DIMENSIONLESS CORRELATIONS FOR THE FASTEST PARTICLE FLOW IN A PILOT-SCALE ASEPTIC PROCESSING SYSTEM

Residence time distribution (RTD) of meat and carrot cubes in the scra ped surface heat exchanger and holding tube of a pilot scale aseptic p rocessing system were individually evaluated for characteristic correl ations involving several dimensionless groups. RTD data obtained using a systemic approach were similarly evaluated. The systemic approach w as based on obtaining holding tube RTD as the difference between the R TDs in the whole system and a control system connecting the two scrape d surface heat exchangers directly. Particle Froude and Reynolds numbe rs were related to carrier fluid Froude, Archimedes and Reynolds numbe rs as well as the particle-to-tube diameter ratio and particle Archime des number (R(2) > 0.84).