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Development of high concentrated slightly acidic hypochlorous acid generator for food safety

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Abstract

Having a mild acidic pH of 5-6.5, Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) is a harmless disinfectant having excellent sterilizing capability for use in agriculture, medicine and food industry. Recently, the use of non-diaphragm electrolytic cell has shown great potential in producing Slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW). However, the effect of various physical properties such as electrode gap, flow rate, current, bubble formation and temperature conditions are still under investigation. In this study, we produced 40 ppm SAEW by using a self-developed non-diaphragm electrolytic cell that electrolyzed 6 % Hydrochloric acid (HCl) with H2 and Cl2 gas as by products. The tested range of electrolyte flow rate was 2-4 mL/min. The effect of current was studied in the range of 10-15 A. The results indicate that bubble generation by increased current decreased the average convection heat transfer coefficient between the electrode and electrolyte resulting in increased temperature. Moreover, the bubbles reduced the surface area for an efficient electrolytic reaction resulting in a decrease in available chlorine concentration. Hence, an optimized flow rate of 3 mL/min at 13 A current were found to be best process conditions for SAEW generation when the electrode size is 4 cm by 14 cm. Furthermore, the produced high concentrated HOCl showed excellent sanitization efficacy against various Escherichia coli concentrations (105-108 cfu/mL).

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Author notes

  1. Both authors contributed equally as co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16419, Korea

    Ali Turab Jafry, Cheonji Lee, Dohyung Kim, Gyuhyeon Han & Jinkee Lee

  2. EzLab, #201, 120, Heungdeokjungang-ro, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, 16950, Korea

    Won-Kee Sung

Authors
  1. Ali Turab Jafry
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  2. Cheonji Lee
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  3. Dohyung Kim
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  4. Gyuhyeon Han
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  5. Won-Kee Sung
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  6. Jinkee Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jinkee Lee.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Sung Yang

Ali Turab Jafry received his B.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering from University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Since 2013, he is in Master & Ph.D. combined course at Department of Mechanical Engineering of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea.

Cheonji Lee received his B.S. degree from Sungkyunkwan University, Korea. Since 2015, he is in Master & Ph.D. combined course at Department of Mechanical Engineering of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea.

Jinkee Lee, Ph.D., received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and his Ph.D. from Brown University, USA. Since 2012, he has been a Professor at Department of Mechanical Engineering of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea. His research interests include interfacial flow, microfluidics, biomimetics and biofluidics.

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Jafry, A.T., Lee, C., Kim, D. et al. Development of high concentrated slightly acidic hypochlorous acid generator for food safety. J Mech Sci Technol 31, 4541–4547 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-0854-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-0854-1

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