Reactor Designs for the UV Treatment of Liquid Foods

An ideal UV reactor would provide a uniform dosage of photons to the fluid. A second objective would be to provide a uniform dosage on a continuous basis to large volumes of fluid. These objectives are particularly difficult when the absorbance of the fluid is large and the penetration depth of the UV radiation is small. For example, the absorption coefficients of juices typically vary from A = 10 to 40 cm−1, providing a small radiation penetration depth of 1 mm down to roughly 0.25 mm.