Overijssel Energy Fund invests in sustainable alternative to pasteurisation

30 March 2023

Energiefonds Overijssel together with Oost NL and Icos Capital, is making a follow-on investment of €1.5 million in PEF Technologies. This company is developing an innovative technology that can preserve liquids at lower temperatures — and therefore up to 50% less energy — without loss of taste, colour, or nutritional value. 

Looking for a better method

Pasteurisation makes it possible for liquids such as dairy and fruit juice to spoil less quickly. To achieve this, the liquids must be heated to a high temperature for a short period, which kills harmful bacteria. A disadvantage of this is that the taste changes due to heating and the product loses nutritional value. This heating process requires a lot of expensive energy. The current preservation method is therefore not optimal, and many food producers are therefore looking for an alternative.

NanoPEF

PEF Technologies has found an alternative in the form of ‘nano-PEF’ (nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields). With this solution, milk that is a month old is just as tasty and healthy as on the day the cow was milked.

Yulia Mitko, Director of Operations at PEF Technologies, explains: “We have developed a machine that can send a very high intensity electrical pulse for an extremely short duration – nanoseconds – through products. This kills the bacteria in, for example, milk. The processing temperature does not exceed 65 degrees.”

Initial results and the future

In the summer of 2022, Energiefonds Overijssel, Icos Capital, and Oost NL invested in PEF Technologies for the first time. This has now been followed up with this investment round. With the investment, PEF Technologies will further develop and market this energy-efficient and non-thermal technology. This will create approximately 15 full-time jobs in the province.

Radboud Dood, Investment Manager at Energiefonds Overijssel, commented: “With this investment, we are emphasizing our confidence in nanoPEF preservation as a ‘game-changing’ sustainable technology for the food industry. The PEF Technologies team is fully committed to executing the plan to make nanoPEF the next pasteurisation standard, resulting in food with better taste, better quality, and a better environment.”