Emerging technologies

The group focuses on research on vacuum impregnation (VI) and two electro technologies: pulsed electric field (PEF) and moderate electric field (MEF) for the processing of fruit and vegetables. Emphasis is made on the use of these technologies for the improvement of freezing tolerance, improvement of quality of aromatic dried herbs and the prolongation of shelf life of fresh, packed vegetables. Fundamental research is also carried out on aspects of plant stress physiology related with the above-mentioned unit operations.

Eda Demir is an industrial PhD student from Optifreeze AB. Her research explores the use of pulsed electric field (PEF) in combination with vacuum impregnation (VI) to improve the freezing tolerance of rocket leaves. Her research focuses on metabolic recovery of the leaves upon PEF and its influence on freezing survival.

Grant Thamkaew project investigates the impact of the application of PEF and moderate electric field (MEF) on the drying of aromatic herbs. This investigation includes the specificity of the electro technologies to electroporate guard cells of the leaves as well as metabolic consequences related with the dehydration and rehydration processes.

Imelda Christiana Nyoto is a research assistant working for the H2020 project MEFPROC. Her research focuses on comparing PEF with MEF in combination with vacuum impregnation for increasing the freezing tolerance of rocket leaves. This project includes the study of survival after freezing and thawing, minimizing program cell death during storage.