This study investigated the effects of pulsed electric field (PEF) treatments on sugar beet tissues. A PEF system was
used to vary field strength, pulse number and capacitance in respective range of 0.5–6 kV cm−1; 1–100 pulses; 0.5–32 F.
It was observed that tissue damage in sugar beet was most influenced by total energy input and electric field strength.
Furthermore, the energy consumption for cell disintegration by PEF treatment was significantly lower compared to
thermal treatment indicating average values of about 8 kJ kg−1 and 156 kJ kg−1 respectively. The transfer of solids at
room temperature from PEF pretreated sugar beet (1 or 2 kV cm−1, 8 F, and 20 pulses) was higher than the untreated
and thermal treated samples at 75 ◦C. The overall results showed that the optimization of PEF treatment conditions
is very important to achieve high cell disintegration and sugar beet yield.