Electrothermal Effect on Organic Dispersed Hydraulic Systems

Abstract

Of particular interest is the processing of agricultural products of plant and animal origin: vegetable and fruit juices, milk serums, potato juice, moist and moistened feeds and others that belong to organic dispersed hydraulic systems. The efficiency of processing these media can be improved by passing an electric current through them. (Research purpose) The research purpose is describing the mechanism of the thermal effect of electric current on organic dispersed hydraulic systems on the example of whey, searching for the role of the thermal factor in the regulating action of the current. (Materials and methods) Considered an organic colloidal solution simplistically as a two-phase dispersed system in which protein molecules act as a dispersed phase, and the rest of the colloidal system acts as a dispersed medium. In order to clarify the role of the thermal factor in the regulating action of the current, an electrical circuit for the replacement of a fragment of a medium with proteins was compiled. (Results and discussion) It was established that the electrical circuit of the substitution of the medium with protein molecules allowed calculating the processing parameters of colloidal solutions. Based on the results of the calculations carried out, it was shown that when such colloidal solutions are treated with electric current as a result of direct selective thermal action of the current, the temperature of protein molecules exceeds the average tempera­ture of the surrounding product by no more than 10 degrees Celsius. It was determined that the thermal effect of the current is an important factor in influencing colloidal solutions, however, an increase in temperature leads to an increase in energy consumption during electrical processing of these media. (Conclusions) The mechanism of the thermal effect of electric current on organic dispersed hydraulic systems – whey – was given. It was revealed that the obtained results are necessary for modeling electric and temperature fields that determine the uniformity and quality of material processing. It was stated that modeling the modes of electrical treatment of colloidal solutions will reduce the temperature of the medium and, consequently, the energy intensity of the process, optimize non-thermal factors during coagulation of colloidal solutions.