THE CORRELATION OF CELL DISRUPTION WITH HOMOGENIZER VALVE PRESSURE-GRADIENT DETERMINED BY COMPUTATIONAL FLUID-DYNAMICS

Numerical investigations of the flow and pressure fields within a homo genizer valve have been conducted using the computational fluid dynami cs code, PHOENICS 2.1. Results are obtained for two valve seat designs over a range of valve gaps. The dependence of valve gap on operating pressure is measured experimentally and compares well with numerical p redictions. A simple expression that uses the numerical results and al lows ready calculation of pressure gradient from homogenizer operating and design conditions is presented. Pressure gradient is shown to be a better independent variable for correlating cell disruption than ope rating pressure over a wide range of operating and design parameters. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd