Inactivation of cells and spores of Bacillus subtilis using low energy pulsed electron beam

In this work, we present inactivation kinetics of cells and spores of Gram-positive bacteria, Bacillus subtilis following treatment with a high-power and low-energy pulsed electron beam. We observed a high-degree of bacterial inactivation in both the vegetative cells and spores, when they were subjected to the electron beam of energies 60 to 90 keV at the beam current density of 28mA/cm2. Interestingly, the survival characteristics showed almost a similar response in both the cases as they are plotted against the energy of the electron beam. We believe that our experimental result is one of the first step towards utilizing this technique as a potential tool for inactivation of spores, which is very much demanding in food industries and biomedical field. (author)