| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus for significantly reducing the biological load on consumer products such as food products, botanicals, cosmetic ingredients and medical products is disclosed. The method involves applying a continuous stream of oxygen-containing, i.e., Ox, gas to a material in a sealed biological burden reduction chamber. The continuous stream of Ox gas is prepared in an Ox generation cell, which contains a means for generating the Ox gas at a pressure less than 20 lbs/in<2 >using, for example, one or more of the following: corona discharge, high frequency electrical discharge, ultraviolet light, x-ray, radioactive isotope and electric beam. The apparatus contains:(a) a biological burden reduction chamber;(b) a vacuum pump coupled to the biological burden reduction chamber;(c) an Ox generation cell, wherein the Ox generation cell contains an Ox generator capable of generating Ox at a pressure less than 20 lbs/in<2>;(d) a first control valve coupled to the biological burden reduction chamber and the Ox generation cell, wherein the first control valve is capable of permitting Ox to be drawn from the Ox generation cell into the biological burden reduction chamber; and(e) a second control valve coupled to the biological burden reduction chamber, wherein the second control valve is capable of withdrawing Ox contained within the biological burden reduction chamber.
|
