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

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是以具有成本效益、高效和无毒的方式改善新鲜农产品的微生物安全性。 消毒系统在2019年的价值估计为2.5亿美元。用氯洗涤仍然是最大限度地减少病原体污染的主要工业选择，但它是不完美的。 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品的产生。减少/消除化学品将有助于保持新鲜农产品的营养价值，延长保质期，并增加市场规模。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、食品接触表面和洗涤水进行消毒，以部分/完全取代化学消毒剂。 除了农产品市场，这一创新还可以应用于邻近的食品加工行业，如医疗和化妆品行业。I-Corps项目涉及用于新鲜农产品、农产品接触表面和新鲜农产品行业洗涤水消毒的微/纳米气泡（MNB）。氯系统只能实现1-2个对数周期减少常见病原体。所提出的系统提供了更大的去除效率的细菌和胶体从各种表面使用MNB和MNB在表面活性剂的组合。MNB是气态实体（在微米和纳米尺寸范围内），其特征在于：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、减小的摩擦和产生活性氧物质（ROS）的能力。这些特性对于清洁目的是非常理想的。MNB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。我们的目标是确定关键的MNB属性（例如，该奖项反映了NSF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.