were investigated for the presence of bacteria. A T60 UV

spectrophotometer (PG Instruments UK) was used to note the bacterial culture growth in

tropical fruit juices through recorded optical spectra (Rukchon et al., 2014).

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Sensory Qualities Analysis

 The sample juices were treated with PEF system and stored them along with un-treated

samples for seven days. After storage of seven days; the physical conditions of both the

untreated and treated samples (treated with 30 kV/cm and chamber lengths of 20, 30, and 50

cm separately) are shown in Figure 4.

[Insert Figure 4 here]

In terms of the customer’s point of view, visual appearance is the main thing for the

acceptance and rejection of any food product. Figure 4 shows the visual appearance of the

treated and untreated sample. It can be seen that juice treated with 30 cm treatment chamber

has a fresher look then untreated and other lengths of the treatment chamber. Helical treatment

chamber has not required any cooling system during the treatment procedure. The helical coil

configuration is very effective for heat exchange because of their large heat transfer area in a

small space with a high heat transfer coefficient. Temperature drop for helical coil tube is

higher than a straight tube. It is due to the curvature effect of the helical coil (G.Karmankar,

2015). As this proposed method illustrated, there was no direct contact between the electrode

surface and the liquid samples, which was targeted to avoid temperature rise due to direct

Ohmic heating (Joule’s heating). Moreover, the nsec pulse width is another important

parameter responsible for less energy dissipated in the PEF treatment (Qin et al., 2014). The

difference in temperature between treated and untreated samples was 3.3℃. Hence, the current

treatment does not affect the color of the juice due to less heating as well as a narrow pulse

width of high voltage.

3.2. Numerical analysis

Figure 5 demonstrates the expected uniform electric field distribution in the proposed

helical treatment zone with coaxial electrodes. With this configuration, the electric field is
distributed in a descendant order from the inner electrode in the direction of the outer electrode,

and the strength of this electric field is uniform within the treatment zone.

[Insert Figure 5 here]

Moreover, the large radii of the electrodes as compared to the gap between them helped

to provide a uniform distribution in the treatment zone.

3.3. Chemical Analysis

Table I shows the modification in the quality parameters (conductivity, total soluble solids

(oBrix), pH, and viscosity) of the treated juice after seven days of storage. These chemical

parameters are reviewed about distinct treatment chamber lengths and various electric fields.

For the final analysis; the changes in the chemical parameters of the treated and untreated

sample are compared with the fresh samples.

[Insert Table I here]

The non-treated juices seemed to have a lower pH value as compared to fresh juices after

seven days, which showed to be more acidic for all the samples and chamber length. This was

related to the growth of different microorganisms inside the fruit juices, which changed the

chemical structure of the juices. PEF treatment caused less detrimental changes in the viscosity

and no significant changes in pH, °Brix, and conductivity. It validates the general findings that

there are no detectable changes for PEF-processed fruit juices and increases the shelf life

(Evrendilek, 2016Evrendilek, 2016).

Table I illustrates that after storage of seven days, increasing the PEF strength from 10

kV/cm to 30 kV/cm tends to tiled the chemical properties of the treated samples towards the

fresh samples. There was a significant increase in these parameters of the treated fruit juices

when the chamber length was increased from 20 cm to 30 cm. However, further increased the

chamber length from 30 to 50 cm has reduced their values slightly. This was in contrast with
the initial expectation that the longer chamber length provides more treatment time for the

juice samples and the more effective it is to kill the bacteria. This unpredictable result was due

to the creation of bubbles, which caused the spark inside the fruit juice samples. A longer

exposure time intensifies the effect of electrostriction tension and also facilitate to develop

bubbles inside the samples. These bubbles converge faster and reduce the average discharge

time. Hence, 50 cm length of the helical treatment chamber is less effective as compared to a

length of 30 cm.

3.4. Microbial analysis

As mentioned before, PEF is effective for inactivating microorganisms in liquid foods

such as fruit juices, thereby extending shelf life. Table II shows the effectiveness of the

research in the study of microbial inactivation with different lengths of the helical treatment

chamber and various electric field intensity in PEF technology. Initially, all treated samples

showed a significant reduction in the microbial count as compared to the untreated samples

but could not attain a complete inactivation of microorganisms. After storage of seven days,

microbial growth was observed in all treated and untreated samples.

[Insert Table II here]

After seven days of storage, the microbial growth rate in untreated samples are 18.89,

19.40 and 9.34 -𝑙𝑜𝑔10 CFU/ml for mango, pineapple and coconut milk, respectively.

According to Table 2, a helical chamber with a length of 30 cm shows the highest performance

in hindering microbial growth. For this experimental test process, it attains the log reduction

(LR) of 7.48, 3.18, and 5.55-𝑙𝑜𝑔10 CFU/ml for the treated samples of mango, pineapple, and

coconut milk, respectively at 30 kV/cm. The microbial growth rate was reduced significantly

in all PEF-treated juice samples; particularly 7.5-𝑙𝑜𝑔10 CFU/ml reduction was achieved at 30

cm sterilization chamber for mango juice that is quite substantial and appears to be somewhat
greater than other studies. Although, the microbial growth rate value depends on the process

variables such as PEF strength and sterilization chamber length. The comparison between the

current study and the previous study proves that the superiority of the newly designed helical

sterilization chamber design in preserving the processed fruit juices with comparable quality

and nutritional content to the fresh ones.

4. Conclusion

Our research is explaining the uniform distribution of the electric field inside the helical

treatment chamber. The helical chamber is capable of reducing the microbial growth

effectively in fruit juice samples as it applies uniform electric field strengths to the whole

sample. It was concluded that the treated juice samples with a pulse electric field showed that

there was no change in their sensory properties like color and aroma of the treated samples.

Thus, it ensures safety as well as the quality of the treated samples by protecting the chemical

properties and reducing the microbial count. The experiment was repeated thrice and noted

that helical chamber with 30 cm length having the higher characteristics of fruit juices with an

electric field intensity of 30 kV/cm. This study recommends the potential of this system for

industrial-scale applications, which will be an easy approach to control the microbial growth

after this simple treatment and helpful for extending the shelf life.

Acknowledgments:

This research was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia and

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) with grant Vot. Number: 13H14.

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 ALL FIGURES

Figure 1. Helical treatment zone (all dimensions are in mm)

Figure 2. Helical geometry in COMSOL Multiphysics

 Figure 3. Experimental setup at IVAT, UTM

Figure 4. Visual comparison of untreated and treated samples (with different

lengths of the chamber at 30 kV/cm) after storage of seven days
Figure 5. Electric field strength uniformity for the helical treatment chamber
 ALL TABLE

Table I. After seven days, variation in the chemical parameters of juices with
different chambers and electric field
Chamber
Fruit 10 20 30 Non-
Parameter Length Fresh
Juices kV/cm kV/cm kV/cm Treated
(cm)
20 3.15 3.18 3.20
Pineapple 30 3.17 3.20 3.22 3.10 3.28
50 3.14 3.14 3.21
(µS/cm)

20 3.16 3.19 3.21

Conductivity

Mango 30 3.18 3.20 3.23 3.11 3.29

50 3.17 3.19 3.22
20 3.18 3.23 3.25
Coconut
30 3.23 3.24 3.27 3.13 3.34
milk
50 3.18 3.23 3.26
20 5.09 5.10 5.13
pH

Pineapple 30 5.12 5.13 5.16 5.06 5.18

50 5.11 5.12 5.14
20 5.19 5.19 5.21
Mango 30 5.20 5.21 5.24 5.13 5.27
50 5.18 5.17 5.21
20 6.11 6.12 6.13
Coconut
30 6.15 6.15 6.16 6.00 6.21
milk
50 6.12 6.13 6.14
20 10.03 10.06 10.08
Pineapple 30 10.05 10.08 10.10 10.02 10.12
50 10.05 10.07 10.09
20 10.12 10.14 10.16
Mango 30 10.15 10.16 10.18 10.11 10.21
Brix
(%)

50 10.13 10.15 10.17

20 10.24 10.24 10.25
Coconut
30 10.25 10.26 10.27 10.23 10.31
milk
50 10.24 10.25 10.26
20 16.34 17.39 10.08
Pineapple 30 19.49 20.58 10.10 8.81 26.78
50 17.44 18.52 10.09
20 18.47 20.11 10.21
Viscosity

Mango 30 19.44 20.56 10.18 9.14 28.14

(CP)

50 19.69 21.42 10.17

20 17.53 19.79 10.25
Coconut
30 20.31 21.47 10.27 11.21 29.97
milk
50 18.44 20.58 10.26
Table II. Microbial growth rate (𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 CFU/ml) in treated juices with different
chamber’s length and electric field’s strengths

Mango Pineapple Coconut milk

Electric
20 30 50 20 30 50 20 30 50
field
cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm

10 kV/cm 15.3 14.1 14.9 18.7 15.3 17.8 7.48 7.33 7.39

20 kV/cm 13.8 13.3 13.1 17.6 14.7 13.7 7.32 6.5 7.18

30 kV/cm 13.7 11.41 12.5 17.8 16.2 14.4 4.62 3.79 4.29