At this time, more and more production processes involve such stages as pulverization, mixing and pumping. Almost all liquid products of food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries pass through these stages. In the food industry, the quality of pulverization and homogenization of the product is the key, it is these processes that define the taste and smell, structure and consistency, color and appearance of the product. Also, the homogenization quality defines the separation stability of the product within a certain time, which a factor of marketable appearance.
In the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, the processes related to pulverization, mixing and pumping are also very important, as they define the quality, efficiency and the rate of chemical reactions in preparation of suspensions and emulsions.
The mixing processes are characterized by two main factors: mixing efficiency and energy consumption. Efficiency of mixing is a concept of the resulting quality per a unit of time. Another factor is the dispersion of the product, since in many processes it is essential.
Modern production facilities, facing the high requirements to dispersion, use high pressure homogenizers, plunger or other types, which operate in two stages: a pump creates high pressure (up to 20 MPa) and then pushing the material through a narrow gap in the chamber. The disadvantage of these units is the high power consumption with low processing rate, as well as the possibility of large solid particles entering the finished product.
There are also machines with many factors influencing the material, such as rotary pulse systems, which operate on the principle of varying flow of matter, energy and impulse.
Several effects occur in operation of such devices: pulse pressure and speed, cavitation and high speed gradients. Unfortunately, such devices cannot prevent some large particles from entering the product in one pass cycle.