Low-Temperature Plasma Pickling of Aquatic Products
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional high-salt pickling methods for aquatic products are inefficient in reducing salt content while maintaining pickling speed and bacteriostatic effect, and do not meet modern consumer demands for moderate saltiness and safety.
Innovation Solution
A device and method utilizing low-temperature plasma technology to enhance the permeability of aquatic products' muscle cell membranes, allowing for rapid low-salted pickling by injecting a marinade with reduced salt content and using plasma to kill microorganisms, thereby accelerating the pickling process and ensuring safety and shelf life.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If high-salt method is used to increase diffusion and penetration rates, then pickling speed is accelerated and bacteriostatic effect is improved, but salt content in the product increases to 15-20%, which changes color, flavor and taste and is not good for human health
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical-chemical parameters of the pickling system by introducing plasma treatment. The plasma activation modifies the surface properties of aquatic products, enhancing permeability and enabling rapid salt penetration at lower salt concentrations (3-8%), thus resolving the contradiction between pickling speed and salt content
Solution Approach 2:
Plasma acts as an intermediary substance that facilitates the pickling process. The plasma-generated reactive species and activated water molecules serve as mediators to enhance mass transfer and bacterial inhibition, allowing reduced salt content while maintaining or improving pickling efficiency
2Reliability
If high-salt method is used to improve bacteriostatic effect, then microbial growth is inhibited, but the sensory characteristics (color, flavor, taste) of the pickled products deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the mechanism of bacterial inhibition from chemical (high salt concentration) to physical-chemical (plasma activation). Plasma treatment generates reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that directly damage microbial cells, achieving bacteriostatic effect without relying on high salt concentrations that degrade sensory quality
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the potentially harmful high salt concentration into a beneficial plasma treatment process. Instead of using excess salt that harms sensory characteristics, plasma energy is harnessed to achieve the same bacteriostatic effect while preserving or even enhancing the sensory properties of the pickled products
3Device complexity
If traditional pickling method is used, then the process is simple and cost-effective, but the pickling time is long and the salt content is high
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies plasma treatment as a preliminary action before or during the pickling process. This pre-activation of the aquatic product surface enhances subsequent salt penetration and bacterial inhibition, significantly reducing the required pickling time while allowing for simpler overall process design
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
The method significantly reduces pickling time and salt content while effectively controlling microbial growth, ensuring the quality, safety, and shelf life of low-salted pickled products without compromising sensory characteristics.
Implementation Method 1
Plasma refers to a mixed system after gas is partially or completely ionized into electrons, positive and negative ions, atoms or molecules in a ground state and an excited state under an action of heating or strong electromagnetic field. Low temperature plasma is a kind of plasma, in which temperatures of ions and neutral particles are much lower than that of electrons
Implementation Method 2
In an environment of high concentration of salt, water in the muscle cells of the aquatic products permeates into the salt solution, and at the same time, the salt in the solution diffuses into the muscle
Implementation Method 3
In an environment of high concentration of salt, water in the muscle cells of the aquatic products permeates into the salt solution
Implementation Method 4
In a process of low-temperature plasma treatment, in addition to the above-mentioned particles, ultraviolet radiation, an electric field, reactive chemical groups (including reactive oxygen groups (ROS) and reactive nitrogen groups (RNS)) will also be generated
Implementation Method 5
reactive oxygen groups (ROS) and reactive nitrogen groups (RNS) will also be generated
Data Source
AI summary
A method for rapid low-salted pickling of aquatic products is disclosed, which includes preliminary processing of raw materials, bacteria-reducing treatment of plasma activation gas, marinade adding and plasma treatment, cyclic bacteria-reducing treatment with the plasma activation gas and vacuum pickling. The marinade adding and plasma treatment include respectively injecting the marinade and plasma working gas into a tumbler, with a flow rate of ionic working gas injected into the tumbler of 1.5-2 L/min and a flow rate of a pickling solution of 0.5-0.8 L/min: and at the same time, starting a plasma power supply, and performing low-temperature plasma treatment on the aquatic products to be pickled, with a plasma treatment voltage of 12000-15000 V, a current of 60-80 mA, a frequency of 8-10 kHz, which is a second bacteria-reducing treatment, with plasma treatment time of 15-20 min.