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Particle impact in high-pressure homogenizer valves – A step towards understanding wear and cell breakup in food and beverage processing

Ransmark, Eva LU and Håkansson, Andreas LU orcid (2025) In Food and Bioproducts Processing 149. p.1-15
Abstract

In many liquid food processing applications using high-pressure homogenizers (HPHs), particles impact with the solid surfaces of the homogenization device. This may lead to costly wear. For some applications, impact is also postulated to control the desired cell disruption. This contribution uses computational fluid dynamics to study impact of particles on solid surfaces in HPHs, as a step towards design optimization. Effects of particle diameter, density, homogenizing pressure, and impact distance are studied. Results show impacts both on the forcer and on the impingement ring. Few particles hit the forcer, at low velocities and with low angles (‘bracing impacts’). More particles hit the impact ring. These impacts are with higher... (More)

In many liquid food processing applications using high-pressure homogenizers (HPHs), particles impact with the solid surfaces of the homogenization device. This may lead to costly wear. For some applications, impact is also postulated to control the desired cell disruption. This contribution uses computational fluid dynamics to study impact of particles on solid surfaces in HPHs, as a step towards design optimization. Effects of particle diameter, density, homogenizing pressure, and impact distance are studied. Results show impacts both on the forcer and on the impingement ring. Few particles hit the forcer, at low velocities and with low angles (‘bracing impacts’). More particles hit the impact ring. These impacts are with higher velocities and typically occur head-on. The effect of both homogenizing pressure and impact ring distance scales according to a previously suggested stagnation pressure model. Results are discussed in the light of wear and cell disruption observations.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Beverage processing, Cell disruption, CFD, High-pressure homogenization, Particle impact, Wear
in
Food and Bioproducts Processing
volume
149
pages
15 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85208581597
ISSN
0960-3085
DOI
10.1016/j.fbp.2024.11.001
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors
id
a4e0738d-d959-4062-b7c6-a3ea938d054a
date added to LUP
2024-11-22 09:37:04
date last changed
2025-04-04 13:58:21
@article{a4e0738d-d959-4062-b7c6-a3ea938d054a,
  abstract     = {{<p>In many liquid food processing applications using high-pressure homogenizers (HPHs), particles impact with the solid surfaces of the homogenization device. This may lead to costly wear. For some applications, impact is also postulated to control the desired cell disruption. This contribution uses computational fluid dynamics to study impact of particles on solid surfaces in HPHs, as a step towards design optimization. Effects of particle diameter, density, homogenizing pressure, and impact distance are studied. Results show impacts both on the forcer and on the impingement ring. Few particles hit the forcer, at low velocities and with low angles (‘bracing impacts’). More particles hit the impact ring. These impacts are with higher velocities and typically occur head-on. The effect of both homogenizing pressure and impact ring distance scales according to a previously suggested stagnation pressure model. Results are discussed in the light of wear and cell disruption observations.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ransmark, Eva and Håkansson, Andreas}},
  issn         = {{0960-3085}},
  keywords     = {{Beverage processing; Cell disruption; CFD; High-pressure homogenization; Particle impact; Wear}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--15}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Food and Bioproducts Processing}},
  title        = {{Particle impact in high-pressure homogenizer valves – A step towards understanding wear and cell breakup in food and beverage processing}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fbp.2024.11.001}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.fbp.2024.11.001}},
  volume       = {{149}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}