Two-phase slug flow heat exchanger for microbial thermal inactivation research.

A continuous two-phase (air-liquid), slug flow, tubular heat exchanger was developed for microbial thermal inactivation research to give exposure times and temperatures in the range of high-temperature, short-time milk pasteurization as well as heat-treated sample volumes of at least 2 ml. The use of air to compartmentalize the liquid in the capillary tubing prevented the development of laminar flow, which enabled precise identification of the residence time of the fastest flowing particles in the heating, holding, and cooling sections of the instrument. Residence time distributions were quantitated by measuring the degree of spreading of radioactive tracers for water, whole milk, chocolate milk, cream, and ice-cream mix with holding temperatures from 50 to 72 C, holding times from 2 to 60 sec, and heating and cooling times of 1.7 sec each. For a holding time of 60 sec and a fastest particle velocity of 10.2 cm/sec, the velocity ratios of the fastest moving particle to the median particle were 1.05, 1.05, 1.10, and 1.13 for whole milk, chocolate milk, cream, and ice-cream mix, respectively. With shorter holding times, these velocity ratios were even closer to unity. These velocity ratios indicated that the instrument would be an effective tool for thermal inactivation research on microorganisms suspended in homogeneous fluids with a viscosity of 15 centipoises or less at the exposure temperature.