Method for treating liquid materials

An apparatus for treating a fluid contaminated with microorganisms, comprising:

• a chamber;
• a vapor injector, injecting a condensable vapor having a high latent heat of vaporization within said chamber;
• a nozzle, forming a suspension of droplets of the fluid within said chamber, having wherein a temperature of the droplets is below a boiling point of the vapor, such that the droplets are rapidly heated by condensation of the vapor and release of the latent heat of vaporization thereof,
• a pump for altering an amount of non-condensable gasses in said chamber;
• a control for controlling a supply of vapor and an amount of non-condensing gasses in the chamber, to maintain steady state process conditions over a sustained period of time, the control establishing time and temperature conditions which are insufficient to inactivate the microorganisms by a mechanism of thermal denaturation, while inactivating a significant portion of the microorganisms in the processed fluid;
• and
• an outlet port for removing processed fluid from the chamber and maintaining processed fluid separate from contaminated fluid, whereby a bulk fluid can be processed without recontamination.