• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.646-651
• /
• 2011

Cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were treated with pulsed electric fields to improve accumulation of zinc in the biomass. Under optimized conditions, that is, on 15 min exposure of the 20 h grown culture to PEFs of 1500 V and 10 ${\mu}s$ pulse width, accumulation of zinc in the yeast biomass reached a maximum of 15.57 mg/g d.m. Under optimum zinc concentration (100 ${\mu}g$/ml nutrient medium), its accumulation in the cells was higher by 63% in comparison with the control (without PEFs). That accumulation significantly correlated against zinc concentration in the medium. Neither multiple exposure of the cultures to PEFs nor intermittent supplementation of the cultures with zinc increased the zinc accumulation. The intermittent supplementation of the cultures with zinc and multiple exposures on PEFs could even reduce the accumulation efficiency, respectively, by 57% and 47%.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 1997.07e
• /
• pp.1678-1680
• /
• 1997

The pulsed power with the high voltage and current can be used to the fields of high speed pulses of energy in different forms such as electric current and voltage, electron beam, ion beam, x-rays, gamma rays, heat, magnetics fields, sound and shock waves. This paper is directed mainly at electrical engineers working on production and practical application of high speed pulsed power with high voltage and current.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.19 no.10
• /
• pp.16-23
• /
• 2018

Alternative technologies for sludge treatment and disposal need to be developed urgently because the amount of produced production has increased continuously. In this study, Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) technique was applied for sludge solubilization and the performance was evaluated. The PEF equipped with electrodes coated by epoxy resin and teflon was inducted to the activated sludge suspension, and the effect of the coating materials on the solubilization was determined. In addition, the effect of the applied voltage on the solubilization yield was investigated as the applied voltage was increased from 6 to 12 and 15 kV. Sludge solubilization was not observed when the epoxy-coated electrode was used for PEF induction regardless of the applied voltage. However, sludge solubilization occurred when 12 and 15 kV were applied to the teflon-coated electrodes. The MLSS decreased to 9%, and the soluble-COD increased to 496% when the applied voltage was 15 kV. But sludge solubilization did not happen under 6 kV condition. The corona discharge was observed at applied voltages of 12 and 15 kV, (Ed- sorry but I cannot understand the following highlight) but if 6 kV, strongly indicating that the corona discharge make the sludge solubilized, which suggests that the critical voltage for sludge solubilization lies between 6 and 12 kV. Consequently, proper selection of electrode-coating materials and the applied voltage of PEF could lead to sludge solubilization by corona discharge.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.17 no.7
• /
• pp.817-826
• /
• 2008

Using high voltage electric fields induced by high voltage AC (10-12 kV/cm, 20 kHz) and pulsed (20-30 kV/cm, 40 Hz) electric field generator as a semipermanent and environment-friendly disinfecting apparatus, the disinfection effect of coliform group in the effluent of sewage plant was investigated. The effects of electric field strength, treatment time, discharge area of a discharge tube, water quality factors (electric conductivity, pH and SS) on its death rate were examined. The death rate of coliform group was increased with increasing electric field strength and treatment time. For AC and pulsed electric field generator, the critical electric field strength was 6 kV/cm and 2 kV/cm, respectively, and the critical treatment time was 5 min and 2 min, respectively, regardless of electric field strength. Comparing the death rate of coliform group by AC and pulsed electric fields used in this study, its death rate was higher for the latter than the former, but did not increase linearly with increasing electric field strength. The results obtained for the effects of discharge area, electric conductivity, pH and SS on the death rate of coliform group using AC electric field (12 kV/cm, 20 kHz) were as follows: its death rate showed the trend to increase linearly with increasing discharge area; for the effect of electric conductivity, its death rate was increased with increasing electric conductivity, regardless of ionic species, increased with increasing cationic valency, but was similar between the same cationic valency; the pH $5{\sim}9$ used in this study did not affect its death rate; its death rate was decreased with increasing SS concentration.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.87-94
• /
• 2015

High voltage pulsed electric fields (PEF) treatment is one of the more promising nonthermal technologies to fully or partially replace thermal processing. The objective of this research was to investigate the microbial inactivation mechanisms of PEF treatment in terms of intra- and extracellular changes in the cells. Saccharomyces cerevisae cells treated with PEF showed cellular membrane damage. This resulted in the leakage of UV-absorbing materials and intracelluar ions, which increased with increasing treatment time and electric fields strength. This indicates that PEF treatment causes cell death via membrane damage and physical rupture of cell walls. We further confirmed this by Phloxine B staining, a dye that accumulates in dead cells. Using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, we observed morphological changes as well as disrupted cytoplasmic membranes in PEF treated S. cerevisae cells. In addition, PEF treatment led to damaged chromosomal DNA in S. cerevisiae.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.665-671
• /
• 2012

The effects of pretreatment by pulsed electric fields (PEFs) on the juice expression characteristics of the Malus pumila fruit were investigated. Fresh fruits were divided into quarters, were produced on a laboratory scale (100 g apples per lot) by pretreatment with electric fields at two different field intensities (1, 2 kV/cm; n=50, 100, 200, and 400 pulses), and were then pressed at room temperature. Relative to the control samples, the juice yield increased with increasing field intensities. The total phenolics and antioxidant activity were higher in the juice from the PEF-treated fruit than in the juice from the untreated fruit. There was no significant difference in soluble-solid and reducing sugar contents between the PEF-treated and untreated fruits. These results suggest that PEF pretreatment may be useful for increasing the juice yield, total phenolics, and antioxidant activity of the Malus pumila fruit.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.21 no.9
• /
• pp.818-824
• /
• 2008

The Separated Pulsed Laser Deposition (SPLD) technique uses two chambers that are separated by a conic metallic wall with a central orifice. The pressures of ablation chamber and deposition chamber were controlled by the differential vacuum system. We deposited zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films by SPLD method to obtain high quality thin films. When the bias voltage of +500 V was applied between a substrate and an orifice, the ZnO thin film was deposited efficiently. The deposited ZnO thin film at ablation chamber gas pressure of Ar 5 mTorr showed the sharpest ultraviolet absorption edge indicatory the band gap of about 3.1 eV. ZnO thin films were deposited using effect of electric and magnetic fields in the SPLD method. E${\times}$B drift happened by an electric fields and a magnetic fields, activated plasma plume, as a result the film surface became very smooth. When the bias voltage of +500 V and magnet of 0,1 T were applied the ZnO thin films surface state showed high quality. Grain size was 41.99 nm and RMS was 0.84 nm.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.1175-1183
• /
• 1997

Lethal effects of high voltage pulsed electric fields (PEF) on suspensions of Lactobacillus plantarum cells in phosphate buffer solution were examined by using continuous recycle treatment system. Critical electric field strength and treatment time needed for inactivation of L. plantarum were 13.6 kV/cm and $16.1\;{\mu}s$ at room temperature, respectively. As decrease in frequency (decreasing pulse number), the degree of inactivation of L. plantarum was increased. A 2.5 log reduction in microbial population could be achieved with an electric field strength of 80 kV/cm, 300 Hz frequency and $2000\;{\mu}s$ treatment time. Survivability was decreased with increase in total treatment time (cycle number) and frequency at the same cycle number. As sterilization model of continuous recycle PEF treatment, $logS=-N_m\;log\;m+B$ and $N_m=k_1\;P_n+k_2$ were established. This model was very well fitted to tile empirical data. The rate of inactivation increased with increase in the processing temperature. The maximum reduction in survivability (5.6 log reduction) was obtained with 80 kV/cm electric field strength at $50^{\circ}C$ for $1000\;{\mu}s$ treatment.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.1082-1084
• /
• 2007

Ultra-high temperature (UHT) processed full fat milk inoculated with Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Bacillus stearothermophilus was exposed to 30-60 kV/cm square wave pulsed electric field (PEF) with $1\;{\mu}sec$ pulse width, and $26-210\;{\mu}sec$ treatment time in a continuous PEF treatment system. Eight log reduction was obtained for E. coli and P. fluorescens and 3 logs reduced for B. stearothermophilus under PEF treatment conditions of $210\;{\mu}sec$ treatment time, 60 kV/cm pulse intensity at $50^{\circ}$. There was no significant change in pH and titration acidity of milk after PEF treatment. The electrical energy required to achieve 8 log reduction for E. coli and P. fluorescens was estimated to be about 0.74 kJ/L.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.165-169
• /
• 2007

High voltage pulsed electric fields (PEF) is a promising technology for the nonthermal extraction of effective components from biological materials. Plant cells were ruptured with PEF at ambient or refrigerated temperature for a short treatment time of second or microsecond. Treatments of coarsely ground purple sweet potato (PSP) with PEF(30 kV/cm, 500 Hz) resulted in maximum extraction yield of 65% as compared with 45-50% for control. An increase in electric field strength (from 10kV/cm to 35kV/cm) and frequency (from 100Hz to 500Hz) resulted in increased amount of extracted pigments, but treatment time is not affected on pigment extraction. Starch granules were not detected and large intracellular spaces were visible between the cells on light and scanning election microscopy of PEF treated PSP. This result suggests that PEF have potential to use on extraction of pigments from plant cells.