Experimental Study of Steam Injection into a Water Stream for Milk Sterilization

Steam injection into milk stream is a frugal method for milk sterilization. In this paper, the steam injection into a steady liquid water stream (instead of milk stream) is experimentally investigated. A transparent mixing chamber is fabricated using which the variations in steam condensation process are photographed by a high-speed camera. The length of the steam plume in water is determined using image processing of the still images of the phenomenon. The factors affecting the quality of steam condensation are studied. Increasing the chamber pressure reduces the steam plume length which in turn improves the quality of direct contact condensation. Decreasing the liquid water flow rate has an adverse effect on the phenomenon where the steam plume length is increased. It is also found that injecting the steam in a multi-stage configuration results in a reduction of the steam plume length, thereby, improving the condensation process.