Real-time sensing of disinfectant by a novel dielectric methodology

Food disinfection is important to public health and safety and has many applications. A novel dielectric meth-odology was developed for real-time sensing of disinfectant. The methodology is based on the determination and calculation of concentration-dependent characteristic frequencies from the dielectric permittivity spectrums in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 4 MHz. As a result, a linear relationship between the delta characteristic frequency and the concentration of the disinfectant in the concentration range from 0 PPM to 200 PPM was found. Moreover, a good sensing accuracy of the concentration of the disinfectant was found. In summary, the novel dielectric methodology provides a promising approach with advantages such as long service life and low maintenance cost to real-time detect the concentration of the disinfectant, which was supposed to support a real-time disinfectant concentration sensing and adjustment system during the disinfection and wash processes of fresh produce.