Intensification of water jet cutting process in deepfrozen food products

Abstract

Results and discussions. It was found that the increasing the pressure from 200 to 500 MPa results in a nearly 21-fold and 6- fold increase in the depth of cut for nozzles with diameters of 0.210-3 and 0.410-3 m, respectively. Additionally, increasing the nozzle opening diameter leads to an increase in the depth of cut in the frozen food product. At the same time, the maximum cutting depth in the food product at the temperature of -11 °C did not exceed 82,510-3 m with the pressure of 500 MPa. Reducing the temperature of the food product to -11 °C and below excludes the possibility of using water jet cutting at the pressure of 250–300 MPa, and the necessity of creating pressures above 300 MPa causes a sharp increase in the cost of water jet cutting equipment. Experimental verification was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using a water jet with small ice particles to enhance the hydro-cutting. The process of hydro-cutting deep-frozen food products can be intensified by adding small ice particles to the water jet, which is highly effective but also expensive. Alternatively, a water-nitrogen jet that employs ice microparticles as an abrasive, formed by cooling the water jet with liquid nitrogen vapour, is a costeffective way to significantly improve the water jet cutting process for deep-frozen food products.