Cold-Sterilization Technology

Current technologies cannot guarantee food safety and long shelf life, without severely damaging nutritional value and without consuming a lot of energy.   

Current pasteurization and sterilization processes require considerable energy consumption, as they involve heating to temperatures close to the boiling point of water in the case of pasteurization, and close to 140ºC (244ºF) (temperature required to kill endospores) in the case of sterilization, for periods of time ranging from 3 seconds to minutes.  

In addition, food heating, although it destroys microorganisms, it also involves the desiccation of a series of chain deterioration reactions, in what is known as the Maillard reaction. This involves an intense loss of nutritional quality, as it affects he content of vitamins, amino acids, sugars, etc. This process of deterioration cannot be stopped, even if temperatures drop. In other words, nutritional loss due to food heating is inevitable. Therefore, if we want to extend meaningfully the average life of our food, it is essential to develop cold sterilization systems that prevent this spoilage.  

Certain technologies have been developed in an effort to address the above issues. The most plausible are (a) high-pressure technologies and (b) those that apply intense electric fields.  

High-pressure technologies require such high working pressures that in order for them to be effective, the respective treatment costs increase to $0.20 per liter of beverage, and even so they do not succeed in reducing the initial microbial load by more than 5 U logarithmic. So, they do not actually pasteurize but only sanitize, as corroborated by the FDA in its letter of no objection; in which the FDA indicated that the effectiveness of this procedure could only be achieved by combining it with warm-ups. The result is a maximum shelf life of 45-60 days.  

Technologies within (b), such as the Ohmic treatment, and its sister technology Pulsed Electric Fields, base their effectiveness on the effect of electromagnetic fields on the cell membrane of microorganisms; they significantly increase the porosity of microorganisms, which perish as a result. However, this effect cannot be achieved without very high heating peaks and without electrochemical reactions that lead to the formation of free radicals, which after a week of storage seriously affect the quality of the food. The latter, due to the low frequency of the power supply network (40-50 KHz), cannot be completely eliminated.  By using electrodes with high surface roughness, these effects can be minimized. However, because the porosity of this kind of electrodes may be harboring particles, microorganism, and food macromolecules as food proteins, they can be a source of contamination. The high temperature close to the surface may avoid the problem, but then we come back to the problem of the Maillard reaction.

Our groundbreaking technology propels the global food industry forward. We are offering a cold sterilization solution that enhances food safety, preserves nutritional value, and drastically reduces energy consumption. 

Our innovation consists of coupling a Sudden Expansion Equipment with an Ultrasonic (USND) Treatment System. The result of this coupling is a new process which is advantageously combining the effects of cavitation caused by the ultrasound and the instantaneous expansion.  

Our innovation includes (a) proprietary equipment and fixtures, and (b) proprietary production design and process. We will be pleased to elaborate on the respective trade secrets during a Solve next phase.   

Sudden expansion treatment: due to the vacuum and treatment temperature, the water contained in the liquid food is greatly dilated and gasification occurs. The effects are massive explosions inside cells and vegetables structures due to increased water volume in the medium when subjected to vacuum even at temperatures as low as 45º C.  

Ultrasonic treatment (USND): the effects of cavitation (wavefront of bubbles) caused by the ultrasound at very high impact pressures, make that the material is dispersed in uniform droplets of about 40-90 microns in diameter so that the vacuum effect is facilitated.  

The synergistic effect of these technologies’ combination, is what makes our solution so effective; please see brief presentation: https://vimeo.com/936369029?share=copy

It is our combination of sudden expansion with the ultrasound application, which (a) ensures the complete inactivation of microorganisms and enzymes; while (b) reducing energy costs by 70%; (c) resulting in a fruit juice with a content of Vitamin C 50% higher than the content resulting from thermal processing; and (d) yielding organoleptic properties similar to fresh juice. Our results are far superior to other non-thermal techniques like HPP, OH or PEF.  

We have developed a versatile prototype industrial unit of 15 l/h, which has performed successfully in field trials and as such, has proven our technology in a relevant environment. This underlines our TRL 6, including microbiological and chemical essays that demonstrate the proper performance of the technology according to FDA requirements, and are also applicable to EU requirements.  

Our prototype industrial unit includes: vacuum reactor; ultrasound probe; ultrasound generator; aroma recovery unit; vacuum pump (please see our patent).

We are in the process of developing a bigger industrial unit of 0.5-1.5 Tm/Hr. 

We have also carried out tests with samples from an orange and tomato juice large-scale standardized production (leading products consumed globally). These samples were used for refining our technology and also for inoculating strains of microorganisms. The results of these tests have validated our technology.

We are aiming at improving the quality-price ratio of liquid food. Maintaining nutritional and organoleptic characteristics otherwise (with the current technologies available) lost, and doing so with a more cost efficient and sustainable production process including prolonging the products’ shelf life, would provide larger population with access to good and tasty food.   

Cost efficiencies will be further enhanced as we will enable continuous production, and mitigate food waste.   

Current technologies, processing and treating liquid food for food safety, cannot deliver high safety and nutritional & organoleptic values at the same time. Also, they do not optimize on the promise of Environmental, as they are energy intensive, they require packaging solutions to obtain longer shelf life, and they cannot avoid food waste.   

Our solution mitigates the food waste problem at production level, as it supports longer shelf life without sacrificing safety and product values, while at the same time, conserving energy significantly.   

So, we are targeting the average consumer globally, aiming at proposing better food at the same if not higher safety standards, with prolonged life enabling it to travel and be conserved longer, and at a lower price justified by production efficiencies achieved with our technology.   

We expect that underserved communities and population segments globally, will benefit the most and proportionally more, as our technology will enable them to consume good food or a wider range of good food, to which they have had limited or no access to date.

Our project initiated through a partnership between Miguel Hernández University and EDF (Électricité de France), interested in developing an ultrasound application for the sterilization of juices, with EDF promoting the use of electricity in new technologies. We designed and built equipment for the continuous use of ultrasound in fresh orange juice. The results, while promising, indicated that a very significant improvement in the technology was needed. These results can be found in “Effects of ultrasonic treatments in orange juice processing. Journal of Food Engineering, 80, 509-516. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2006.06.009” authored by Nuria and Domingo.

We strongly believe in the need and are keen to replace the thermal sterilization of foods.

The executive team behind our solution is comprised of individuals who are driven by DEI principles, recognize their responsibility of giving back to the community, and are interested in making an impact to serve future generations.

The team's combined professional knowledge serves the team's societal interests by providing a thorough understanding of our solution's feasibility to serve those interests and address the respective societal needs.

We believe that our solution's potential to impact society originates in a very sensitive field (food) and is very broad (as also indicated within the UNSDG framework). Accordingly, we believe that our multidisciplinary team with diverse community involvement, serves this broad purpose well.

Nuria, from her position as Vice Dean of Viticulture & Oenology and the Deputy Chair of the Heath Biotechnology Institute of Elche (IDIBE), has been involved in various university programs and projects for the integration of women in science, and the promotion of sustainability. She is an active member of the International Red Cross, among other.

Domingo is offering advice pro bono to early-stage founders, among other.

José is a scientist and technologist who, among other, has developed and implemented the sustainability program in Indulleida SA (1993-1999); proposed the first sustainability program to JBT Food Tech and advised the company in 2017-2018; was part of the IFU Award to JBT in 2023, as leader for sustainability and innovation; and has been associated with Greenpeace, the UN Refugee Agency and Amnesty International for over 30 years.

Theo, the Team Lead, is involved with biodiversity and sustainability in food & agriculture incl. through own investments (viti- and viniculture;
vertically integrated clean label juice production; etc.); launched the
first Social related campaign in Greece in 2008 about women leadership
and importance in agriculture; is a climate expert adviser with the EBRD; associates with various children causes incl. the Justice Initiative; is part of Zell and the Zell Lurie Institute, and of two institutions teaching and practicing philosophy; has advised the Head of Business Ethics of the Centre for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of Zurich; and other

Also, the team are partners with Theo's organization, Agoge Ventures. Agoge works with international donors such as the World Bank and EBRD to bridge the finance gap, to promote women and youth entrepreneurship, and to advance innovation in the donors' territories. The team is involved throughout.

We have developed our technology to TRL 6 with own investment. In addition, we have formed partnerships with industry in Spain and the U.S., as well as we have an ongoing multilateral relationship with Miguel Hernández University in Spain.

We have developed a versatile industrial unit prototype of 15 l/h, which has performed successfully in field trials and as such, has proven our technology in a relevant environment. This underlines our TRL 6, including microbiological and chemical essays that demonstrate the proper performance of the technology according to FDA requirements, and are also applicable to EU requirements.

Our prototype allows for small-medium scale tests; we have carried out around 300 experiments under different conditions to date.

Our prototype industrial unit includes: vacuum reactor; ultrasound probe; ultrasound generator; aroma recovery unit; vacuum pump (please see our patent), among other.

We have developed our solution with human (scientists) and other resources in Spain. With the U.S. being our home market, we hope for Solve to bridge our solution's transition to the U.S.

Within this framework, we hope for Solve to assist us: 

• with strategic decisions such as whether we should maintain our scientific base (R&D) in Spain, taking advantage of synergies in costs;
• as a launch pad for the U.S. markets;
• with synergies concerning other technologies;
• with an ecosystem to exchange ideas, connect to networks, promote and enhance our social impact,
  • within which, to seek partners for the industrial translation of our solution,
  • within which to advance our research toward verifying further and demonstrating the effectiveness of our technology in preserving the nutritional quality of treated foods, as well as its effectiveness in ensuring that their shelf life period is extended
• with tools, guidelines, input, and applications to advance our business planning and operational structures;
• with funding potential.

We are eliminating heat (the main medium) from the sterilization process. At the same time, we are establishing a continuous production process and a leaner (in terms of necessary equipment) production line (with our new equipment and process design). At the same time, we are shifting attention to (our) new important metrics, such as vibration frequency, vacuum, flow, viscosity or density, which underline production efficiencies and product qualities.  

As such, our novel sterilization and pasteurization solution is revolutionizing liquid foods production, and improving their quality-price ratio. We are decreasing production energy requirements thus mitigating energy waste and decreasing operating cost; we are decreasing production line maintenance cost as we require less machinery and equipment in our production line; we are increasing nutritional content and shelf life simultaneously (thus eliminating the current industry incompatibility); and in the end, we are making a safer and cheaper liquid food product.  

More consumers and wider population segments will have access to better and cheaper food. Other innovations in packaging, material, equipment, automation, and product will be enabled by finding a sand bed / fertile ground in our technology to grow and/or improve.

We are optimizing liquid food production and processing end-to-end:  in terms of food quality, food safety, operating cost, (energy and food) waste, food useful life, continuous production efficiencies, and food pricing.

Working at production level, our technology will benefit the entire downstream value chain, as well as contribute to optimizing great parts of the upstream value chain.   

We expect to impact directly: the consumer (better food quality and price); the community (less waste; happier and healthier citizens); the industrial enterprise -especially MSMEs (lower operating cost; higher efficiency).  

Our patents:  

WIPO (PCT) Patent

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2014023863&_cid=P11-LV2CCX-05779-1

EU Patent

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?II=0&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=20150909&CC=EP&NR=2915437A1&KC=A1

U.S. Patent

https://patentcenter.uspto.gov/applications/14616358

Our solution will contribute to value-for-money food, making better food accessible to larger population. Our solution will also cause that same food to be produced using less energy and requiring less material and/or less invasive material. In specific, we shall:  

• Make the production and processing of liquid foods more resource- and cost-efficient and sustainable; this includes:
• Significant energy savings; and
• Higher productivity due to continuous production (while high pressures systems require production in batches); and at the same time,
• Increase the food quality by preserving higher nutritional and organoleptic content (incl. e.g., a reduction in Vitamin C loss); while
• Increasing the shelf life in parallel;
• The latter also contributing to mitigating food waste.

Sample indicators:  We have identified value, as our solution solves both client and consumer problems. We are working toward establishing and facilitating continuous improvement.  Our KPIs for production efficiency (supporting our impact claims) include: production yield, waste reduction, an approximation to overall equipment effectiveness and to production cycle time.

Example: we have estimated that our technology's savings in energy consumption and in equipment maintenance cost (due to less mechanical components) decrease treatment cost per liter by approximately 20x when compared to High Pressure systems.

Our KPIs for product quality (supporting our impact claims) include: microbiological tests, chemical analyses, sensory evaluations, nutritional content, shelf life.

Moreover, we are introducing new terminology / metrics to support our novel technology: such as, vibration frequency, vacuum flow, viscosity or density, etc.

The above apply directly to and align with 10 of the 17 UNSDG.  

Since our technology contributes to increasing the nutritional value of food and at the same time to extending its shelf life, it will contribute decisively both to improving the health and well-being of the world's population and to reducing global hunger, in line with the provisions of Goals 2, Zero Hunger and 3, Good Health and Well-Being.  

As our technology enables also the sustainable sterilization of liquids, it will also contribute to the supply of clean water and its use, in line with the provisions of Goal 6, Clean Water and Sanitation.  

Given that our technology represents a dramatic decrease in the energy needed for pasteurization and sterilization of food, it represents an evident and considerable energy saving in the food supply, in accordance with the provisions of Goal 7, Affordable and Clean Energy, and in this same sense it is also aligned with Goal 9, Sustainable Industrialization and Innovation.  

Extending the shelf life of products, will result in reduction of packaging waste in line with the objectives of the Goals 12, Responsible Consumption and Production. It will also contribute to reducing plastic waste in the sea, aligning with the objectives of Goal 14, Life Below Water, and on earth, Goal 15, Life on Land.  

All the effects envisaged by our technology and described herein, will make an important contribution to the objectives of Goal 13, Climate Action; and Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Our breakthrough is that our technology allows for the simultaneous and instantaneous application of high vacuum and cavitation trains produced by high-frequency ultrasound, this application being continuous and at low temperature. Under these conditions, all the water contained in the microorganisms, changes from liquid to vapor instantaneously. Since the volume occupied by vacuum steam is about 1000 times greater than the volume occupied by liquid water, the microorganisms explode. At the same time, the ultrasound function is provided through the cavitation trains; its impact on microorganisms is so intense, that it completely destroys them. In addition, by destroying the structures of the biological material that still remain intact, we allow for the elimination of those protective envelopes of the microorganisms that may prevent the full action of the vacuum.  

By eliminating heat (i.e., the main factor) from the sterilization process, our technology represents a revolutionary change in the concept of sterilization and pasteurization, since factors such as Fo, heating time and temperature, become irrelevant. We now substitute those with the terms: vibration frequency, vacuum flow, viscosity or density, as we are introducing new terminology to support our novel technology.  

We are using readily available equipment, own designed / developed equipment and fixtures, and our proprietary production design and process as follows, in order for our technology to work:  

The working industrial unit is obtained by coupling flash expansion equipment with an ultrasound treatment system with a speaker- or horn-like probe designed specifically, so that the material to be treated circulate in the interior thereof (or on the surface thereof) at exactly the same time the product is subjected to flash vacuum expansion.

The result of this coupling is our (novel) method within which the effects of cavitation caused by ultrasounds and flash vacuum expansion are advantageously combined. Therefore, when the cavitation bubbles impact takes place (extremely high pressures due to impact of the bubble wave front and subsequently due to the suction as the sound bubble goes through the material biological structures), the destabilization of the materials structure incl. microorganisms takes place.  The destabilization is accentuated by vacuum stresses, because the water contained in these structures is greatly expanded on the way to being gassed at the treatment temperature and pressure. The biological structures of the material are therefore, simultaneously subjected to extremely high impact and suction pressures, and burst due to the increase in the volume of water contained in the medium when subjected to a vacuum. The synergistic effect of the assembly is what makes our system so effective.  

Our technology (a) is protected with our patents: US9345795B2; EP2915437B1; and WO2014023863A1; and also (b) includes trade secrets

The link here below presents evidence with respect to our technology -graphs of our tests results:

https://mitrasoltech-my.sharep...

(kindly ask us for authorization to access the link and/or we would be also pleased to take you through the material)

We have performed over 300 experiments under different conditions in our prototype industrial unit, to date.

Our patents: as above

Pepe and Domingo are full-time.  Theo and Nuria are part-time.

The team includes: 1 Industrial Design Engineer; 3 Agricultural Engineers; 4 BSc in Food Technology; 1 PhD in Agricultural Engineering; 3 PhD in Biochemistry; 2 Microbiologists; 2 MSc in Biotechnology

Strategic Alliances: Miguel Hernández University of Elche; Rowett Institute; Aberdeen University in Scotland; Carleton University in Ottawa; UC Davis in California; University of Parma in Italy

Our team has been working on our solution since 2007. In 2013 we spun off from Miguel Hernández University as a venture builder in the biotech and manufacturing technologies space. In 2024 we established Mitra Corporation (a U.S. company) to translate our research focusing on the Cold-Sterilization Technology.

Our executive team:  

Theo Theoharis, Founder and acting CEO; MBA, The University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business; Over 500 public and private SME and start-up international transactions with a total value of over $7 billion  

José Lorente Fernández, Founder and Chief Technologist; MSc in Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Universidad de Murcia; PhD in Food Science and Technology, Universidad de Lleida; expert and certified in Food processing plant design, Food products Dehydration, Cool storage food plant design, Natural Food components analyses, Agricultural Industries Economy; Quality in Food Industries; President of the Technical Committee. Spanish Association of Fruit Juice Producers (Asozumos); Member of the Code of Practices Maintenance Group of the European Association of Juice Producers (A.I.J.N.); Technical Manager for EMENA and Senior Technology Assistance Manager for Asia / Pacific on Fruit and Vegetables projects with FMC-JBT Food Tech, Citrus Division & Fruits and Vegetables

Domingo Saura López, Founder and Chief Scientist; Miguel Hernández University: MSc in Chemical Sciences and Biochemistry, PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Professor of Food Technology; Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Professor of Biotechnology, Polytechnic University of Valencia; 88 scientific research projects funded; 15 patents; 3,937 citations  

Nuria Martí Bruñá, Founder and Chief Engineer; Miguel Hernández University:  PhD in Food Science & Technology, MSc in Agricultural Engineering, Professor in Food Science, Research professor in the Institute of Research, Development, and Innovation in Healthcare Biotechnology; Postdoctoral grants with Davis University; Agriculture and Agrifood of Canada, Pacific Research Centre and Food Research Program

Theo's organization, Agoge Ventures, works with international donors such as the World Bank and EBRD to bridge the finance gap, to promote women and youth entrepreneurship, and to advance innovation and education in the donors' territories. The above executive team is involved throughout.

Theo is associated with the Justice Initiative (.eu).

We have a DEI policy in place, as well as related planning for our Social and Human Capitals.

We envision to empower small communities toward their sustainability, and WMSMEs and minority MSMEs to compete. 

We shall impact every citizen (as a food consumer) by improving food safety and quality while at the same time lowering production cost (and thus contributing to lowering or controlling consumer prices) through commercializing our technology B2B. This will entail selling licensing rights and proprietary equipment to the food industry (along with consulting services for production optimization).

As an example of cost savings related to our technology, we have estimated that our technology's savings in energy consumption and in equipment maintenance cost (due to less mechanical components) decrease treatment cost per liter by approximately 20x when compared to High Pressure systems.

We will target low-acidity liquid foods in the juice industry first. Thereafter, we will target all liquid foods, including -e.g., high-acidity liquid foods, like wine; and low-acidity (medium pH) ones, like milk.

To date, we have developed our solution (a) with own investment, and (b) through a scientific research partnership with Miguel Hernández University in Spain.

We will monetize our technology by (a) licensing rights to our technology (recurring revenue); (b) selling our proprietary equipment; and (c) consulting on production optimization. (b) is expected to generate recurring revenue from technical support agreements.

We do not expect to be able to grow organically but only until a later growth stage, and especially when considering capex requirements to manufacture our proprietary equipment. As such, we anticipate the need for capital infusions. These we expect to meet with equity capital rounds and with research grants.