New Danish Technology Aids Mixers

The innovative APV Cavitator is a modular process technology which forms part of SPX’s family of mixing and dispersing equipment.

It offers breakthrough benefits for heating liquids without scale build-up as well as provides solutions for many of the most difficult mixing and dispersing challenges for food and beverage processing.

The APV Cavitator was one of the first products commercialised under SPX’s ‘innovation initiative,’ and is an example of how SPX focuses on innovation to better address the needs of its customers. In particular, it is an example of SPX’s willingness to combine exciting technologies with its internal expertise to provide breakthrough products and services.

The APV Cavitator is based on technology exclusively licensed from Hydro Dynamics for sanitary applications.

SPX has extensively tested and enhanced the Cavitator design for maximum performance at its Innovation Centre in Silkeborg, Denmark. Named for the powerful effects of shockwaves produced from the collapse of ‘controlled cavitation’ bubbles, the APV Cavitator works by taking a fluid into the machine housing, where it is passed through a controlled cavitation field created by the reactor’s spinning rotor.

The unique design uses the intense force of cavitation in a controlled manner, rather than typical impellers or blades to process materials, increasing the mass transfer rate. Additionally, the cavitation effects are achieved without damage to metal surfaces. The APV Cavitator can be considered a next generation offering and a paradigm shift in the mixing industry where process intensification, acceleration and the replacement of batch processing with continuous processing are necessary to compete in a global economy.

Uses

This advanced technology can be used for a multitude of sanitary applications ranging from pasteurisation to low-pressure homogenisation. Benefits include improved process efficiencies (time, operating costs, and/or capital costs) and enhanced product quality, yield and/or raw material savings. Beyond this, the Cavitator has extended process run times related to scale-free heating and offers the elimination or reduction of process downtime from maintenance requirements. It also has a smaller footprint than traditional technology and is designed for easy disassembly, fully CIPable and manufactured to meet 3-A standards.