Abstract
Supercritical CO2 (Sc-CO2) is being used as a novel method for low temperature pasteurization and drying of food. The process operates close to ambient temperature, which prevents heat sensitive degradation reactions, thus obtaining a higher quality product than from traditional hot processes. Sc-CO2 is effective against spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms, making the products safer and longer lasting. The inactivation mechanism and the effect on the sensorial characteristics are product and process dependent. The seminar will present the current state of the art of the technology supported by relevant case studies, posing attention on the advantages, limitations and future perspective.
Short CV
Alessandro Zambon is a Researcher at the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Padua since 2021.
Academic Background. He has a Master Degree in Chemical Engineer (2009) and a PhD in Industrial Engineering (2013) from University of Padua (Italy).
Professional Experience. 2021-2022 EUFORA Fellows at the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (Spain); 2013-2019 Postdoc at the University of Padua and Trento (Italy); 2016-2017 Visiting Researcher at the ARC training center for the Australian food processing, The University of Sydney (NSW, Australia); 2014-2015 Fulbright “BEST” Fellows at Santa Clara University (CA, USA); 2010-2011 visiting researcher at Stanford University (CA, USA).
Track Record. He has published 36 peer reviewed research articles (Scopus h index 14), 1 book chapter and 2 patents. He was finalist at the Intellectual Property Award 2021, Dubai EXPO2020, finalist at the RSC Emerging Technology Competitions (UK), participant of the Food and Beverage Fall 2021 Batch, Plug&Play Milan (Italy), finalist at the first edition of BioUpper Accelerator for life science, Polihub, Milan (Italy).
Areas of expertise. During his career, Dr Zambon has gained interdisciplinary research between biotechnology, food science and engineering. Within the PhD, he has gained experienced in microfluidics and Organ-on-Chip technologies for drug screening and disease studies. Since 2014, he has been researching on supercritical fluids for biomedical and food applications. He has strong experience with innovative and emerging food technology, food microbiology and food chemistry. In particular, he has contributed extensively to the application of supercritical CO2 treatments as a low temperature preservation and drying technology applied to foods.