Industrial-scale electroporation of plant material using high repetition rate Marx generators

Electroporation of biological cells is meanwhile a well understood process. Two possible applications in industry are visible, namely decontamination of liquids from micrometer-scale microorganisms and electroporation of plant material to gain fruit juice and ingredients like starch. Electroporation meets the interest of industry since this procedure promises a lower energy consumption for denaturation than heat-treatment procedures. An other important point is to avoid heating of sensitive food products. A literature review shows that electric field strength of the order of 100 kV/cm with microsecond or even sub-microsecond pulse length are under discussion. This calls for pulse generators with several hundred kilovolts output voltage, pulse duration of typically microseconds, 1 kJ stored energy and a repetition rate of a minimum of 10 Hz. At the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe Marx generators of this type have been developed - mainly for underwater fragmentation purposes - which can meet industrial demands. Even higher repetition rates up to 40 Hz seem possible, since the discharge mode is aperiodically. The mobile pilot device KEA supplied with a 300 kV pulse generator and a mechanical conveyance is able to treat raw plant material.