December 2010 Program

High Power Ultrasonics in an Industrial Setting Presented by Dr. Darren Bates Cavitus Pty, Ltd Crafers, South Australia
The Company: Cavitus is the leading proprietary systems developer and solutions provider of highpower ultrasonics ('HPU') applications for optimising liquid-phase Agri-Food manufacturing. Customers achieve attractive ROIs by benefiting from significant increases in capital asset productivity, enhanced product quality without increased use of additives and reductions in environmental costs all without significant business interruption or changes to existing OH&S practices.	The Technology: HPU is distinguished from traditional, low-power ultrasonics by the energy transmitted per volumetric measure (e.g., W/cm3), with typical differences measured in orders-of-magnitude. Ultrasonic sound waves cause dissolved gas bubbles present in liquids to expand and contract thousands of times per second, creating internal temperatures of 5000+ Kelvin and pressure of 2000+ atmospheres. When they collapse or implode ('cavitation'), a fast (i.e., 570 km/h), high-shear energy wave is released, which results in a strong agitation action for cleaning and/or etching of hard surfaces; the modification of particles in a liquid or on surfaces at fluid boundaries, or within solid structures where liquid is present; and the break-down of molecular structures.
The Company's pat. pend. system's solutions for in-line processing include: • Sanitation for simultaneous cleaning and disinfecting oak wine barrels, and leafy green vegetables; • Extraction for grape must, polyphenols, oak wood chips, grains and oilseeds; • Temporary Viscosity Reduction for proteins, lipids and hydrocolloids; and • De-foaming for managing foam in filling lines and tanks via directed airborne sound energy using the pat. UDS by Pusonics SL, which is exclusively licensed to Cavitus.	The Speaker: Dr. Bates holds both a PhD in high power ultrasonics applied to industrial chemical processing and a Bachelors degree in Chemistry from the University of Coventry (UK). His professional career has focused on building a globally-recognised technical/engineering solutions consulting business in the application of high-power ultrasonics, culminating in the founding of Cavitus in 2006. Notable clients in Agri- Food have included PepsiCo, Proctor & Gamble, Food Science Australia/CSIRO, Campden and Chorleywood Food Research, Cargill, Mars, McDonalds, and Suedzucker. He is a member of the Royal Society of Chemists in the U.K. and a member of the European Society of Sonochemistry.