Direct Steam Injection Heating of Liquid Food Products

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate a correlation between flow characteristics and physical properties of liquid food products and the occurrence of condensation-induced water hammer in direct steam injection heating. A linear relationship developed by Bowser et al. (2003) between the thermodynamic ratio and the Peclet number was examined for applicability to results from tests performed using water, sugar solution, beef bone stock, and corn starch. Five other dimensionless parameters were screened for potential relationships to the thermodynamic ratio that could be used to define safe operating conditions for a steam injection heater. It was verified that a linear relationship between the thermodynamic ratio and the Peclet number for predicting CWH applied well to water and sugar water. Results for other food products tested in this study were inconclusive. Of the six dimensionless parameters investigated, four, the Prandlt, Reynolds, Peclet, and Stanton numbers, merited further investigation. It was also found that power and logarithmic equations may better describe a relationship to predict condensation-induced water hammer than a linear equation.