Modeling of Concentrated High Intensity Electric Field (CHIEF) and Its Comparison with Other Non-thermal Liquid Food Pasteurization Technologies

Abstract

Non-thermal preservations of food have received rising attention due to the increase concern of environmental sustainability and the demand of safer food with improved nutritional functionalities. High pressure and electric field treatment are two non-thermal food treatment strategies that have been widely studied. Some representatives of non-thermal technologies that utilize high-pressure and electric field to pasteurize food products include High hydrostatic pressure (HHP), high-pressure homogenization (HPH), and pulsed electric field (PEF). These non-thermal technologies, together with concentrated high intensity electric field (CHIEF) are studied and compared in this thesis research. This study used finite element (FEM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to model and simulate the fluid flow, electric field distribution and temperature rise in CHIEF reactor. The simulation was confirmed to be valid by comparing it with experimental results. The model built in this study showed that the performance of CHIEF system was influenced by a set of intrinsic and extrinsic parameters. This model could be used to control and set variables in further optimization of the CHIEF system. Each of the non-thermal technologies discussed in this study has its advantages and unique field of use. HHP, dynamic high-pressure treatment and PEF are relatively mature technologies, while CHIEF system is an innovative and promising non-thermal method that can potentially be used as alternative to PEF.