Industrial Scale Treatment of Biological Cells with Pulsed Electric Fields

Hansjoachim Bluhm, C. Schultheiss, W. Frey, C. Gusbeth, M. Sack, R. Straessner

Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut fuer Hochleistungsimpuls- und Mikrowellentechnik, Weberstrasse 5, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany

Strong pulsed electric fields can induce irreversible pores in the membranes of biological cells and their organelles. Thereby an efflux from the cytoplasma can occur and substances accumulated in the cell become accessible. Therefore pulsed electric fields can be applied for the production of basic materials for chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries as well as for the destruction of micro organisms in aquatic systems. By the first application one cannot only increase the yield of foodstuff and raw materials but also improve the purity of these products and concomitantly reduce the production and energy costs. By the second application one can avoid undesirable side effects, which frequently accompany chemical disinfection methods.

In the presentation we describe the basic biophysical methods that lead to permeability of cell membranes, present the pulsed power generators required for large scale industrial utilization of the method and discuss the present state of the art and problems yet to overcome.