Advanced methods for the elimination of microorganisms in industrial treatments: potential applicability to wastewater reuse.

Because of the growing need to eliminate undesirable microorganisms in different industrial treatments, mainly in the food and agricultural sector and the pharmaceutical industry, a number of increasingly effective systems for disinfection to eliminate microorganisms have been devised. This article analyzes different methods to eliminate and/or significantly reduce the number of microorganisms in industrial contexts and in environmental engineering. Although, in the past, thermal treatments had been used most frequently for microbial elimination, the method is costly and has the disadvantage of modifying the organoleptic and/or physicochemical properties of the food products. For this reason, new technologies rapidly are being developed, such as high-intensity pulsed electric fields, high-pressure systems, ultrasounds, and irradiation, which effectively eliminate microorganisms without deteriorating the properties of the product. These emerging technologies are potentially applicable in the field of environmental engineering.