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High voltage electric field (HVEF), as a
novel technique, has recently been known in food industry because of its low
thermal damage, being free of chemicals, low energy consumption, non-mechanical
design, simplicity and rapid control. High voltage electric field thawing, as a
quick method, has been paid a lot of attention in recent years. In this
technology, an electrical wind is produced by the corona discharge, air is
ionized and ions produced in a small area around the needle electrodes, are
then accelerated by an electric field and the resulting momentum is transferred
from the air ions to the neutral air molecules to move the bulk fluid towards
the surface. Different electrode configurations such as point-ring,
needle-ring, needle-plane and wire-plane are commonly used for preparing
electric field. As review of studies suggests the thawed food under HVEF showed
better quality characteristics than the one thawed under conventional thawing
such as still air method. However, high electric field strengths may have
adverse effects on the structure and physical properties of the product.
Decrease in thawing time and energy consumption has been reported, too.
However, achieving the best quality of HVEF thawed products depends on the
electric field condition like electrode distances, electrode spacing between
the two neighboring needles, voltage and electric field strength. This paper
describes and deals with the HVEF technique and its applications in thawing of
food.
Keywords: High voltage electric field, Thawing, Corona discharge, Electrode
distance, Voltage
INTRODUCTION
Today, non-thermal techniques have been
noticed in order to overcome the problems caused by conventional thermal
processes and their associated long process times. High voltage electric field (HVEF)
is one of the recent non-thermal technologies. In this method, air is ionized
in a needle-plate electrode system by a corona discharge. One of the effects of
the corona discharge is the generation of an electric field-induced flow or
secondary electrohydrodynamic flow (EHD) which is produced by transferring momentum
from high speed drifting ions to surrounding air molecules [1]. HVEF is
advantageous for its low energy consumption, non-mechanical design, simplicity
and rapid control. HVEF has been mostly applied for the drying of foods [2,3],
preserving food freshness through increasing its shelf-life [4-6]. It also
controls ice nucleation [7-9] and inhibits microbial growth [10,11]. Recent
studies have been conducted towards the use of electric field in thawing,
described below.
HVEF process mechanism
HVEF process is based on the production of an
electrical wind by corona discharge. Corona discharge involves the partial
electrical breakdown of the gaseous medium between at least two electrodes: a
sharp electrode with very small radius of curvature which is called the corona
electrode or emitter electrode and could be wires, pins and needle and a blunt electrode
with much larger radius of curvature which is grounded (grounded electrode).
Different electrode configurations such as point-ring, needle-ring,
needle-plate and wire-plate are commonly used for preparing electric field. The ions produced in a
small area around the needle electrodes are then accelerated by an electric field and the
resulting momentum is transferred from the air ions to the
Application of HVEF in thawing
Thawing generally occurs more slowly than freezing; therefore, there is
a possibility of further damage to the product following chemical and physical
changes [13]. On the other hand, increasing surface temperature results in
possible microbial growth on the product surface [14]. Leaching of soluble
nutrients, particularly proteins, and large quantities of loaded waste-water
are also other disadvantages of conventional thawing [15]. Thus, it seems by
applying non-thermal and fast techniques, these problems can be overcome. One
of the new applications of HVEF involves thawing of food. Recent studies have
shown that thawing of food by HVEF reduces damages occurring during the process
because of the reduction of the process time and the antimicrobial effects of
HVEF thawing [11,16-18]. Basically, the initial temperature in the thawing
process of a frozen material changes very fast up to a temperature of ‒5°C.
However, the rise in temperature up to 0°C accounts for the longest thawing
time. The temperature range between ‒5 to 0°C is often considered to be the
maximum ice formation zone in food freezing and HVEF has its greatest impact on
this temperature range [13].
Bai et al. [19] investigated the optimal parameters involved in thawing
with an electrical field. They estimated the effects of the distance between
the two neighboring needles, the electrode spacing and different thawing
voltages on the thawing rate and energy consumption.
Their results showed that 9 cm electrode spacing fewer than 6 cm
distances between the two neighboring needles at the voltage of 45 kV yielded
the maximum thawing rate and little electrical energy. Moreover, they indicated
that energy consumption and thawing rate increased sharply when voltage
exceeded 25 kV. Finally, they concluded 45 kV was the optimum thawing voltage
due to its largest thawing rate and relatively low energy consumption [19].
Hesie et al. [11] studied the effect of thawing by HVEF on the qualitative
properties of frozen chicken. They applied 20 kV on 16 negative needle
electrodes at an electrode gaps of 20 cm. Thawing was accomplished in the
temperature range of ‒3°C to 4°C and reduced the thawing time up to 0.66 and
0.75 of a traditional thawing. Microbial counts, total volatile basic nitrogen
and weight losses decreased compared with the control, but water holding
capacity of the protein of the HVEF-thawed chicken was greater. Another study
investigated the effect of HVEF treatment on the thawing characteristics and
post-thawing quality of frozen pork tenderloin meat. In this study, 16 needle
electrodes, 0.001 mm in diameter, were used and voltages of 4, 6, 8 and 10 kV
were applied at a temperature of 20°C for meet thawing. The thawing times
recorded were 52, 46, and 40 min for the voltages of 6, 8 and 10 kV,
respectively. The time taken for thawing of the control sample [still air thawing]
was 64 min, while the 4 kV treatments recorded a longer thawing time than that
of the control. Furthermore, it was found out that HVEF led to a reduction in
microbial counts and total volatile nitrogen compared to the control.
Nevertheless, high voltage treatment led to a greater weight loss and cooking
loss due to thawing [16].
He et al. [20] examined the factors affecting the thawing
characteristics and energy consumption of frozen pork tenderloin meat using
high-voltage electrostatic field. The thawing time of the frozen pork was
shortened by increasing the voltage and decreasing the electrode distance, but
this shortening was limited above a certain voltage under a particular
distance. On the other hand, the energy consumption for HVEF thawing was very
low compared with microwave, hot- and cold-water thawing methods which means
HVEF-thawing is an energy-efficient and cost-saving method.
Mousakhani-Ganjeh et al. [17] investigated the impact of high voltage
electric field -thawing on frozen tuna fish quality. Their results demonstrated
that thawing rate increased with increasing the voltage and reducing the
electrode gap. The authors also declared that volatile nitrogen produced by
microorganism was reduced; however, color, texture and protein solubility of
HVEF thawed changed after thawing. Moreover, they verified the thawing of
frozen tuna fish using still air combined with a high voltage electric field.
The results showed increasing the applied voltage and decreasing the electrode
gap significantly elevated specific energy consumption in the combined method,
but decreased it in the electric field method. In addition, electric wind
velocity had a more pronounced effect on the energy consumption [21]. Another
study was done to investigate the effect of high voltage electrostatic field
thawing on the lipid oxidation of frozen tuna fish [22]. The result showed that
lipid oxidation during storage was more intense with increasing voltage as a
result of reducing the electrode gap. However, lipid oxidation decreased by
increasing the electrode gap at a constant voltage. They concluded that the
production and release of the negative ions of air (NIA) and ozone during the
process could lead to the oxidation of the sample surface and to the
degradation of food flavor. Rahbari et al. [18] investigated the parameters
associated with the quality of protein during high-voltage electric field
thawing of frozen chicken breast. Results showed higher myofibrillar protein
solubility and water holding capacity were observed at the starting voltage of
corona and maximized at 2.25 kV/cm electric field strength. Differential
scanning calorimetry thermograms revealed the HVEF-treated samples at 2.25
kV/cm electric field strength showed less protein denaturation than the air-thawed
sample. Nonetheless, by giving rise to the electrical strength up to 3 kV/cm,
protein denaturation increased. Additionally, Jia et al. [23] conducted a study
on high-voltage electrostatic field thawing of frozen rabbit meat and claimed
that this method retained a higher Water Holding Capacity (WHC) and a better
texture quality than still air thawing, and the degree of denaturation for
myofibrillar proteins and some sarcoplasmic proteins was decreased which led to
a better WHC. In another study, a higher abundance of proteins extracted from
-10 kV HVEF thawed pork tenderloin was found compared with the air-thawed
samples. Furthermore, air thawing led to the lowest total sulfhydryl content
and highest carbonyl content compared to the HVEF method [23]. Li et al. [24]
determined the changes in water loss and degradation of adenosine triphosphate
and the microbial community of lightly-salted common carp after HVEF thawing,
and compared this with conventional thawing using still air or running tap
water. They concluded that thawing under 12 kV HVEF at 4 cm electrode distance,
reduced microorganisms significantly (0.5-1 log CFU/g), enhanced adenosine
monophosphate deaminase activity, reduced acid phosphotase activity, and
delayed the degradation of inosine monophosphate compared to the other methods.
In addition, thawing under 12 kV HVEF decreased the water loss of fish cubes (Table 1).
CONCLUSION
The studies reviewed in this article revealed that high voltage
electric field has a great potential for use in the thawing of food. Corrosive
products, especially meat, subjected to HVEF thawing retain higher qualities
than those subjected to conventional methods. In conclusion, by developing
optimum voltages and electrode gaps to create an electric field, the advantages
of this process, as a novel thawing method, will be achieved.
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