SUSU scientists have patented a technology based on cold plasma for the disinfection of grain and other plant products, which can be applied at the enterprises of agro-industrial complex. Cold plasma treatment is safe, retains useful properties and eliminates the development of natural pollutants, including mould fungi.
Today, chemicals are most often used for the disinfection of food raw materials in Russia. Traces of chemicals always remain on the surface and can eventually end up in food products. The use of cold plasma has a sterilizing effect, preserves the structure and usefulness, and therefore completely eliminates these risks.
Cold plasma is an ionized gas containing active forms of oxygen, nitrogen and other substances, which together produce a disinfecting effect. These effects have been confirmed in cereals studies by the research team of the Department of Food Technology and Biotechnology.
"The essence of our development is that the grain is simultaneously exposed to a pulsed electric field and a stream of cold plasma radiation," says the Head of the Department of Food Technology and Biotechnology, Doctor of Sciences (Engineering), Professor Irina Potoroko. "The grain is placed in the field of exposure to ionized gas, as a result of which the cell membranes of toxic microorganisms are destroyed, and the possibility of their development is blocked."
The method proposed by the Chelyabinsk scientists makes it possible to block the development of toxigenic moulds during the processing of grain crops and minimize the risks of accumulation of dangerous mycotoxins in raw materials and processed products. The use of new grain processing technology ensures the maximum preservation of the food resources of the Russian Federation, the preservation of the properties of grain crops (grain of wheat, barley, oats, etc.) and 100% environmental friendliness of the products.
"The process of grain processing itself lasts from 10 to 30 seconds," explains Professor, Senior Researcher at the Department of Food Technology and Biotechnology Natalia Naumenko."These parameters allow for designing an industrial plant for grain disinfection at an enterprise. The disinfection procedure can first take place at the stage of grain transportation between technological operations, which will not lengthen the entire technological cycle. The largest agricultural enterprises of the Ural region, such as Makfa, Chebarkulskaya Ptitsa and others, have already become interested in the invention."
Scientific papers on the disinfecting effect of cold plasma radiation have been published in high-ranking Scopus journals such as Ultrasonics Sonochemistry and the International Journal of Food Science.
Scientists from the SUSU Department of Food Technology and Biotechnology jointly with their colleagues from the Department of Optoinformatics have developed a laboratory facility for processing grain crops and other food raw materials with cold plasma. Research is carried out at the SUSU Nature-like Convergent Technologies and Ecomaterials Research Laboratory with the participation of a scientist from India, Professor Uday Annapure, as part of the implementation of the Eco-environment of Post Industrial Agglomeration strategic project, Eco-technologies for Saving Resources in the Agro-Industrial Complex subproject. In 2023, SUSU scientists received a patent for the invention called the "Method for Disinfecting Grain Crops and Other Plant Products."