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Abstract
Cavitational reactors are a novel and promising form of multiphase reactors, based on the principle of release of a large amount of energy owing to the violent collapse of cavities. This paper presents an overview of cavitational reactors in the specific area of cell disruption for the recovery of intracellular enzymes, in terms of the basic aspects, different reactor configurations including recommendations for optimum operating parameters and review of earlier literature reports. It has been observed that under optimized conditions, cavitational reactors can reduce the energy requirement for the release of intracellular enzymes by an order of magnitude compared with conventional cell disruption techniques used on an industrial scale. However, problems associated with efficient scale-up and operation at conditions required for industrial scale, hamper the successful utilization of cavitational reactors at this time. Some recommendations have been made for the future work required to realize the dream of harnessing the spectacular effects of cavitation phenomena. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry
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