Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Toepfl is Managing Director of Elea Technology GmbH and Professor for Food Process Engineering. With more than two decades of research and industrial experience in Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) processing, he has been instrumental in translating PEF from academic concept to global industrial reality.
His work spans fundamental electroporation science, sustainable process design, and the implementation of large‑scale PEF systems across the juice, beverage, and food industries. Under his leadership, Elea has deployed close to 300 industrial PEF systems worldwide, enabling processors to improve product quality, reduce energy consumption, and modernize microbial safety strategies.
A frequent advisor to industry and government bodies, Prof. Toepfl has authored numerous scientific publications, patents, and book chapters and serves on several scientific committees. His talks focus on practical, data‑driven insights that help manufacturers select and integrate the right technologies for safe, high‑quality, and sustainable products.
As High-Pressure Processing (HPP) has been widely adopted in premium juice and beverage production, questions around processing time, energy consumption, line integration, and scalability have become increasingly relevant. Against this background, PEF has emerged as an alternative processing pathway with distinct engineering characteristics.
Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) processing applies short, high-voltage electric pulses to liquid products, disrupting microbial cell membranes through electroporation within microseconds and enabling fast, low-heat, continuous processing. With more than 270 industrial PEF systems installed globally, Elea has advanced PEF into a mature, energy-efficient technology for continuous beverage and juice processing.
This session introduces the scientific and engineering principles behind PEF and explains how they translate into real-world operation on modern beverage lines. Drawing on Elea’s commercial experience, industrial case examples from juices and functional beverages will highlight key process-engineering considerations to illustrate where each technology fits best in premium beverage production.