APPPLIED – Preprocessing with Pulsed Electric Field at industrial relevant scale

Are you curious to test if Pulsed Electric Field can help you to improve the (energy) efficiency of processing your fresh food products? 

Can release of intracellular liquid enhance dewatering or extraction of valuable or undesired components from your food product? Are you already familiar with the positive attributes of PEF, but unable to demonstrate these at industrially relevant scale to produce test batches? Consider joining the APPPLIED project!

Introduction 

Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) is a processing technology that is currently widely used in the potato processing industry acting on cell disintegration, resulting in softening of the texture and creating smoother and more elastic tissue. 

It improves, amongst others, the cutting behavior, leads to less starch loss, a reduction in fat uptake and less breaking of potato sticks. Many other applications are suggested in well-substantiated scientific literature, but overall PEF remains largely underutilized in the food processing industry. 

Additionally, current experimental development of PEF-based processing is often hampered by the practical absence of relevant up- and downstream processing infrastructure to complete the full process from fresh produce to ready-to-consume food product. 

This complicates assessment of the real (integral) benefits of PEF and makes production of sufficient samples for subsequent testing challenging. To overcome these hurdles Bodcc, Elea and Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR) have joined their forces in the APPPLIED project tendering for 2025 TKI Public Private Partnership co-financing. 

APPPLIED will contribute to advancing PEF-technology by 1) Demonstrating that PEF can improve process efficiency and remove hurdles in new, previously unexplored, food processes. 

And 2) Bringing existing PEF-based innovations closer to full-scale commercial application by practically offering the most suitable up- and downstream unit operations around the PEF-process at relevant scale. 

This enables a comprehensive techno-economic analysis, and production of sufficient sample material for further product testing. 

Project 

In the APPPLIED project these objective will be translated into the following phased approach:

• Plenary workshop of PEF-technology.
• Demonstration of PEF attributes in new, previously unexplored, food processes (multiple exploration cases).
• Disseminate PEF-technology in front-to-end processes at relevant scale (multiple development cases).
• Dissemination of general PEF learnings.

The participation in the project is open to ready-to-process vegetables and development cases from the food industry but also open for other industry segments. 

Participation

The APPPLIED project will start in 2025 (upon subsidy granting) and will have a duration of two years. For an in-cash contribution of EUR 10,000/y (USD 11,000/y), project partners will be given the opportunity to bring in their specific cases and co-define the research activities aiming to advance their case.