Compacted Vegetable Tissue Electroporation for Liquid-Free Juice Extraction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for treating harvested vegetables with pulsed electric fields require a conductive liquid phase, leading to the need for large treatment chambers and high-capacity generators, which is inefficient and costly.
Innovation Solution
Compacting vegetable tissues before treatment to reduce residual space and facilitate homogeneous distribution of the pulsed electric field, allowing for juice extraction without a liquid phase, using a compact treatment chamber and lower-capacity generator.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a liquid phase is used to facilitate delivery and overcome inhomogeneity, then the vegetable tissues can be conveyed to the treatment chamber, but the treatment chamber dimensions and generator capacity must be large
Solution Approach 1:
The vegetable tissues are compacted before being introduced into the treatment chamber, which eliminates the need for a liquid phase during conveyance and treatment. This preliminary compaction action allows the tissues to be delivered in a dense, homogeneous state, avoiding the need for large treatment chambers and high-capacity generators that would be required if a liquid phase were used
2Ease of operation
If a liquid phase is used to facilitate delivery and overcome inhomogeneity, then the vegetable tissues can be conveyed to the treatment chamber, but the generator capacity must be high
Solution Approach 1:
The compaction of vegetable tissues before treatment eliminates the need for high-capacity generators required to sustain pulsed electric fields in liquid-containing systems. By removing the liquid phase requirement through preliminary compaction, the system can operate with significantly reduced generator capacity while maintaining effective treatment
3Quantity of substance
If the vegetable tissues are not compacted, then the residual space between tissues remains high, but the pulsed electric field distribution becomes non-uniform
Solution Approach 1:
Compacting the vegetable tissues before treatment is performed as a preliminary action that simultaneously achieves two objectives: it reduces the residual space between tissue pieces and ensures homogeneous distribution of the pulsed electric field throughout the treatment chamber, eliminating the non-uniformity that would otherwise occur
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method enables efficient extraction of high-purity juice from vegetable tissues using smaller treatment chambers and lower-capacity generators, with the potential for increased treatment capacity and reduced energy dissipation, while maintaining juice quality and purity.
Implementation Method 1
by subjecting a vegetable tissue to pulses of an electric field, the cellular membranes of the tissue are rendered permeable or destroyed so that the cellular juice can be recovered. Such a technique is generally known by the term 'electroporation'.
Implementation Method 2
the vegetable tissues are compacted in order to reduce the residual space between the tissues, and the compacted vegetables are subjected to a pulsed electric field
Data Source
AI summary
The apparatus for treating plant tissues using a pulsed electric field is intended for the extraction of plant substances from tissues, in particular a juice. It comprises a step of compacting (3) the plant tissues and at least one treatment chamber (4) comprising means for the generating a pulsed electric field in said chamber for treating the compacted tissues.