Ultrasonic innovations in the food industry: From the laboratory to commercial production

Abstract

High power ultrasound has only recently (< 5 years) become an efficient tool for large scale commercial applications, such as emulsification, homogenization, extraction, crystallization, dewatering, low temperature pasteurization, degassing, defoaming, activation and inactivation of enzymes, particle size reduction and viscosity alteration. This can be attributed to improved equipment design and higher efficiencies of large scale continuous flow-through systems. Like most innovative food processing technologies, high power ultrasonics is not an off-the-shelf technology and therefore needs to be developed and scaled up for each application. The objective of the present paper is to present examples of ultrasonic applications that have made it to commercialization and to share some key learnings involving scale up of an innovative food technology in general. Due to significant technical advances in the last 5 to 10 years, high power ultrasonics has become an alternative to many conventional food processing steps, such as homogenization, milling, high shear mixing, pasteurization and solid/liquid separation. Also, it has shown to improve the efficiency of traditional processes such as filtration/screening, extraction, crystallization and fermentation (i.e., as an add-on technology). The use of ultrasonics is often driven by economic benefits, yet in some cases a unique product functionality can be achieved. This manuscript presents several examples of commercial installations of this technology in the food industry and highlights some of the challenges in scale up and development.