Many people go to a local store to buy food, personal care products, medicine and other items. However, most of us don’t spend any time considering what went into the production of these items. In many cases, it likely involved homogenization.
Homogenization is a process utilized for particle size reduction. It works by forcing a sample through a narrow space, and multiple forces, including turbulence and cavitation in addition to high pressure, can act on the sample to create a high-quality product. It can be used on many different types of material, such as plant, food, soil, tissue and more. Plus, it provides benefits for multiple applications, such as high-pressure pasteurization, dispersions, micro/nano emulsions and cell disruption.
Although many other types mixing machines exist, homogenizers are scalable, and their use of multiple mechanical forces instead of just one results in stable, uniform and consistent products. They are used in a wide variety of research and scientific uses and by many industries that require the use of active ingredients because they reduce active ingredients to a small enough size to ensure a thorough dispersion throughout the medium produced.
Pharmaceutical
Powerful mixing and particle size reduction are key techniques among pharmaceutical products. In the pharmaceutical industry, researchers use homogenizers during laboratory research and in clinical trials and manufacturing for products including vaccines, antibiotics, cancer treatment and medicinal creams. Benefits of homogenization for pharmaceutical products include improve delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients, increased digestibility, lengthened shelf life and improved reliability in manufacturing settings.
The most important uses for homogenizers in the pharmaceutical industry are particle size reduction, scaling for drug development and synthesis of essential drug components. Though other mixing methods exist, homogenization is the most scalable, resulting in increased cost savings, lower time requirements and a decrease in the likelihood of failure for the product for which its used.
Food and Beverage
Many people identify the use of homogenization in the food and beverage industry with milk; it gives milk a longer shelf life and makes it more stable and visually pleasing. Homogenization is primarily used in the food and beverage industry to help manufacturers improve the composition and quality of their products and ensure their end products meet standards for visual appearance, texture and taste.
Because homogenization utilizes pressure instead of heat, valuable nutrient content and flavor are preserved, chemical structures are stabilized and food processing outcomes are improved. It is a preferred method for producing emulsions, suspensions and other products that require a liquid suspended in another liquid or a small particle size. These products include mayonnaise, ice cream, cream liqueurs, salad dressings, dairy products and more.
Biotech
The biotech industry is comprised of the fields of cellular biology and molecular biology. Homogenizers are most commonly used in this industry to achieve effective cell rupture, enhanced particle size reduction and nanoparticle production. Although they decrease particle size, they ensure that a composition is equal throughout without compromising the overall molecular makeup of the sample.
Homogenizers also can be used to create cost effective medicines, modify microorganisms, synthesize new chemicals and develop alternative biofuels. In the case of cell disruption, they allow for a variety of cells, including E. coli, yeast, bacteria and delicate animal tissues, to be ruptured to recover the contents of essential cells.
Pion: First on the Road to Reliability
Pion offers BEE homogenizers that are both high-quality and reliable. Our line of equipment is suitable for virtually every industry and can work in just about any environment.
