A Particle-Based Modelling Approach to Food Processing operations

Abstract Substantial challenges must be addressed to simulate food processing operations including realistic prediction of liquid and solid mixing, fragmentation of solids and liquids, multiphase behaviour, and interactions with complex machinery geometries. A particle-based modelling approach is presented which comprises Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) representations of continua (liquids and solids), coupled with Discrete Element Model (DEM) representations of discrete components such as solid particulates and bubbles. The simulation framework is demonstrated for six example applications that are common in food manufacturing and that are difficult to model with other numerical approaches. Simulations are presented for liquid mixing in a planetary mixer of fluids of varied viscosity, solid particulate blending in a ribbon blender, particle size reduction of almonds fragmented in a food processor, sieving of fine cohesive flour, multiphase flow of ice and liquid in a Slushie machine, and delivery of post-mix soft drink including bubble and foam generation. Each of these example applications are discussed in context of the needs of the simulation for improving process and the benefits of the particle-based modelling approach.