IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v14y2024i4p509-d1361636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Design and Process Parameters for the Optimization of an Ultrasonic—Thermal Co-Sterilization System for Liquid Eggs

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Fan

    (College of Engineering, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Hao Cui

    (College of Engineering, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Hong Lu

    (School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Lanqi Meng

    (School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Qiaohua Wang

    (College of Engineering, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China)

Abstract

The sterilization of liquid eggs plays a crucial role in the production of liquid egg products. Traditional pasteurization techniques can easily cause protein denaturation, while non-thermal sterilization techniques are often constrained by processing intensity and time. Improving the effectiveness of liquid egg sterilization while preserving the stability of its functional attributes poses a significant challenge. In response to this issue, a synergistic ultrasonic mild thermal sterilization system for liquid eggs is proposed, accompanied by the optimization of its process parameters. COMSOL is employed to simulate the acoustic field distribution of the ultrasonic–thermal system in the liquid egg medium. Verification is conducted through acoustic intensity measurements, and analysis is performed to obtain the optimal arrangement of ultrasonic transducers. Based on Modbus communication, an ultrasonic–thermal synergistic sterilization system is designed. Sterilization experiments are conducted with both 20 kHz + 28 kHz and 20 kHz + 40 kHz multifrequency ultrasound, compared with traditional 20 kHz single-frequency ultrasound. The results indicate that multifrequency ultrasound improves sterilization efficiency by approximately 15% compared to traditional single-source ultrasound. Utilizing multifrequency ultrasonic–thermal synergistic sterilization experiments, a three-factor, three-level response surface test is conducted with sterilization rate and foaming properties as evaluation criteria. The results indicate a strong correlation between ultrasonic frequency, processing time, heating temperature, and sterilization performance, with the impact magnitude being sterilization temperature > processing time > ultrasound frequency. Parameter optimization analysis is performed using a genetic algorithm, yielding sterilization conditions of 55 °C, 11 min and 30 s processing time, and 20 + 40 kHz ultrasonic frequency. The liquid egg sterilization rate is 99.32%, an average decimal reduction of 3.17 log values, and foaming properties are 42.79%.Through comparative analysis, it is determined that the sterilization rate of the ultrasonic–thermal synergistic sterilization system meets national standards, and functional properties such as foaming are superior to traditional pasteurization. This validates the proposed ultrasonic–thermal synergistic liquid egg sterilization control system as effective and feasible.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Fan & Hao Cui & Hong Lu & Lanqi Meng & Qiaohua Wang, 2024. "The Design and Process Parameters for the Optimization of an Ultrasonic—Thermal Co-Sterilization System for Liquid Eggs," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:4:p:509-:d:1361636
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/4/509/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/4/509/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:4:p:509-:d:1361636. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.