Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1712763 | Biosystems Engineering | 2007 | 10 Pages |
The effects of thermal and moderate electric field (MEF) treatment on the damage of sugarbeet tissue were discussed. The activation energy ΔUT was estimated as 170 kJ mol−1 using the temperature dependences of the characteristic thermal damage time within the temperature interval 50–70 °C. The temperature dependences of electrical conductivity were measured for the maximally damaged and intact sugarbeet tissues; these data were used for estimation of the conductivity disintegration index at different MEF treatments. The results evidenced that the electrically stimulated damage of a sugarbeet tissue occurs even at a rather small electric field strength E of 20 V cm−1 if treatment time is large enough (t≈1 h). The energy consumption caused by MEF-treatment is mainly related to temperature elevation inside the tissue and noticeably decreases with increasing electric field strength E. MEF-treatment experiments in the aqueous media reveal the dependence of damage efficiency on sample orientation with respect to the external electric field.