The People Behind Elea: Meet Stefan Toepfl

17. June 2026 - As part of the #ThePeopleBehindElea series, Elea Technology highlights the people driving innovation in Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) processing. This edition features Stefan Toepfl, Managing Director of Elea, whose work has helped advance PEF technology from scientific research to industrial-scale food processing applications.

More Than Two Decades of PEF Experience

Stefan has been leading Elea since 2017, but his connection to PEF goes back much further. For more than two decades, he has been involved in research, development, and industrial implementation of PEF technology, accompanying its journey from early research concepts to robust, industrial‑scale applications.

At Elea, Stefan focuses on translating scientific insight into reliable, scalable solutions for the food industry. His motivation has always been the same: using PEF to make food processing more efficient, sustainable, and future‑proof, without losing sight of industrial reality.

In parallel, Stefan has been Professor of Food Processing at Hochschule Osnabrück since 2009, maintaining a close link between academia and industry. This combination of long‑term research experience and hands‑on industrial work strongly shapes Elea’s approach to innovation and its role in the PEF market.

For Stefan, this connection between science and industrial application has always been at the heart of his work. As he explains:

“For me, PEF has always been more than a technology. It’s about translating scientific understanding into solutions that really work in industrial food processing.”