Refine
Document Type
- Article (5)
- Part of a Book (2)
Language
- English (7)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (7)
Keywords
- PEF (3)
- Electroporation (2)
- Pulsed electric field (2)
- Sublimation drying (2)
- Alternative peeling methods (1)
- Apple (1)
- Crystallinity (1)
- Dehydration (1)
- Emerging technology (1)
- Food (1)
Institute
- Fakultät AuL (7)
Plant-based proteins are rapidly emerging, while novel technologies are explored to offer more efficient extraction processes. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of pulsed electric fields (PEFs) and temperature on the extraction of soluble proteins from nettle leaves (Urtica dioica L.) and identify an optimal operational range for the highest yield of soluble proteins. Extractions and kinetic modeling were conducted with whole and ground dried leaves at different temperatures (30–70 °C) and specific energy of PEF (0–30 kJ kg−1) with extraction times of up to 60 min. The influence of temperature and specific energy on the soluble protein extraction yields was investigated and modeled using composite central design and response surface methodology. The experimental results were fitted to Peleg's kinetic model, which satisfactorily described the extraction process (R2 > 0.902), and PEF treated samples resulted in a higher soluble protein yield and shortened processing time. Response surface methodology showed that the linear effect of temperature and quadratic effect of PEF (p < 0.01) were highly significant for protein yield. In the optimized PEF-extraction region (specific energy between 10 and 24 kJ kg−1, and 70–78 °C), soluble protein yield was higher than 60% after 5 minutes of extraction. The achieved results are relevant for developing processes for PEF assisted extraction of soluble proteins from leaves. Understanding the effects of PEFs and process parameters is crucial to obtain high protein yields, while requiring low energy and short processing time.
This chapter presents the mechanism of the enhancement of freezing by means of ultrasound (US). It has been demonstrated that the effects of US are a rather complex issue. In theory, ultrasound creates cavitation bubbles throughout the volume of the product, which promotes nucleation of the ice and crushes the crystals already present in food. They can also enhance convective heat transfer to the cooling media, thereby accelerating freezing. Moreover, it has been shown that ultrasound reduces the degree of supercooling before nucleation in frozen food. Additionally, numerous experimental studies indicate that ultrasound assisted freezing is a good method to achieve homogenous crystallizations, reduce the deteriorating effect of freezing on food, and thus improve quality after thawing.
Dehydration is a technique that has been used since ancient times. The need to develop more efficient processes to obtain dehydrated foods of higher quality from the organoleptic and nutritional point of view has led to the study of different techniques. For instance, convection drying, freeze-drying, spray drying, vacuum drying, microwave vacuum drying, infrared radiation drying, osmotic dehydration, among others have been investigated.
Over the last years, pulsed electric fields (PEF)-assisted drying has attracted the interest of several researchers due to its ability for reducing drying time, preserving at the same time some thermolabile compounds which are responsible for the aroma, nutritional and bioactive properties of food products.
Therefore, in this article, some of the most important studies regarding the application of PEF-assisted drying in food processing will be discussed.
The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of pulsed electric field (PEF) pre-treatment of apple tissue on kinetics of freeze-drying preceded by vacuum freezing and physical properties of such processed material. PEF intensified freeze-drying kinetics and thus reduced processing time by 57% in comparison to untreated apples slices. Furthermore, the effective water diffusion coefficient increased by 44% as a result of PEF application. Water activity changes during storage of freeze-dried apple tissue were more evident in the case of untreated material albeit initial water activity was higher in the case of electroporated samples. As proved by thermal properties measurements these differences were linked to higher crystallinity of the PEF treated samples (35.5%) in comparison to the untreated material (11.0%). The freeze-dried fruits subjected to PEF pretreatment absorbed more water than the untreated samples while no changes were observed for hygroscopicity and loss of the soluble solids during rehydration.
In this study, the impact of a pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment on the final quality of freeze-dried apples was investigated. The PEF treatment has been performed at an electric field intensity equal to 1.07 kV/cm and a specific energy input of 0.5, 1 and 5 kJ/kg. The samples were freeze-dried (without a separate pre-freezing step) at varying temperatures (set on 40 °C and 60 °C) and pressures (0.1, 0.25 and 1 mbar). The quality of dried material was evaluated by the analysis of residual moisture content, macro- and microscopic properties, colour, the total content of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity as well as texture and acoustic properties. It was found that the residual moisture content of PEF treated samples was reduced by up to ∼82% in comparison to the intact tissue. For electroporated samples, a good preservation of macro-shape, an inhibition of shrinkage and the development of large pores were observed. The PEF treated material exhibited a higher total phenolic content, but a smaller antioxidant activity. Mechanical and acoustic analysis showed a higher crunchiness and brittleness for PEF-treated tissue, whereas untreated tissue was characterised by a harder and rather crackly texture.
The impact of Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) on the peeling ability of different fruits and vegetables in particular tomatoes, peaches, peppers, and oranges were investigated. Samples were exposed to a fixed electric field strength of 2.15 kV/cm. The specific energy ranged from 0.6 kJ/kg to 50.3 kJ/kg. The treated raw materials were analysed regarding to the peeling ability, skin size and weight and firmness. The best result for tomatoes at a specific energy of 1.2 kJ/kg induced a high score of peeling ability that led to less product loss and could therefore increase the yield by 33.84%–41.53% compared to untreated samples. Moreover, an increased skin size by a factor of 3.7 was observed. However, PEF had no significant impact on peeling ability of oranges, peppers, and peaches. Although oranges showed an improvement in peeling ability by up to 32%, this cannot be traced back to the PEF treatment. The different properties and structures of the raw materials were discussed and provided indications about the limitation of PEF.
In this study the effect of PEF pre-treatment on the microstructure of freeze-dried strawberry dices was investigated. The PEF treatment has been performed at an electric field intensity of 1.07 kV/cm and a specific energy input of 1 kJ/kg. The samples were freeze-dried at a temperature of 45 °C and a pressure of 1 mbar. The microstructure of dried material was evaluated by different physical and optical methods, such as SEM, μ-CT and thermogravimetry. Moreover, mechanical and acoustic properties as well as the colour of processed material have been analyzed. PEF pre-treated strawberry dices showed a more uniform shape, a better retention of volume and a visual better quality compared to untreated ones. Moreover, PEF pre-treatment led to a more homogeneous distribution and a greater thickness of pores. In accordance, analysis of textural properties evidenced that PEF treated freeze-dried strawberry dices were crispier than untreated ones. Measurement of L*a*b*-values showed that PEF treated material was characterized by a more preserved colour after freeze-drying than untreated ones.