Demonstration of a Novel Pulsed Electric Field Technique Generating Neither Conduction Currents nor Joule Effects

B.M. Novac , F.A. Banakhr , I.R. Smith , Laurent Pecastaing (1) , R. Ruscassie (1) , Antoine Silvestre de Ferron (1) , P. Pignolet (2)

1 SIAME - Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Ingénieur Appliquées à la Mécanique et au génie Electrique
2 UPPA - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour

This paper is devoted to a detailed presentation of all aspects involved in a demonstration of a novel pulsed electric field (PEF) technique that does not generate neither conduction currents nor Joule effects. Details are given of both the experimental arrangement and the electro-optic Kerr-effect-based diagnostic used in the measurement of the intense PEFs in water. The results show unequivocally that the novel technique is effective in significantly reducing the initial concentration of Escherichia coli bacteria. Finally, a brief comment on the way ahead is provided. \textcopyright 2013 IEEE.

Keywords: Kerr effect; microbial inactivation; Electro-optic devices; pulsed electric field (PEF) sterilization

Domains: Physics [physics]

B.M. Novac, F.A. Banakhr, I.R. Smith, Laurent Pecastaing, R. Ruscassie, et al.. Demonstration of a Novel Pulsed Electric Field Technique Generating Neither Conduction Currents nor Joule Effects. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 2014, 42 (1), pp.216-228. ⟨10.1109/TPS.2013.2293915⟩. ⟨hal-02153369⟩