High pressure technology is a new application in the preparation and preservation of biotechnological substances, e.g. food. Here, biotechnological substances are treated with pressures up to 1,000 MPa in high pressure autoclaves. During the procedure of the volume change work is converted into internal energy, so that the temperature in high pressure autoclaves increases. In smaller high pressure autoclaves, such temperature increase can be controlled effectively. In larger high pressure autoclaves, however, temperature gradients are prominent. Since the heterogeneity in the temperature distribution has influences on the quality of the product, this represents one of the most important problems in the high pressure treatment of food. This work dedicates itself to the analysis of the thermofluiddynamic processes during the high pressure treatment of biotechnological substances using theoretical modelling and numerical simulations. The finite volume code CFX-5.7 and CFX-10 are extended with own subroutines, in order to be able to simulate thermofluiddynamic processes during the high pressure treatment of different biotechnological substances with 500 MPa. For this two inactivation kinetics are also implemented into the program. On the one hand, the use of inactivation kinetics of the enzyme Bacillus subtilis Alpha-Amylase to investigate the flow behaviour of the fluid "water" gives information about how the thermal heterogeneity affects the homogeneity of the treatment of liquid food. Different process trajectories lead to different fluiddynamic processes during the entire high pressure treatment. Above all, the distributions of the temperature as well as of the residual activity of the enzyme are examined. The dimensionless numbers, Re, Pr, Fr, Gr and Ra give additional information on the behaviour of the fluid movements in the autoclaves. It can be shown that the interaction of the thermal expansion and the cooling process by the wall material of the autoclaves is relevant for the heterogeneity of the system. In addition, the interactions between forced convection, which results from the inflow of the fluid, and free convection, which is caused by the temperature differences of the liquid, represent one of the most interesting fluiddynamic procedures during the high pressure process. It should also be shown, how the heterogeneity of the system can be minimized with simple measures. On the other hand, for the first time it is possible to forecast the local inactivation process of micro organisms in medium sized high pressure autoclaves. The developed model for the inactivation of Lactococcus lactis in a 3.3-liter autoclaves in 3 different food matrices shows how another modelling method enables a highly precise forecast of the inactivation kinetics of micro organisms in medium sized high pressure autoclaves. Therefore, a hybrid approach of CFD and the Verhulst Pearl model was developed. This represents an innovation, with which statements about food safety regarding the microbial contamination during a high pressure treatment in medium sized high pressure autoclaves can be made.
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High pressure technology is a new application in the preparation and preservation of biotechnological substances, e.g. food. Here, biotechnological substances are treated with pressures up to 1,000 MPa in high pressure autoclaves. During the procedure of the volume change work is converted into internal energy, so that the temperature in high pressure autoclaves increases. In smaller high pressure autoclaves, such temperature increase can be controlled effectively. In larger high pressure autocl...
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