Open Access Library Journal
2022, Volume 9, e8888
ISSN Online: 2333-9721
ISSN Print: 2333-9705
DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1108888 Sep. 21, 2022 1 Open Access Library Journal
Visualization of Temperature and Flow
Behavior in a Continuous Pasteurizer Using
Computation Fluid Dynamics
Emmanuel Baidhe, Julia Kigozi, Hussein Kivumbi Balimunsi
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Makerere University Kampala, Kampala, Uganda
Abstract
The holding tube and heat exchangers are the most significant components in
High-Temperature-Short-Time (HTST) pasteurization processes as they en-
sure that the system adheres to the set temperature and time conditions. The
purpose of this study was to visualize the temperature and flow behavior in
heat exchangers and the holding tube of the continuous pasteurizer. The pas-
teurizer consists of three heat exchangers (heating, regeneration, and cooling
section) operating on a counter-current flow system. SolidWorks 2019 was
used for both modeling and simulation. There was a significant increase (p <
0.05) in tube-side fluid temperature in the heating and regeneration section.
A significant reduction (p < 0.05) in tube-side fluid temperature was also ob-
served in the cooling section. There was no significant variation (p < 0.05) in
tube-side and shell-side velocities along with the different passes for all heat
exchangers. A significant pressure drop (p < 0.05) was observed with the
tube-side and shell-side fluids for all heat exchangers. Simulation of flow in
the holding tube revealed that the fluid had relatively uniform velocity (0.086
- 0.129 m/s) and temperature of 87.9˚C, but with a reduction in fluid pres-
sure. There are high-pressure drops at the U-bends than along the straight
path in the holding tubes. The current design has the potential to facilitate
heat transfer and maintain the predetermined holding temperature.
Subject Areas
Engineering and Simulation
Keywords
High-Temperature-Short-Time, Pasteurization, Holding Tube and Heat
Exchangers, Simulation
How to cite this paper: Baidhe, E., Kigozi,
J. and Balimunsi, H.K. (2022) Visualization
of Temperature and Flow Behavior in a
Continuous Pasteurizer Using Computation
Fluid Dynamics. Open Access Library
Journal, 9: e8888.
https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1108888
Received: May 16, 2022
Accepted: September 18, 2022
Published: September 21, 2022
Copyright © 2022 by author(s) and Open
Access Library Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Open Access