Combination of supercritical CO and high-power ultrasound for the inactivation of fungal and bacterial spores in lipid emulsions.

For the first time, this study addresses the intensification of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO) treatments using high-power ultrasound (HPU) for the inactivation of fungal (Aspergillus niger) and bacterial (Clostridium butyricum) spores in oil-in-water emulsions. The inactivation kinetics were analyzed at different pressures (100, 350 and 550 bar) and temperatures (50, 60, 70, 80, 85 °C), depending on the microorganism, and compared to the conventional thermal treatment. The inactivation kinetics were satisfactorily described using the Weibull model. Experimental results showed that SC-CO enhanced the inactivation level of both spores when compared to thermal treatments. Bacterial spores (C.butyricum) were found to be more resistant to SC-CO + HPU, than fungal (A.niger) ones, as also observed in the thermal and SC-CO treatments. The application of HPU intensified the SC-CO inactivation of C.butyricum spores, e.g. shortening the total inactivation time from 10 to 3 min at 85 °C. However, HPU did not affect the SC-CO inactivation of A.niger spores. The study into the effect of a combined SC-CO + HPU treatment has to be necessarily extended to other fungal and bacterial spores, and future studies should elucidate the impact of HPU application on the emulsion's stability.