‘Paradigm shift’ in mixing industry sees SPX commercialise cavitation technology

The APV Cavitator (pictured) offers "breakthrough benefits"​ for heating liquids without scale build-up, the company said, and is exclusively licensed by SPX from Hydro Dynamics for sanitary applications.

The machine produces powerful shockwaves, SPX said, produced by the collapse of “controlled cavitation” ​bubbles, and works by taking a fluid into its machine housing, which is then passed through a controlled cavitation field created by the reactor’s spinning rotor.

‘Cavitation’ involves the formation and immediate implosion of cavities (bubbles) when a mechanical force is applied to a liquid, and SPX said the machine’s rotor produced millions of microscopic cavitation bubbles, which then collapsed and produced shockwaves.

Sanitary processing potential​

SPX said that the technology could be used for a range of applications, ranging from pasteurisation to low-pressure homogenisation. Asked about application areas, an SPX spokeswoman told BeverageDaily.com:

“The Cavitator has promise for solving both food and beverage challenges. Mixing viscous liquids and slurries, heating heat-sensitive products without fouling, and blending powdered drink mixes are some of the applications where controlled cavitation has excelled.”​

Since the machine had “unique benefits”​, the spokeswoman added that SPX anticipated interest in the US, Europe and “all global markets where sanitary processing is performed”.​

According to SPX, benefits include: improved process efficiencies (time, operating and/or capital costs); enhanced product quality, yield and raw material savings; extended run times due to scale-free heating; reduced downtime and a smaller footprint that traditional machines.

‘Intense’ cavitation force​

Explaining in more detail how the APV Cavitator worked, SPX said it used the intense force of cavitation, “in a controlled manner, rather than using typical impellers or blades to process materials, increasing the mass transfer rate and producing results superior to those of many current mixing and heating technologies”.​

Cavitation effects were achieved without damage to metal surfaces, the company added, and as such the machine, “can be considered a next-generation offering and a paradigm shift in the mixing industry, where process intensification, acceleration and the replacement of batch processing with continuous processing are necessary to compete in a global economy”.​

Asked for more details about claimed mass transfer rate improvements and superiority vis-à-vis typical blade mixing solutions, the SPX spokeswoman said: “Conventional solutions typically use mechanical shear to accomplish results which can sometimes damage discrete particles, for example."​

She added: “With the Cavitator, the agitation from the cavitation shockwaves can emulsify the liquid portion of a product without harming particles like onion pieces.”​

SPX believed there was no other equipment on the market that “uses the same patented principles of controlled cavitation as the APV Cavitator,” ​the spokeswoman said.