ABSTRACT
The technology of heating materials by passing a current through them has been variously termed Ohmic or Joule heating, in honor of Georg Ohm (who elucidated the Ohm’s law) and James Prescott Joule (who showed that passage of electricity resulted in heating effects). In the latter part of the 19th century, a number of inventions were developed for the heating of flowable materials. The technology saw periodic revival with industrial applications, for example, in milk pasteurization in the 1930s, before being discontinued. In the 1980s, the technology was again revived, and it has achieved some industrial applications that include the pasteurization of liquid eggs and processing of fruit products.
