ABSTRACT
The intensive exploration of ultraviolet (UV) light treatment for liquid foods has been driven by the search for a mild pasteurization alternative to thermal processing. Mathematical modeling is an essential tool in the design of a UV process for liquid foods and beverages. Mathematical modeling of UV fluence in the reactor can assist in understanding the fluence distribution and identify the location of the least treated liquid and the dead spot in the reactor. A further application of the mathematical modeling of UV processing is to calculate the optimal dimensions and geometry of the UV-reactor for maximum inactivation performance taking into account the specific physical properties of food and the requirements of the process. There are a few basic laminar and turbulent flows UV reactor designs being investigated for microbial inactivation in liquid foods. Various modeling approaches have been proposed to describe and predict UV inactivation kinetics for microorganisms.
