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Particle erosion wear in a high-pressure homogenizer – insights from DPM-CFD-erosion modelling

Ransmark, Eva LU orcid and Håkansson, Andreas LU orcid (2026) In Wear 586.
Abstract

High-pressure homogenizers (HPHs) are used extensively in food-, pharma-, and biotech processing. Erosion wear is a serious concern leading to high maintenance costs and downtime. Despite this, very little is known about how operating conditions and HPH design influence wear. Guidelines for optimizing design and operation are in great need. This contribution develops a relatively simple CFD-based approach to predict erosion wear in HPHs, with the long-term ambition of enabling model-based design and optimization. Comparison to previously published experimental data show that the model captures initial forcer wear. Moreover, the model is used to conclude on the effect of HPH seat inlet angle, particle properties, and operating... (More)

High-pressure homogenizers (HPHs) are used extensively in food-, pharma-, and biotech processing. Erosion wear is a serious concern leading to high maintenance costs and downtime. Despite this, very little is known about how operating conditions and HPH design influence wear. Guidelines for optimizing design and operation are in great need. This contribution develops a relatively simple CFD-based approach to predict erosion wear in HPHs, with the long-term ambition of enabling model-based design and optimization. Comparison to previously published experimental data show that the model captures initial forcer wear. Moreover, the model is used to conclude on the effect of HPH seat inlet angle, particle properties, and operating conditions. The results suggest that erosion wear is reduced by using a lower seat inlet angle. Erosion wear also increases in proportion to the homogenizing pressure, which implies that care should be taken to design HPHs to reduce the utilized homogenizing pressure. The effects of (spherical) particle diameter and density on erosion are described in terms of a Stokes number; erosion wear is negligible if St < 1. Implications for the optimal design and operation of HPHs are discussed. As the first systematic investigation on erosion wear in HPH valves, the present numerical approach opens for improved design and operation of a unit operation with wide industrial application.

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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
CFD, Food processing, High-pressure homogenizer, Particle erosion wear
in
Wear
volume
586
article number
206445
pages
12 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105023685772
ISSN
0043-1648
DOI
10.1016/j.wear.2025.206445
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Authors.
id
bd66616a-aeb3-410f-b733-537a3513ac8a
date added to LUP
2025-12-17 07:41:48
date last changed
2025-12-18 15:14:28
@article{bd66616a-aeb3-410f-b733-537a3513ac8a,
  abstract     = {{<p>High-pressure homogenizers (HPHs) are used extensively in food-, pharma-, and biotech processing. Erosion wear is a serious concern leading to high maintenance costs and downtime. Despite this, very little is known about how operating conditions and HPH design influence wear. Guidelines for optimizing design and operation are in great need. This contribution develops a relatively simple CFD-based approach to predict erosion wear in HPHs, with the long-term ambition of enabling model-based design and optimization. Comparison to previously published experimental data show that the model captures initial forcer wear. Moreover, the model is used to conclude on the effect of HPH seat inlet angle, particle properties, and operating conditions. The results suggest that erosion wear is reduced by using a lower seat inlet angle. Erosion wear also increases in proportion to the homogenizing pressure, which implies that care should be taken to design HPHs to reduce the utilized homogenizing pressure. The effects of (spherical) particle diameter and density on erosion are described in terms of a Stokes number; erosion wear is negligible if St &lt; 1. Implications for the optimal design and operation of HPHs are discussed. As the first systematic investigation on erosion wear in HPH valves, the present numerical approach opens for improved design and operation of a unit operation with wide industrial application.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ransmark, Eva and Håkansson, Andreas}},
  issn         = {{0043-1648}},
  keywords     = {{CFD; Food processing; High-pressure homogenizer; Particle erosion wear}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Wear}},
  title        = {{Particle erosion wear in a high-pressure homogenizer – insights from DPM-CFD-erosion modelling}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2025.206445}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.wear.2025.206445}},
  volume       = {{586}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}