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Flow pulsation plays an important role for high-pressure homogenization in laboratory-scale

Håkansson, Andreas LU (2018) In Chemical Engineering Research and Design 138. p.472-481
Abstract

Most experimental and numerical investigations of high-pressure homogenizers assume that the valve is fed with a constant flowrate. However, technical homogenizers use piston pumps with either 3 or 5 pistons (production- and pilot-scale machines) or a single piston (laboratory-scale machines). This results in flow pulsation. It is still unknown to what extent this influences valve hydrodynamics. Moreover, it is unknown if the difference in the number of pistons has implications for scale-up. This study uses a piston pump model and CFD simulations to elaborate on these questions. It is concluded that the constant flow assumption is justifiable for homogenizers using piston pumps with 3 or 5 pistons (pilot- and production-scale), but that... (More)

Most experimental and numerical investigations of high-pressure homogenizers assume that the valve is fed with a constant flowrate. However, technical homogenizers use piston pumps with either 3 or 5 pistons (production- and pilot-scale machines) or a single piston (laboratory-scale machines). This results in flow pulsation. It is still unknown to what extent this influences valve hydrodynamics. Moreover, it is unknown if the difference in the number of pistons has implications for scale-up. This study uses a piston pump model and CFD simulations to elaborate on these questions. It is concluded that the constant flow assumption is justifiable for homogenizers using piston pumps with 3 or 5 pistons (pilot- and production-scale), but that homogenizers run with a single piston (i.e. laboratory-scale machines) will obtain a substantially different flow field. Most notably, the jet extending from the single-piston homogenizer gap will become highly unsteady and smaller drop sizes are expected (when keeping all other settings constant). This adds to previous findings suggesting substantial fundamental differences between laboratory- and production-scale homogenizers.

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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
CFD, Emulsification, High-pressure homogenization, Piston pump, Pulsation, Scale-up
in
Chemical Engineering Research and Design
volume
138
pages
10 pages
publisher
Institution of Chemical Engineers
external identifiers
  • scopus:85053548329
ISSN
0263-8762
DOI
10.1016/j.cherd.2018.09.015
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
925005db-bf0a-4702-8cd2-ce0a29d55a3c
date added to LUP
2018-10-09 12:40:46
date last changed
2023-11-03 20:01:59
@article{925005db-bf0a-4702-8cd2-ce0a29d55a3c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Most experimental and numerical investigations of high-pressure homogenizers assume that the valve is fed with a constant flowrate. However, technical homogenizers use piston pumps with either 3 or 5 pistons (production- and pilot-scale machines) or a single piston (laboratory-scale machines). This results in flow pulsation. It is still unknown to what extent this influences valve hydrodynamics. Moreover, it is unknown if the difference in the number of pistons has implications for scale-up. This study uses a piston pump model and CFD simulations to elaborate on these questions. It is concluded that the constant flow assumption is justifiable for homogenizers using piston pumps with 3 or 5 pistons (pilot- and production-scale), but that homogenizers run with a single piston (i.e. laboratory-scale machines) will obtain a substantially different flow field. Most notably, the jet extending from the single-piston homogenizer gap will become highly unsteady and smaller drop sizes are expected (when keeping all other settings constant). This adds to previous findings suggesting substantial fundamental differences between laboratory- and production-scale homogenizers.</p>}},
  author       = {{Håkansson, Andreas}},
  issn         = {{0263-8762}},
  keywords     = {{CFD; Emulsification; High-pressure homogenization; Piston pump; Pulsation; Scale-up}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{472--481}},
  publisher    = {{Institution of Chemical Engineers}},
  series       = {{Chemical Engineering Research and Design}},
  title        = {{Flow pulsation plays an important role for high-pressure homogenization in laboratory-scale}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2018.09.015}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.cherd.2018.09.015}},
  volume       = {{138}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}