Laser Cavitation Technology for Advanced Sustainable Liquid Food Processing: A Comprehensive Review on Equipment
Ganga Kishore S1, Madhuresh Dwivedi1, R Rahul2
1Department of Food Process Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India.
Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety
|December 18, 2025
Summary
Laser cavitation (LC) offers a sustainable nonthermal food processing method. This advanced technology precisely controls energy delivery for improved microbial reduction and enhanced food quality.
Area of Science:
- Food Science and Technology
- Nonthermal Processing
- Sustainable Food Engineering
Background:
- The global market for nonthermal processed foods is expanding due to superior nutritional and sensory qualities.
- Novel nonthermal technologies are crucial for extending the shelf life of liquid foods safely and sustainably.
- Laser cavitation (LC) emerges as a promising nonthermal technology for advanced liquid food processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the mechanism, equipment design, and operation of laser cavitation (LC).
- To discuss the potential applications of LC in the food processing sector.
- To address the challenges and limitations of existing cavitation technologies compared to LC.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on laser cavitation technology.
- Analysis of LC's mechanism involving laser-induced plasma and bubble dynamics.
- Comparison of LC with acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation technologies.
Main Results:
- LC generates cavitation bubbles through focused laser irradiation, enabling applications like microbial reduction and bioactive compound extraction.
- LC offers precise, controlled energy delivery, overcoming limitations of acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation.
- The noncontact nature of LC makes it a compact, energy-efficient, and sustainable option for liquid food processing.
Conclusions:
- Laser cavitation presents a superior alternative to traditional cavitation methods for liquid food processing.
- LC's precision, energy efficiency, and sustainability position it as a key technology for the future of food manufacturing.
- Further research and development are needed to fully realize the potential of LC in the food industry.
Related Concept Videos
01:26Physical Methods for Controlling Microbial Growth: Radiation and Filtration
Radiation and filtration are essential tools for microbial control, targeting microorganisms through distinct mechanisms. Radiation eliminates microbes by damaging their DNA, either killing them or inhibiting their growth. Based on wavelength, radiation is classified into two types: nonionizing and ionizing radiation.Non-ionizing radiation, such as UV radiation (200–400 nm), is absorbed by DNA, causing defects that effectively disinfect surfaces, air, and water, including safety cabinets.
01:29Microbes in Food Production
Microbial fermentation is central to food biotechnology, enhancing flavor, texture, preservation, and stability. Fermentative microorganisms metabolize carbohydrates into organic acids, alcohols, and other metabolites that inhibit spoilage organisms and improve digestibility while contributing distinctive sensory qualities.In baking, amylases naturally present in flour hydrolyze starch into monosaccharides such as glucose, which Saccharomyces cerevisiae ferments anaerobically. Through...
01:28Pasteurization and Food Preservation
Pasteurization is a widely employed thermal processing technique designed to enhance the safety and shelf life of perishable food and beverages. By subjecting products to specific high temperatures for controlled durations, this method effectively inactivates pathogenic microorganisms and spoilage enzymes without significantly compromising sensory qualities. The technique has been pivotal in food safety management, especially for consumables susceptible to microbial contamination such as milk,...
01:29Sources of Food Contamination
Contamination of food by microbial agents and natural toxins poses significant risks to public health. These hazards can be introduced at various points across the food supply chain, ranging from environmental sources to processing and storage stages. Understanding these contamination pathways is critical for developing strategies to ensure food safety.Seafood is particularly vulnerable to contamination through both environmental exposure and microbial colonization. Toxins from harmful algal...
01:14Scale-Up Processes
The scale-up of microbial fermentation processes is essential in industrial biotechnology, allowing the transition from laboratory-scale experiments to commercial-scale production while aiming to maintain product yield and quality. This process requires meticulous adjustment of equipment design, process parameters, and contamination control strategies to accommodate increasing culture volumes.At the laboratory scale, cultures are typically maintained in 1 to 10-liter glass or autoclavable...
01:29Downstream Processing
Downstream processing begins once fermentation is complete and involves a series of steps to recover and purify products such as acids, vitamins, antibiotics, or proteins.Cell HarvestingFor example, for intracellular protein-based products, the first step is harvesting the cells. This is typically achieved using centrifugation or filtration to separate the cells from the liquid phase.Cell Disruption for Intracellular ProductsIf the target product is intracellular, the harvested cells must be...