I-Corps: A Novel Approach to Sanitize Fresh Produce, Food-Contact Surfaces, and Wash Water Using Micro/nanobubbles

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响和商业潜力将是以一种经济、高效和无毒的方式改善新鲜农产品的微生物安全性。2019年，消毒系统的价值估计为2.5亿美元。用氯洗涤仍然是减少病原体污染的主要工业选择，但它并不完美。此外，氯很容易与新鲜农产品中释放的溶解有机物发生反应，导致游离氯的消耗和有害化学副产物的产生。减少/消除化学物质将有助于保持新鲜农产品的营养价值，延长保质期，扩大市场规模。所提出的创新可以实施到当前的农产品加工系统中，用于对农产品、食品接触面和洗涤水进行部分/完全消毒，以取代化学消毒剂。除了农产品市场，这一创新还可以应用于邻近的食品加工业，以及其他行业，如医疗和化妆品行业。这个I-Corps项目涉及用于消毒新鲜农产品、农产品接触面和新鲜农产品工业洗涤水的微/纳米气泡（MNBs）。氯系统只能实现1-2个对数循环减少常见病原体。该系统使用MNBs和MNBs结合表面活性剂，对各种表面的细菌和胶体具有更高的去除效率。mnb是气态实体（在微纳米尺寸范围内），其特点是：相对稳定的寿命（长达数月），带负电荷的表面，极高的接触角和界面面积/能量，中性浮力，减少摩擦，以及产生活性氧（ROS）的能力。这些特性对于清洁目的是非常理想的。MNBs已被证明在许多应用中是有效的，例如医疗设备的清洁和废水处理。我们的目标是确定MNB的关键特性（例如，大小分布，浓度，稳定性，ζ电位），最有效的溶液组合，以及去除病原体和灭活效果的程序。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project will be improvement of the microbial safety of fresh produce in a cost-effective, efficient, and non-toxic way. Sanitizing systems were valued at an estimated $250 M in 2019. Washing with chlorine remains the predominant industrial choice for minimizing pathogen contamination, but it is imperfect. Moreover, chlorine can readily react with dissolved organic matter released from fresh produce, causing the depletion of free chlorine and the generation of harmful chemical by-products. The reduction/elimination of chemicals will help maintain the nutritional value, prolong shelf life, and increase the market size of fresh produce. The proposed innovation can be implemented into current produce processing systems for sanitizing the produce, food-contact surfaces, and wash water to partially/fully to replace chemical sanitizers. In addition to the produce market, this innovation could be applied to adjacent food processing industries and beyond, such as medical and cosmetic industries.This I-Corps project involves micro/nanobubbles (MNBs) for sanitizing fresh produce, produce-contact surfaces, and the wash water for fresh produce industries. Chlorine systems can only achieve 1-2 log cycle reduction of common pathogens. The proposed system offers greater removal efficiencies of bacteria and colloids from various surfaces using MNBs and MNBs in a combination of surfactants. MNBs are gaseous entities (at micro- and nano- size range) characterized by: relatively stable lifetimes (up to months), negatively charged surfaces, extremely high contact angles and interfacial areas/energies, neutral buoyancy, reduced friction, and ability to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). These characteristics are highly desirable for cleaning purposes. MNBs have been shown to be effective in many applications, such as cleaning of medical equipment and wastewater treatment. We aim to identify the key MNB properties (e.g., size distribution, concentration, stability, zeta-potential), the most effective solution combinations, and procedures on pathogen removal and inactivation efficacy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.