The study of the electric field in electroplasmolysis

Piercing the cell membrane using an electric pulse (electroplasmolysis), in order to release the liquid within, is a modern food processing procedure. Obtaining the electric field required for piercing the cell, without needlessly increasing the energy consumption and without destroying the cell, requires the solution of a complicated electro-quasistationary electromagnetic field problem. The small width of the membrane, compared to the cell dimensions, hinders the application of a finite element method due to the difficulties of adapting the mesh network to such dimensions. This work aims to emphasize these difficulties. Moreover, a qualitative analysis of the electric field behavior in the vicinity of the membrane is conducted.