In order to improve the uniform emulsification state and extend the product storage period, in many industrial productions, professional homogenizer equipment is required to find a suitable solution for good dispersion. Today, I will introduce the high shear homogenizer with good homogenization and mixing effects, its working principle, and the application of the high shear mixer in the food industry.
The principle of high shear homogenizer
In industry, when two immiscible liquids or solid-liquid are mixed, an emulsifying machine is usually used to complete the oil-water emulsification to achieve the effect of dispersing and homogenizing. The main force of the high shear mixer is sheer force. When the oil-water two-phase medium is mixed to form water-in-oil or oil-in-water, it cannot exist stably. A suitable emulsifier is needed to improve the surface tension of the system. Disperse into fine particles, and finally form a stable and uniform dispersion system to achieve a good emulsification effect. At present, the application of homogeneous emulsifiers is not limited to emulsification. The emulsifier machine has a strong shearing effect, which can crush the powder and particles under the impact of destruction, and finally be refined to small particle size, and then the solid particles are fully blended into the liquid to form a relatively constant suspension. When the fineness of the material reaches the micron or even nanometre level, the system can be considered homogeneous.
The shearing head is composed of a rotor and a stator. The rotor and the stator mesh with each other. Each stator and rotor has several layers of ring gears. The high-speed rotation of the rotor generates strong centrifugal force, forming a strong negative pressure zone. The material is sucked into the working chamber and is subjected to the combined effects of shearing, centrifugal squeezing, impact tearing, and turbulence in the gap between the stator and the rotor, resulting in the tension of the split droplets. After the liquid leaves the stator holes, the pressure rises again, which creates a cavitation effect. The homogenizing head rotates at high speed to shear, disperse and impact the material. In this way, the material will become more delicate and homogenized. The high shear emulsifier mainly relies on the high-shearing effect generated by the relative high-speed movement between the stator and the rotor to cut, tear and mix the material. At the same time, the strong cavitation effect disperses, refines, and refines the material particles. Homogeneous. Its advantages are large processing capacity, good stability of the produced products, not ease to destroy the layering of milk, the machine is more durable and easy to maintain, and the homogeneous form is more abundant.
The high shear emulsifier is more suitable for processing granular materials with more fiber or harder. Mixing, sterilization, and homogenization can be completed at the same time. The high-shear emulsification technology is used to process the soybean protein, so that the protein particles are greatly reduced and the hydrophobic groups are exposed, which is conducive to the formation of a gel network and can significantly improve the water holding capacity of the soybean protein isolate gel. Processing corn gluten powder through high-speed shear emulsification technology to change the physical properties of protein powder can significantly reduce particle size, improve rheology and solubility, increase starch degradation rate and protein hydrolysis, and effectively inhibit the delamination of fruit and vegetable juices. High shear emulsifiers are widely used in products with high viscosity and high emulsification requirements, such as sauce and fruit tea.
