Methods and apparatuses for thermal treatment of foods and other biomaterials, and products obtained thereby
AssigneesNorth Carolina State University, Industrial Microwave Systems, L.L.C., The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture
InventorsJosip Simunovic, Kenneth R. Swartzel, Van-Den Truong, Gary Cartwright, Pablo Coronel, Kandiyan Puthalath Sandeep, David Parrott
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for thermally treating flowable materials using electromagnetic radiation, and foods and materials obtained thereby. Also provided are methods of continuous flow thermal treatment of biomaterials, apparatuses for performing the same, and products prepared using the methods and/or apparatuses.
Claims14
An apparatus for thermally treating a flowable material, the apparatus comprising:
- (a) a conduit for receiving a flowable material, wherein at least a portion of the conduit is transparent to electromagnetic radiation;
- (b) a device for providing electromagnetic radiation to at least a portion of the conduit, the device comprising a control device for controlling a power level of the device for providing electromagnetic radiation such that heating of a flowable material in the conduit occurs at a higher rate than heating of the conduit, such that the heating of the flowable material is substantially free of heating by contacting the flowable material with a surface of the conduit having a temperature that exceeds a maximum temperature level of the flowable material itself;
- and
- (c) a mixing structure disposed within or along the conduit to provide for thermal equalization in at least a portion of the heated flowable material to thereby thermally treat the flowable material, wherein the mixing structure comprises one or more passive mixing structures, one or more active mixing structures, or both, and wherein the mixing structure is at a location selected from the group consisting of one or more points of entry, one or more points within, one or more exits, and combinations thereof, of the portion of the conduit that is transparent to electromagnetic radiation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.