Triggered Marx generators for the industrial-scale electroporation of sugar beets

Electroporation is a method to induce pores in the membranes of biological cells by applying an electric field. During the last few years, some research and development has been done for sugar beets to transfer this method from the laboratory into the industrial scale in order to replace the thermal denaturation process. High-efficiency pulsed electric fields with short pulse durations are applied to the beets as a whole. This paper deals with some aspects concerning the electrode geometry and a new trigger concept for the Marx generators used to create the required electric fields.