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Presentation
Ozone treatment effects on microbial count on maize
10th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection (2010)
  • J. D. McClurkin, Purdue University
  • D. E. Maier, Kansas State University
Abstract
The ultimate goal of this research was to develop a semi-continuous flow grain treatment system and predictive model that will reduce microorganisms on grain kernel surfaces with ozone. The focus of this research was to determine the concentration-time product (CTP) of ozone required to eliminate various levels of microbial growth on grain kernels. To examine the effect of ozone on surface microbes, samples of freshly-harvested and stored maize were treated with ozone for 1 and 3 hours at average ozone concentrations of 1752 ppm, 915 ppm and 37 ppm. Microorganisms were significantly decreased by 28 to 57% after maize samples were ozonated for 1 h at 37 to 1752 ppm and 45 to 80% for 3 h at 37 to 1752 ppm. Linear regression analysis of the CTP data indicated that percent mold reduction increased at a rate of 0.0088 times the CTP. The modified Gompertz equation applied to the microbial inactivation data indicated that a 0.5 to ~1 log mold reduction on maize kernels was attained for ozone concentrations between 37 and 1752 ppm. When compared to preliminary field data from a semi-continuous flow grain treatment system, the laboratory data and the model-predicted values were reasonably close with respect to the microbial load reduction observed on maize samples taken from the system. 
Keywords
  • Ozone,
  • Microorganisms,
  • Treatment,
  • Sterilization,
  • Ozone concentration
Publication Date
2010
Location
Estoril, Portugal
DOI
10.5073/jka.2010.425.167.097
Citation Information
J. D. McClurkin and D. E. Maier. "Ozone treatment effects on microbial count on maize" 10th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection (2010)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/dirk-maier/45/
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY-SA International License.