Electroporation-Assisted Dewatering as an Alternative Method for Drying Plants

Abstract

During the last few years, electroporation has been introduced to the food-processing industry as an effective method to open cell membranes for the extraction of substances. Currently, it has been investigated whether electroporation is also useful as a part of an energy-efficient drying process for plant material for the production of biofuel. To omit the use of additional water, the material has been placed in contact with the electrodes by means of its own juice after a first pressing step. This paper describes a laboratory-scale parameter study on the electroporation-assisted drying of whole maize plants, grass, and lucerne. The influence of the applied electric-field strength and the number of applied pulses on the drying curves is presented. For the electroporated material, an increased yield of juice during a pressing step after the electroporation and a faster drying have been observed.

Electroporation-based applications in biotechnology

“…Electroporation-based treatment of green biomass can be performed in an electrified press; mechanical force is applied before and during pulse application, establishing electric contact to the electrodes through extracted juice without the need to add water [75]. When drying the biomass in an oven, electroporated material dries 2-3-fold faster than nonporated material, not only because of decreased water content after pressing but also because of enhanced diffusion of the vapor as a result of cell disintegration [76].…”

Energy-efficient biomass processing with pulsed electric fields for bioeconomy and sustainable development

“…The decrease of humidity with the time is for PEF-treated material much steeper than for untreated material. The time required for the drying process of energy crop in an oven could be reduced by a factor of 2–3 compared to non-PEF-treated material [ 89 ]. For energy-efficient dehydration of green rye and food crops, an electrified press has been set up [ 51 , 90 ].…”

Research on Industrial-Scale Electroporation Devices Fostering the Extraction of Substances from Biological Tissue

“…4, [12,14]. One sample has been heated up to 80°C for 2 min, to the other sample pulses have been applied.…”

“…Crucial is an energy-efficient drying method for green biomass. The electroporation of the green plant material enables the extraction of a considerable amount of juice by pressing omitting the evaporation energy [14]. Figure 7 shows the amount of extracted juice from grass after electroporation at Ê = 7 kV/cm with different numbers of applied pulses and subsequent pressing at 48 daN/cm 2 for 15 min.…”