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Hydrodynamic cavitation: An emerging technology for the intensification of

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DOI: 10.1515/revce-2016-0032

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Jitendra Carpenter, Mandar Badve, Sunil Rajoriya, Suja George, Virendra Kumar Saharan*
and Aniruddha B. Pandit
Hydrodynamic cavitation: an emerging technology
for the intensification of various chemical and
physical processes in a chemical process industry
DOI 10.1515/revce-2016-0032
Received July 13, 2016; accepted September 12, 2016
Abstract: Hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) has been explored
by many researchers over the years after the first publica-
tion on hydrolysis of fatty oils using HC was published by
Pandit and Joshi [Pandit AB, Joshi JB. Hydrolysis of fatty
oils: effect of cavitation. Chem Eng Sci 1993; 48: 3440–
3442]. Before this publication, most of the studies related to
cavitation in hydraulic system were concentrated to avoid
the generation of cavities/cavitating conditions. The funda-
mental concept was to harness the energy released by cavi-
ties in a positive way for various chemical and mechanical
processes. In HC, cavitation is generated by a combination
of flow constriction and pressure-velocity conditions, which
are monitored in such a way that cavitating conditions will
be reached in a flowing system and thus generate hot spots.
It allows the entire process to operate at otherwise ambient
conditions of temperature and pressure while generating
the cavitating conditions locally. In this review paper, we
have explained in detail various cavitating devices and the
effect of geometrical and operating parameters that affect
the cavitation conditions. The optimization of different cav-
itating devices is discussed, and some strategies have been
suggested for designing these devices for different applica-
tions. Also, various applications of HC such as wastewater
treatment, preparation of nanoemulsions, biodiesel syn-
thesis, water disinfection, and nanoparticle synthesis were
discussed in detail.
Keywords: biodiesel synthesis; hydrodynamic cavitation;
microbial cell disruption; nanomaterials; wastewater
treatment.
*Corresponding author: Virendra Kumar Saharan, Department of
Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology,
Jaipur 302017, India, e-mail: vksaharan.chem@mnit.ac.in
Jitendra Carpenter, Sunil Rajoriya and Suja George: Department of
Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology,
Jaipur 302017, India
Mandar Badve and Aniruddha B. Pandit: Department of Chemical
Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai 400019,
India
Rev Chem Eng 2016; aop
1 Introduction
In the last decade, cavitation technique has been exten-
sively studied, and it has been successfully applied for the
various physical, chemical, and biological processes. This
novel technique not only produces the desirable transfor-
mation but also reduces the total processing cost and is
found to be more energy efficient than many other con-
ventional techniques. Cavitation offers immense potential
for the intensification of various physical and chemi-
cal processes in an energy efficient manner (Gogate and
Kabadi 2009).
Cavitation is defined as a phenomenon of formation,
growth, and collapse of microbubbles or cavities, occur-
ring in a few milli- to microseconds at multiple locations
in the reactor and thus releases large magnitude of energy
in a short span of time (Mahulkar and Pandit 2010).
­Cavitation is initiated with the formation of vapor cavities
(bubbles or voids) when liquid enters into the low-pressure
region, and subsequently these cavities attain a maximum
size under the conditions of isothermal expansion. In the
successive compression cycle, an immediate adiabatic
collapse occurs, resulting in the formation of supercriti-
cal state of high local temperature and pressure, known
as hot spot. The chemical and physical transformations
required for the process occur because of these intense
temperature and pressure conditions that are generated
in these hot spots. The mechanical or physical effects
of cavitation, such as the microjet streaming and high-
intensity local turbulence, are mainly responsible for the
intensification of physical processes such as synthesis of
nanoemulsion, nanoparticle formation, microbial disrup-
tion, and disinfection. By contrast, its chemical effects,
such as the generation of highly reactive free radicals in
the aqueous environment, are mainly responsible for the
intensification of chemical processes such as synthesis of
chemicals, degradation of the water pollutants, etc.
Cavitation can be generated in a liquid medium
either through flow variation in a flowing liquid known
as hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) or by passing ultra-
sonic waves through the liquid known as acoustic
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2      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
cavitation (AC). The other modes of generating cavitation
known as optic and particle cavitation are typically used
for single-bubble cavitation, which cannot be scaled up
to induce any physical or chemical changes in the bulk
solution.
Acoustic cavitation: In this technique, the pressure
variations in the liquid are affected by sound waves,
usually ultrasound (> 20 kHz). The acoustical energy
is generated by the transmission of ultrasound waves
that consist of the rarefaction and compression cycles
traveling through the liquid medium. In the rarefaction
(expansion) cycle, a large negative acoustic pressure is
developed, which increases intermolecular distance,
and cavities are formed where it exceeds the critical
molecular distance. In the compression cycle, the posi-
tive acoustic pressure pushes the cavities together and
compresses them, which eventually leads to their violent
collapse. The final collapse phase is adiabatic in nature
and, thus, locally produces high-temperature and high-
pressure conditions.
Hydrodynamic cavitation: Cavitation is produced by
affecting pressure variations in a flowing fluid by allow-
ing the fluid to pass through a constriction in a pipe.
The variation of pressure through a constriction channel
such as venturi, orifice, etc., with different geometries
leads to the generation of cavities (Gogate and Kabadi
2009). HC can also be produced by mechanical rotation
of an object within a liquid. Although there are other HC
devices such as high-speed homogenizer, high-pressure
homogenizer, and high-speed rotor, which can create
cavitation conditions, they have been limited in terms of
their applications because of high energy cost involved in
generating high pressure and speed. Orifices and venturis
are reported to be the most widely used cavitating devices
for generating HC.
In both modes of cavitation, when the cavities col-
lapse, “hot spot” regions are created having local tem-
perature in the range of 1000–10,000 K and pressures in
the range of 100–1000 bar (Gogate 2011). The cavitation
phenomena can be of two types: stable and transient.
In stable cavitation, cavities of low oscillating inten-
sity are formed and oscillate at some equilibrium size
for many acoustic cycles. In transient cavitation, cavi-
ties expand to multiple of their initial size before their
violent collapse and oscillate more rapidly, thereby
generating intense local temperature/pressure condi-
tions. It has been reported that AC mainly produced
high-intensity cavity collapse because of the generation
of more number of transient cavities (Gogate and Pandit
2004). HC produces mostly low-intensity cavity collapse
as compared with AC, but more cavities are generated
in HC compared with AC because of its geometrical con-
figuration. HC is found to generate both types of cavita-
tion, i.e. stable and transient, which primarily depend
on the geometry of a cavitating device. The better cavi-
tation results can be achieved by generating both types
of cavitation simultaneously in a controlled manner. In
the last two decades, AC has been extensively studied
(different frequencies, different power, and continuous
and pulse mode) for its application in various chemical
and physical processes such as nanoparticle synthesis,
nanoemulsification, emulsion polymerization, chemical
synthesis using oxidation reaction, extraction and leach-
ing, and wastewater treatment (Weavers et al. 1998, Goel
et al. 2004, Abbasi and Asl 2008, Hamadaoui and Naffre-
choux 2008, Pinjari and Pandit 2011, Ladola et al. 2014,
Ramisetty et al. 2015). Two different types of AC reactors
were used, i.e. horn and bath. In an AC reactor, cavita-
tion is found to occur near the tip of the horn and at the
transducer surface in the bath, and cavitation intensity
decreases exponentially when moving away from the
tip and transducer surface (Gogate 2008). Moreover,
the intensity significantly depends on the operating fre-
quency and power delivered. Despite extensive research
performed at laboratory scale, this technique has found
few takers on an industrial scale because of some limi-
tations, such as poor transmission of acoustic energy in
large volume of liquid, higher operational cost and low
energy efficiencies, and poor spatiotemporal distribu-
tion in the liquid volume (Gogate et al. 2002, Gogate and
Pandit 2004).
In recent years, researchers have highlighted the
role of hydrodynamically generated cavities to bring up
the chemical and physical transformation because of the
several advantages of this technique and its wide appli-
cability. Although the collapse intensity of the cavity in
HC is less compared with AC, it generates more number
of cavities, thereby increasing total volume and making
it more efficient than AC. HC technique has a greater
potential in the case of a large-scale process because of its
capability of generating cavitational conditions similar to
AC technique, easy scale-up, and less material costs. This
technique has been well established for the formation
of nanoemulsion (Ramisetty et  al. 2014), the synthesis
of nanoparticles (Pinjari and Pandit 2010), the synthesis
of chemicals (Pandit and Joshi 1993, Ambulgekar et  al.
2004, 2005, Sainte Beuve and Morison 2010, Prajapat
and Gogate 2015), and the degradation of various hazard-
ous water pollutants such as dyes (Saharan et  al. 2011,
2012, Gore et  al. 2014), phenols (Chakinala et  al. 2008a,
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 J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      3

Capocelli et  al. 2014), cyanides (Jawale et  al. 2014), and
other complex organic pollutants. This technique has
also been successfully investigated for the destruction
of microorganisms (Wu et al. 2012, Li et al. 2014, Lee and
Han 2015), where it can damage the cell wall, inhibit their
growth, and nullify adverse effects and at the same time
reduce the consumption of chemicals required for killing
of microbes.
This review article provides a detailed overview of
phenomena of HC and a geometrical configuration of dif-
ferent HC devices and their applicability in the various
chemical and physical processes. The effect of various
geometrical and operating parameters on the efficiency
of HC has been discussed in detail, and optimum design
parameters for the various cavitating devices have been
suggested.

2 Hydrodynamic cavitation
HC is simply generated by passing the liquid through
constrictions fitted in a conduit. At the constriction, the
kinetic energy of the liquid increases at the expense of
pressure, and with effective throttling, pressure reduces
below the vapor pressure of the liquid at the vena con-
tracta, causing flashing of the liquid and generating
numerous vapor cavities. Subsequently, as the liquid jet
expands, the velocity decreases and the pressure recov-
ers in the downstream section of the cavitating device
resulting in the collapse of cavities. A typical pressure
profile of a venturi-based device is shown in Figure  1.
In the downstream section, boundary layer separation
occurs, and some amount of energy is released in the
form of permanent pressure drop. The magnitude of the
pressure drop greatly influences the intensity of cavita-
tion and turbulence in the downstream section (Mohol-
kar and Pandit 1997). Thus, it is necessary to control the
operating and the geometrical parameters of the devices
to get the required cavitational intensity.
The dimensionless cavitation number (CV) represents
the hydraulic characteristics of a cavitating device, and it
characterizes the condition of cavitation inside the cavi-
tating device. It is represented by Eq. (1) (Saharan et  al.
2011):
P2 − PV
CV =
1 (1)
ρV 2
2 0 
where P2 is the discharge pressure at downstream of the
constriction, PV is the vapor pressure of the liquid, V0 is
Figure 1: Pressure variation and flow conditions in cavitating device
(venturi).
the velocity at the throat, and ρ is the density of liquid.
The cavitation number at which the inception of cavita-
tion occurs is known as cavitation inception number, CVi.
Ideally, the cavitation inception occurs at CVi = 1, and there
are significant cavitational effects at a CV value of less
than 1.
2.1 HC-induced effects
Sudden pressure and velocity variation cause dynamic
cavity oscillations, and as the cavity collapses, certain
physical and chemical effects occur in its vicinity leading
to the desired transformations. Also, the type of cavity col-
lapse controls the desired transformation. Mahulkar and
Pandit (2010) highlighted two conditions of cavity col-
lapse: symmetric and asymmetric. The cavity may remain
spherical till the point of collapse or nonspherical because
of the presence of interface at the boundary wall or other
particle/bubble surface near the oscillating cavity. The
formation of reactive free radicals and the thermal pyroly-
sis of organic molecules are favorable under spherical
collapse, i.e. symmetric collapse, which are essential for
chemical transformations. By contrast, monspherical
collapse, i.e. asymmetric collapse, produce high-velocity
liquid jets and intense local turbulence, which are benefi-
cial for physical transformation. Although both symmetric
collapse and asymmetric collapse receive the same energy
from pressure fluctuations, energy is delivered in different

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4      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
forms, i.e. either in the form of intense turbulence or in the
form of extreme condition of pressure and temperature.
The symmetric collapse is beneficial for applications
involving chemical changes especially for the oxidation
reactions. The chemical transformations are primarily
induced by the formation of reactive free radicals of the
substrate molecules and secondarily through thermal
breakdown of larger molecules into the smaller molecules
under the conditions of local hot spot. One of the simple
examples is the formation of highly reactive hydroxyl radi-
cals (˙OH) because of the dissociation of water molecules
under cavitating conditions. These hydroxyl radicals
have highest oxidation potential, which can oxidize large
organic molecules. The chemical changes occur in two
ways (Saharan et al. 2013): first, the entrapped molecules
inside the collapsing cavity undergo thermal decomposi-
tion during the cavity collapse, and second, the generated
free radicals attack the targeted molecules at the cavity-
liquid interface and in the bulk liquid thereby oxidizing
the molecules.
According to the hot spot theory (Adewuyi 2001), each
cavity acts as a microreactor where high-pressure and
high-temperature conditions are created and release large
amount of energy in a very short duration. The theory
describes the following three reaction zones in the cavi-
tating system, as shown in Figure 2 (Chen 2012):
(a) In the core of the cavities, the temperature and the
pressure reach the highest peak (10,000 K and 1000
Figure 2: Hot spot theory: reaction zones in the cavitation process.
atm, respectively) during the collapse of the cavities.
Inside this region, the entrapped molecules dissociate
into smaller intermediates and also produce reactive
free radicals upon dissociation. These radicals attack
the targeted molecules, initiating further reaction. For
example, water molecules dissociate into ˙OH and ˙H
radicals.
(b) In the interface region or very near to the cavity inter-
face, high shear microjet and turbulence is created
because of cavity oscillation and its subsequent col-
lapse. The temperature may go up to 2000  K in the
proximity of the cavity interface. This high turbulence
enhances the mass transport of the generated radi-
cals, and therefore the scope of reaction of these radi-
cals with the targeted organic molecules is higher in
the cavity-liquid interface than that in the bulk liquid
region. Also, the organic molecules that are present
near the cavity-liquid interface get thermally decom-
posed because of high temperature in this region.
(c) In the bulk liquid region, the temperature is not so
high and remains near the atmospheric temperature.
In this region, the generated radicals diffuse into the
bulk liquid and react with the targeted molecules.
The quantification of the chemical effects occurring
within the cavitating device in terms of generation of ˙OH
radicals and reaction yields is important, and various
dosimetry studies such as iodide and salicylic acid have
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been used for the determination of yield and efficiency
in HC (­ Senthilkumar et  al. 2000, Arrojo et  al. 2007,
­Chakinala et al. 2008a,b). The quantification is conducted
by evaluating the reaction yields based on the oxidation
of substrate molecule by ˙OH radicals and the oxidation
products produced, which is equivalent to the quantum of
˙OH radicals being used. Senthilkumar et al. (2000) meas-
ured the efficiency of orifice-based HC devices and opti-
mized the geometry based on the reaction yield of iodine.
They had observed that iodide ion (I−) oxidizes into iodine
by the attack of ˙OH radicals. This study proved that HC
is capable of generating ˙OH radicals and the oxidation
reactions can occur during HC. Chakinala et al. (2008a,b)
studied the effect of the presence of chloroalkanes (CH2Cl2,
CHCl3, and CCl4) on the oxidation of KI using HC. The addi-
tional free radicals of chlorine (Cl˙) enhanced the yield of
I3− under the HC effects. At the optimum conditions, the
rate of liberation of I3− using CCl4 was approximately two
and six times higher than that of CHCl3 and CH2Cl2, respec-
tively, when combined with HC. On the contrary, Morison
and Hutchinson (2009) found that iodide dosimetry was
not enough to evaluate the efficiency of HC because H2O2
is also produced as a side product by the recombination of
generated ˙OH radicals, which acts as a scavenger for the
iodine (I3−). Apart from that, Arrojo et al. (2007) and Amin
et  al. (2010) evaluated the efficiency of different orifice
plates using salicylic acid dosimetry and observed it to be
more reliable and accurate for monitoring the efficiency of
HC because the oxidation products can easily be detected
by high-pressure liquid chromatography, which is more
sensitive than the spectrophotometric method used in
iodide dosimetry. All these dosimetry studies indicate
that HC is capable of initiating many chemical reactions
through the formation of free radicals.
By contrast, asymmetric cavity collapse is beneficial
for the physical processes. The asymmetric collapse effec-
tively delivers high energy by creating high-velocity liquid
jets and turbulent eddies during the cavities oscillation
and collapse. These effects are beneficial for the applica-
tion involving various physical changes such as emulsifi-
cation, where the interfacial tension between immiscible
phases gets reduced; nanoparticle synthesis, where the
breakdown of larger particles occurs into smaller sizes;
and microbial disinfection by breakage of the cell wall of
pathogenic microbes. Further, the asymmetric collapse
facilitates species transport in various homogenous and
heterogeneous systems also. In liquid-liquid systems, it
creates a microlevel mixing, which in turn increases the
mass transfer rate by reducing the interfacial tension
between immiscible phases, thereby enhancing mixing.
In solid-liquid systems, high-velocity liquid jets break the
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      5
liquid film surrounding the solid, which in turn reduces
the mass transfer resistance. Asymmetric cavity collapse
at the surface of solid catalyst can break and clean the
surface of catalyst because of the formation of liquid jet
and therefore enhances the catalytic activity.
It is expected that HC is capable of initiating many
physical and chemical process transformations that may
be achieved by varying the geometrical and operating
parameters of the HC devices. These parameters need to
be optimized individually for each specific application.
The effect of all these parameters on the efficiency of HC is
discussed in detail in the following sections.
2.2 HC reactor
HC is usually generated by providing a suitable constric-
tion in a liquid flow. The throttling can be created using
various devices such as venturi, orifice, high-speed rotor,
and homogenizer. The operating pressure and flow condi-
tions may vary with these devices, but the phenomena of
cavity generation is the same where sufficient throttling
transforms the liquid into vaporous cavities.
Orifice and venturi-based HC devices are found to be
the most efficient in creating an intense cavitation con-
dition. The cavitation in an orifice is transient in nature,
whereas the cavitation in a venturi is mostly stable
because of its geometrical configuration. In the case of an
orifice, the geometry could have single or multiple holes
with varying flow area as shown in Figure  3. The use of
a multiple-hole orifice plate gives better control over the
intensity of cavitation and the number of cavitational
events (Gogate and Kabadi 2009) occurring inside the
cavitating device. Similarly, different shapes of venturis
such as slit, circular, and elliptical, as shown in Figure 4,
are used to obtain different cavitational conditions inside
the reactor. The variation in geometrical parameters such
as flow perimeter, throat area, and divergence angle and
curvature results into different cavitational yields; thus,
it is necessary to consider these factors during the design
of a cavitating venturi. Moreover, HC can also be gener-
ated using high-speed rotor and high-speed homogenizer
by controlling the operating rotational speed and pres-
sure inputs. The flexibility of controlling the cavitational
intensity in these devices is much less than that of orifice
and venturi-based devices (Gogate 2007). To date, most
of the studies have focused on orifice and venturi-based
HC reactors because of the advantages of higher product
yields, cost-effectiveness, and easy scale-up. Therefore,
the scope of this review article is focused on orifice and
venturi-based HC reactors.
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6      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
Figure 3: Configuration of orifice-based cavitating device with
single- and multiple-hole orifices.
To generate the cavitation, liquid is pumped through
these devices (orifice and venturi) using a pump. The
pump rating/capacity is decided by the cavitation number
and volumetric flow rate as required for a particular appli-
cation. A typical reactor that is used to generate HC is
shown in Figure 5. Many studies have reported the use of
similar HC setup for different applications such as waste-
water treatment (Sivakumar and Pandit 2002, Saharan
et  al. 2011, 2013, Bagal and Gogate 2014a,b, Gogate and
Patil 2015), emulsification process (Ramisetty et al. 2014),
Figure 4: Configuration of venturi. (A) Slit venturi, (B) circular venturi, and (C) elliptical venturi.
nanoparticle synthesis (Patil and Pandit 2007, Pinjari and
Pandit 2010), water disinfection (Jyoti and Pandit 2001,
Badve et  al. 2015), and biodiesel synthesis (Kelkar et  al.
2008, Ghayal et al. 2013, Gole et al. 2013, Maddikeri et al.
2014). The setup comprises of a storage tank, pump, cavi-
tating device, pressure gauges, flow control valve, and
flowmeter. The liquid from the pump is circulated through
the main line, which houses a cavitating device. In addi-
tion, a bypass line is provided to control the flow rate
through the main line.
2.3 G
 eometrical criteria of the cavitating
device
The geometrical design significantly affects the effi-
ciency of a cavitating device. For an optimum cavitational
yield, parameters such as number of cavities generated,
residence time of the cavities in the low-pressure region,
pressure recovery rate in downstream section, cavity
trajectory, and cavitational intensity are very important
(Bashir et  al. 2011). It has been reported that all these
cavitational properties can be regulated by varying the
geometry of a cavitating device. The effects of different
geometrical parameters of the orifice and venturi-based
devices on their efficiency are discussed in detail in the
following sections.
2.3.1 Orifice-based HC
In an orifice, the intensity of a cavity collapse very
much depends on the area of opening/flow area, size,
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Figure 5: Schematic representation of hydrodynamic cavitation (HC)
reactor.
and shape of the holes and the number of holes present
in an orifice. The cavitation that occurs in an orifice is
mostly transient in nature, and the intensity of cavity
collapse is also higher because of the generation of the
higher number of transient cavities, which is mainly
required in the chemical transformation. In an orifice,
because of sudden expansion, the pressure recovers
immediately, which causes rapid collapse of the cavi-
ties, thereby inducing intense cavity collapse. However,
in an orifice, the cavities are grown only at the edge of
the throat, and therefore it generate lesser number of
cavities. This disadvantage can be overcome by using
multiple-hole ­orifices. A  ­multiple-hole orifice generates
more cavities than a single-hole orifice of the same flow
area because of the higher flow perimeter in a multiple-
hole orifice. Many studies have been reported for the use
of orifice plates in applications such as wastewater treat-
ment, water disinfection, emulsification, nanoparticle
synthesis, etc. S ­ ivakumar and Pandit (2002) have used
multiple-hole orifice plates for the d­ egradation of textile
dyes. S ­ enthilkumar et al. (2000) have used multiple-hole
orifice plates to study the ­decomposition of KI, whereas
Ghayal et  al. (2013) have  used the same for producing
­biodiesel from used frying oil.
In all these applications where orifice plates were
found to be effective for conducting the desired trans-
formation, the geometrical configuration was found to
be the major factor for the intensification of the cavita-
tion process. A multiple-hole orifice plate is more effec-
tive in terms of getting higher cavitational yield than a
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      7
single-hole orifice plate of the same flow area. In the case
of a multiple-hole orifice plate, the larger available wetted
perimeter for a given cross-sectional area produces more
shear layer area which in turn generates more number of
cavities. The higher numbers of generated cavities result
into the increased quantum of collapse pressure at the
time of cavity collapse. Throat size and shape also play an
important role while designing the orifice-based HC, and
it is necessary to consider these two important geometric
parameters such as α (ratio of perimeter of the hole to the
total flow area) and β (ratio of throat area to cross-sec-
tional area of pipe) to select the best configuration of an
orifice plate for the targeted transformation. An overview
of the various studies reported with varying value of α and
β for orifice-based devices and their cavitational yield for
the different areas of application is given in Table 1.
2.3.1.1 Design parameters of orifice-based HC device
2.3.1.1.1 α
 , the ratio of perimeter of the holes to the total
flow area
This parameter is dependent on the size, shape, and
number of holes in an orifice plate. Sivakumar and Pandit
(2002) and Ghayal et al. (2013) reported that α is directly
proportional to the number of holes and inversely pro-
portional to the size of the orifice holes in a multiple-
hole orifice plate. They have emphasized on maximizing
the value of α for obtaining a higher cavitational yield.
Sivakumar and Pandit (2002) have observed that as
the α value increased from 0.8 to 4, the rate of degra-
dation of rhodamine B dye increased from 2.67 × 10−5 to
5.33 × 10−5 s−1, i.e. it doubled. It was suggested that for a
given cross-sectional area, a higher value of α, i.e. the
plate having a large number of smaller holes, is more
suitable than the plate having a small number of larger
holes. For the same value of α, the plate having a large
number of holes provides better cavitational yield. A
similar observation was made by Ghayal et  al. (2013).
They have observed that as the value of α increased from
0.4 to 2, the conversion of triglycerides to methyl esters
increased from 77% to 94%. Thus, for a given cross-
sectional area of throat, a higher value of α, i.e. higher
throat perimeter, is preferred to generate more cavities
and to get higher cavitational yield. Therefore, the plates
having the higher number of holes or different shapes
other than circular such as rectangular and elliptical for
a given cross-sectional area are more beneficial to get
higher yield. Similar studies by Wang et  al. (2015) and
Balasundaram and Harrison (2011) have also empha-
sized that higher cavitational yield can be achieved at
higher value of α (> 2.0), as given in Table 1.
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 Table 1: Overview of the studies of different geometrical configurations in different areas of applications.

Cavitating device   Applications   Optimum geometrical parameters   Optimum operating   References

    parameters

Geometry   α (mm−1)  β  Flow area  γ  Half divergence Inlet   Cv

(mm2) angle pressure (P1)

Multiple orifice   Oxidation of KI   Orifice: 33 × 5 mma   0.8  0.091  647.62  –  –  50 psi   0.20  Senthilkumar et al. (2000)
Multiple orifice   Depolymerization   Orifice: 4 × 2.5 mma   1.6  0.040  19.625  –  –  0.2 MPa   –  Huang et al. (2013)
reaction
Orifice, slit, and circular venturi  Depolymerization   Slit venturi   1.38  –  11.40  1 : 1  5.5°  3 bar   0.38  Prajapat and Gogate
8      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation

reaction (2015)
Multiple orifice   Dye degradation:   Orifice: 33 × 1 mma   4.0  0.023  25.92  –  –  30 psig   0.29  Sivakumar et al. (2014)
rhodamine B
Orifice, slit, and circular venturi  Dye degradation:   Slit venturi   1.38  0.025  11.40  1 : 1  5.5°  3 bar   0.29  Saharan et al. (2013)
orange G
Multiple orifice with different   Cell disruption   Circular orifice:   2.0  –  126  –  –  –   0.14  Balasundaram and
shapes and sizes 40 × 2 mma Harrison (2011)
Multiple orifice and venturi   Cell disruption   Venturi   –  –  10    5.0°  1.5 bar   –  Arrojo et al. (2008)
Multiple orifice   Water disinfection   Orifice: 75% opening area  –  0.44  234.94  –  –  3.2 kg/cm2   14.63  Sawant et al. (2008)
Multiple orifice   Water disinfection   Orifice: 12 × 1 mma   0.33  0.36  113.04  –  –  – 0.063 MPa   0.54  Wu et al. (2012)
(algal removal)
Multiple orifice   Water disinfection   Orifice: 33 × 2 mma   2.0  0.04  –  –  –  0.45 MPa   0.14  Wang et al. (2015)
Orifice, slit, and circular venturi  Water disinfection   Slit venturi   2.71  –  3.404  1 : 1  6.5°  3 bar   0.10  Badve et al. (2015)
Multiple orifice   Biodiesel synthesis   Orifice: 25 × 2 mma   2.0  0.25  78.54  –  –  1.5 bar   –  Ghayal et al. (2013)
Orifice, slit, and circular venturi  Biodiesel synthesis   Slit venturi   2.71  –  3.404  1 : 1  6.5°  3 bar   0.10–0.20  Maddikeri et al. (2014)
Circular and slit venturi   Emulsification   Slit venturi   1.38  –  11.40  1 : 1  5.5°  5 bar   0.23  Ramisetty et al. (2014)
Multiple orifice   Nanoparticle synthesis  Orifice: 1 × 2 mma   2.0  0.01  3.14  –  –  –   0.15  Sonawane et al. (2010)
Circular and slit venturi   CFD analysis   Slit venturi   2.7  –  3.42  1 : 1  5.5°  5 atm   0.21  Bashir et al. (2011)
Circular and slit venturi   CFD analysis   Circular venturi   2.0  –  6.28  1 : 1  6.5°  5 atm   0.23  Jain et al. (2014)
Slit, circular, and elliptical   CFD analysis   Elliptical venturi   3.21  –  3.14  1 : 1  6.5°  6 atm   0.137  Kuldeep and Saharan
venturi and single- and (2016)
multiple-hole orifices
a
Number of holes × diameter.

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2.3.1.1.2 β  , the ratio of throat area to cross-sectional
area of pipe
Another parameter (β), which is the ratio of throat cross-
sectional area to the pipe cross-sectional area, is also
important in selecting the best configuration of an orifice
device. The value of β depends on the required operating
cavitation number, which is decided based on the applica-
tion for which HC is being conducted and the volumetric
flow rate. Senthilkumar et al. (2000) have indicated that an
orifice with a lower value of β (0.091) was three times more
efficient than the orifice having a higher value of β (0.138)
for the oxidation of KI (potassium iodide). At an inlet pres-
sure of 50 psi, iodine liberation rate was increased from
5.5 × 10−6 to 1.65 × 10−5 g/l when β decreased from 0.138 to
0.091. Sivakumar and Pandit (2002) had also observed
similar results in which decreasing the value of β from
0.139 to 0.023 resulted in increasing rate of degradation
of rhodamine B dye from 2.67 × 10−5 to 5.33 × 10−5 s−1. Thus,
it is understood that an orifice having lesser value of β
(0.023) contributed more in the degradation of the dye. As
throat area reduces velocity increases, resulting into lower
cavitation number. At lower cavitation number, more cavi-
ties are formed and collapse more violently, and therefore
higher degradation rate is obtained at smaller β value.
Contrary to the previously mentioned studies, Ghayal
et al. (2013) observed that as the value of β increased from
0.25 to 0.45, the conversion of triglycerides to methyl ester
was increased from 77% to 95%. Moreover, for the two
orifice plates having the same β (0.25), the conversion rate
was higher in the plate having a higher value of α. Hence,
the plate having a large number of small holes was con-
tributing more to the conversion of triglycerides, which is
more of a physicochemical transformation. Therefore, the
area of throat is decided based on the velocity at the throat
essential for the required cavitation number (as per Eq. 1)
and volumetric flow rate, and the β value is set accord-
ingly. Because the optimum operating cavitation number
is different for different applications, the size and the
shape of throat are designed accordingly.
2.3.2 Venturi-based HC
A venturi consists of the convergent section, throat, and
divergent section in which the flow dynamics vary in a
considerable manner, but no sudden contraction and
expansion occur as observed in an orifice. A substantial
variation in the flow is found in convergent and divergent
sections, and thus the flow parameters such as pressure
and velocity are consistently varied along the length of
the venturi. The venturi may be of different shapes, such
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      9
as rectangular, circular, and elliptical. The different sizes
and shapes of the throat and divergent section set the cri-
teria for the different cavitational activities, i.e. it can alter
the number of cavitational events, the magnitude of the
collapse pressure, and the residence time of the cavity in
low-pressure region. In a venturi, the geometry of diver-
gent section prevents the early cavity collapse opposite
to that which occurs in an orifice. The internal flow area
of the divergent section increases linearly in the direction
of the flow according to the divergent angle. This smooth
divergent section prevents the sudden pressure recovery
and thus provides enough time for a cavity to remain in
a low-pressure region, which is essential for a cavity to
attain a maximum size before their collapse (Gore et  al.
2014). Thus, the cavitation that occurs in a venturi is stable
and beneficial for the applications that require cavitational
exposure for a longer duration, as required for wastewater
treatment. The pollutant molecules need to be exposed to
the cavitational condition for a longer period to completely
mineralize such pollutants. In addition to the divergent
section, throat size and shape are also important to gen-
erate the maximum number of cavities. Because of the
smooth convergent section before the throat, the venturis
are proved to be better than the orifices in terms of generat-
ing a large number of cavitational events at the throat.
A computational study conducted by Mahulkar and
Pandit (2010) proved that in the case of an orifice, the cavi-
ties are grown only at the edge of the orifice, whereas in a
venturi, the entire throat is filled with the cavities. These
effects also signify the advantage of a venturi over an orifice.
Saharan et al. (2013) proved that venturis are more efficient
than orifices in degrading the orange G dye. The slit and
circular venturi gives higher degradation than an orifice at
optimum conditions. In both these venturis, energy dissi-
pated in the form of cavitation per unit energy supplied to
the pump was higher than the orifice, and hence venturis
generate more number of cavities than the orifice plates,
which ultimately resulted into higher degradation rates for
the dye. Some other studies (Maddikeri et al. 2014, Badve
et al. 2015) have also suggested that venturis are preferred
over the orifice for selected applications because they can
generate more cavities and have an ability to enhance
cavity life. The following design parameters are important
for the design of venturi-based HC reactor.
2.3.2.1 Design parameters of venturi-based HC device
2.3.2.1.1 Throat area (cross-sectional and internal area)
The throat is an important section of a venturi as the cavity
inception occurs at the throat. The cross section of the
throat and its perimeter to area ratio may greatly affect the
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10      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
number of cavities being generated. For a given cross-sec-
tional area, higher perimeter generates more cavities, and
therefore the rectangular and elliptical shapes of the throat
are desirable rather than a circular throat because rectan-
gular and elliptical shapes have higher perimeter than a
circular throat for the same cross-sectional area (Bashir
et  al. 2011, Kuldeep and Saharan 2016). Saharan et  al.
(2013) have studied the effect of throat perimeter on the
degradation of orange G dye using two different venturis,
i.e. circular and slit venturis. They have observed that slit
venturi gives 10% higher degradation as compared with
circular venturi because of higher ratio of throat perim-
eter to its cross-sectional area. Further, the cavity growth
is much dependent on the internal area of the throat. In a
venturi, a minimum pressure occurs at the throat, and if
this internal throat area is sufficient, the generated cavities
would get enough time to grow to a maximum size result-
ing into a higher magnitude of collapse pressure. The inter-
nal area of the throat can be better quantified in terms of a
parameter (γ) known as the ratio of throat height/diameter
to its length. The value of γ affects the residence time of
the cavities, which decides the maximum size reached by
the cavities (Bashir et al. 2011). As the length of the throat
increases, the cavity spends more time in a low-pressure
region and therefore grows to a certain size before it enters
the downstream section where further oscillation and
growth occurs.
Bashir et  al. (2011) have conducted Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of different venturis such
as circular, slit, and elliptical at different γ, i.e. 1 : 0.5, 1 : 1,
1 : 2, and 1 : 3. The optimum ratio was found to be 1 : 1 for
all the venturis based on the length of the cavitation zone
and velocity achieved at the throat. The extended length
of minimum pressure region beyond a certain limit (1 : 1)
may result into the formation of inactive cavities or simply
vapors, which further dissolve into the surrounding liquid
without collapsing. A similar observation was made by
Jain et al. (2014). Table 1 details the experimental studies
with venturi-based HC having the same configuration,
i.e. γ of 1:1. Thus, as evident from these studies, venturis
having higher perimeter for a given cross section such as
rectangular or elliptical shape of the throat are preferred
over circular throat, and the throat length should not be
higher than the diameter/height of the throat.
2.3.2.1.2 Divergence of venturi
The final collapse pressure generated within HC reactor
and the cavitational yield is highly dependent on the
shape of the divergent section. In contrast to an orifice
plate, the pressure recovers smoothly in a venturi because
the divergent section is designed at some angle. Bashir
et  al. (2011) observed that as the half divergent angle
increased from 5.5° to 8.5° for a slit venturi, the cavitation
number increased from 0.23 to 0.28. They had observed
that at lower divergent angle, the pressure recovers very
smoothly and therefore cavities grew up to the maximum
size. However, at larger divergent angles, pressure recov-
ery rate was high, and venturi likely behaved as an orifice
and the cavities collapsed immediately. Therefore, a half
divergent angle of 5.5° was found to be the optimum
for a slit venturi to produce stable cavities and a better
cavitational yield. Jain et al. (2014) had also reported an
optimum value of 5.5° and 6.5° for slit and circular venturi,
respectively, for higher cavitational zone. Experimental
studies as detailed in Table 1 (Saharan et  al. 2011, 2012,
2013, Maddikeri et  al. 2014, Badve et  al. 2015) reported
the use of half divergent angle of 6.5° for slit and circu-
lar venturi to produce the desirable outputs for different
applications. Chavan et  al. (2016) have also numerically
optimized the convergent/divergent angles and the cur-
vature radii to propose further optimization showing 18%
higher yields over the optimized straight (linear) venturi
designs. Therefore, it can be concluded that a half diver-
gent angle between 5.5° and 6.5° can give better cavitation
efficiency for venturi-based HC.
2.4 Effect of other operating parameters
of HC
The intensity of cavitation that occurs inside the cavitat-
ing device also depends on the operating inlet pressure
and cavitation number, which are interdependent on
each other. At lower cavitation number or higher inlet
pressure, more cavities are formed. However, a decrease
in cavitation number beyond an optimum value leads to
the condition of choked cavitation (Saharan et al. 2014),
which has no practical utility. The optimum operating
pressure and the cavitation number depend on the area
of application for which HC is applied. The cavitation
inception may occur at Cv > 1.0 because of the presence
of dissolved gases and suspended particles in the solu-
tion (Patil and Pandit 2007). However, higher cavitational
yields are evident at lower cavitation number (Cv < 1.0) for
most of the applications except for particle size reduction
and for a highly viscous slurry solution. Saharan et  al.
(2012) studied the effect of cavitation number on the deg-
radation of reactive red 120 dye using circular venturi.
They had observed that operating the cavitating device
lower than its optimum cavitation number (0.15) resulted
in decreased degradation rate because of the formation of
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cavity cloud. Therefore, cavitating devices should always
be operated above choked cavitation conditions. Studies
reporting different values of cavitation number for dif-
ferent applications are given in Table 1. For wastewater
treatment, the optimum cavitation number was found in
the range of 0.15–0.55 (Saharan et al. 2011, 2012, Capocelli
et al. 2014, Li et al. 2015a), depending on the type of pol-
lutants present in water. For emulsification process, the
optimum cavitation number was found in range of 0.16–
0.23 (Ramisetty et al. 2014), which primarily depends on
the geometry of the cavitating device. In the case of nano-
particle synthesis, the optimum cavitation number was
found to be in the range of 0.1–2.61 (Patil and Pandit 2007,
Pinjari and Pandit 2010, Sonawane et al. 2010), depend-
ing on the initial size of the treated materials. It is evident
from these studies that a lower cavitation number, i.e.
between 0.1 and 0.3, gives better cavitational yield for
most of the applications such as wastewater treatment,
biodiesel synthesis, nanoemulsification, and microbial
disinfection. In the case of a slurry having solid particles
of micron size and for high viscous fluid, a higher cavita-
tion number can give better yield. Therefore, cavitation
number should be optimized independently according
to the process application under consideration, and the
design parameters for the cavitating device should be
chosen accordingly to produce high cavitational yield.
Therefore, it is necessary to consider the nature of the
solution to be treated (physicochemical properties) to
select the operating inlet pressure and cavitation number
in the cavitation process.
2.5 C
 avitation element: optimization
strategy for geometrical and operating
parameters
From the previous discussion on the effects of various
geometrical and operating conditions on cavitational
activity inside the device, it can be concluded that these
parameters are very important for maximizing the cavi-
tational yield. The optimization of these parameters is
essential to have a proper design of a cavitational reactor
with the purpose of inducing the desired chemical and
physical transformation using HC. For the optimum geo-
metrical and operating parameters, the following rec-
ommendations are made for designing the cavitating
device:
1. In the case of an orifice, for a given cross-sectional
area, a higher value of α would be preferred to create
the intense cavitation, whereas β depends on the cavi-
tation number and volumetric flow rate to be handled
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      11
and its value should be kept such that the required
velocity at the throat is achieved. Very low values of
β cause high-pressure drop and subsequently require
high energy for pumping and, therefore, should be
avoided if it is not required. Therefore, orifices having
a large number of small holes have better efficiency
than orifices having a small number of larger holes,
i.e. a higher value of α is better.
2. For a suitable design of venturi-based devices, it is
recommended to use the throat configuration of 1 : 1
(throat height/diameter-to-length ratio), which leads
to the formation of larger number of active cavities.
Also, for a better cavitational yield, the optimum diver-
gent angle should be in the range of 11°–13° as evident
from the previous studies. Different shapes of throat
such as slit and elliptical give better result as com-
pared with circular throat for a specified flow area.
The shape of throat should be selected in such a way
that it maximizes the flow perimeter. The approach
to throat need not be linear but a curved surface also
increases the efficiency/efficacy of the device.
3. The required cavitation number and inlet pressure
depend on physicochemical properties of fluid and
the geometry of the cavitating device. The lower
cavitation number, i.e. Cv < 1, is better for most of the
processes to conduct physical and chemical transfor-
mation. The cavitating devices should always be oper-
ated above the choked cavitation condition to avoid
the cloud formation, which would otherwise reduce
the cavitational yield.
3 A
 pplication of HC in chemical
processes
In the last decade, HC has been effectively used for the
synthesis of many chemicals such as biodiesel, polymeric
substance (low molecular weight), organic chemicals,
and thermal cracking of heavier petroleum crude into low
molecular weight distillates. HC can drive many chemi-
cal reactions such as oxidation reactions, breakdown of
higher molecular weight compounds into smaller mole-
cules, hydrolysis of edible oil, and transesterification reac-
tions (Pandit and Joshi 1993, Ambulgekar et al. 2004, 2005,
Sainte Beuve and Morison 2010, Maddikeri et  al. 2014,
Ansari et al. 2015, Prajapat and Gogate 2015). It is reported
that the reactions proceed in two ways under the effect
of HC, i.e. by the attack of free radicals and by thermal
pyrolysis for the chemical reactions involving oxidation,
hydrolysis, and breakdown of larger molecules into the
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12      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
smaller molecules. However, in the reaction such as the
transesterification of triglycerides for biodiesel synthesis,
the interfacial turbulence and the high-pressure liquid
jets within the HC process are found to be responsible for
the enhancement of mass transfer between two immisci-
ble phases, i.e. oil and alcohol. This improved mass trans-
fer (due to the creation of high interfacial area) results in
the increased reaction yield. Many studies have indicated
that only the mechanical effects, i.e. high turbulent fluid
eddies and microjets, are the main cause for assisting the
transesterification reaction. The role of chemical effects of
HC on the transesterification has not been reported yet.
However, there may be side reactions of triglyceride oxi-
dation during biodiesel synthesis. Hydroxyl radicals may
attack the carbonyl carbon atom, thus converting it into
carboxyl group. Therefore, there is much scope to investi-
gate the role of chemical effects of HC during transesteri-
fication reactions.
Moreover, the reaction associated with solid cata-
lysts can also be intensified under the mechanical
effects of cavitation. The catalyst gets activated because
of the increased surface area and porosity as a result of
asymmetric cavity collapse on the surface of catalyst
(Gogate 2008). Many studies have been reported for the
application of HC in various chemical processes such as
synthesis of various chemicals (Pandit and Joshi 1993,
Ambulgekar et al. 2004, 2005, Sainte Beuve and Morison
2010, Prajapat and Gogate 2015), cracking of petroleum
crude (Ansari et  al. 2015), and wastewater treatment
(Chakinala et al. 2008a,b, Saharan et al. 2011, Capocelli
et al. 2014, Jawale et al. 2014). An overview of the recent
research work that has been reported for the application
of HC in various areas is further detailed in the following
sections.
3.1 C
 hemical synthesis and process
intensification
3.1.1 Oxidation reactions
In chemical industries, many important chemicals such
as alcohols, carboxylic acids, phenol, quinones, and
acetone are produced by the oxidation of aldehydes,
ketones, and alkylarenes. These oxidation reactions are
conducted in the presence of catalyst and require high-
temperature and high-pressure conditions. Most of the
oxidation reactions are initiated by the attack of free rad-
icals, which is generated by a catalyst. Metal oxides are
normally used as a catalyst for the oxidation reactions
such as vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), CuO-impregnated
mesoporous silica (CuO/SiO2), Pt/Al2O3, etc. The reaction
yield highly depends on the catalyst activity, and high-
speed agitation is required to generate sufficiently high
interfacial area. In addition, heat needs to be supplied
to maintain the required reaction temperature and reac-
tion rates. In the reactor, it is very important to impart
the energy at the intermolecular level and reaction inter-
faces. In conventional processes, most of the energy is
wasted in created turbulence in the bulk of the liquid
and only a part of the supplied energy is used for reac-
tion purposes. The advantages of HC reactor over con-
ventional reactors is that the reactions can be conducted
more efficiently at ambient conditions using HC and at a
lower cost. The cavities generated in HC are capable of
delivering the energy at microlevel because of their small
sizes and the hot spots provide the energy at the required
molecular level.
Ambulgekar et  al. (2004, 2005) had produced aryl
carboxylic acid by the oxidation of alkylarenes in the
presence of aqueous KMnO4 using HC and AC. The yield
of products was reported at different operating pressures
and reaction times. In their first study (Ambulgekar et al.
2004), the oxidation of toluene by aqueous KMnO4 was
conducted using HC, and the maximum yield of 53% of
benzoic acid was found at an optimum pump discharge
pressure of 3 kg/cm2 and optimum molar ratio (toluene to
KMnO4) of 1:2 in 5  h of reaction time. The orifice having
higher α gave higher reaction yield, whereas a 60% yield
was obtained using AC in 3  h. In terms of cavitational
yield, HC was found to be more energy efficient than AC.
The cavitational yield of 2.70 × 10−5 mol/kJ (approximately
five times more) was obtained using HC as compared with
4.63 × 10−6 mol/kJ obtained in AC. Because HC can treat a
large volume for the same amount of energy supplied as
compared with AC, it has the advantage of high energy
efficiency over AC.
A similar observation was also made in their second
study (Ambulgekar et  al. 2005) during the oxidation of
xylene and mesitylene by aqueous KMnO4 using HC and
AC. The maximum amounts of xylene and mesitylene
obtained were 1.1 × 10−5 mol and 3.1 × 10−6 mol, respectively,
at the consumption of 1 kJ of energy using HC. However,
at the same energy dissipation, 1.98 × 10−6 mol of p-xylene
and 6.46 × 10−7 mol of mesitylene were obtained using AC.
Therefore, HC was found to be six times more energy effi-
cient than AC in toluene oxidation and seven times more
efficient in xylene and mesitylene oxidation. HC was
found better than AC as the number of cavitational events
is more in HC. These large numbers of cavities produced
a higher magnitude of collapse pressure and thereby
increased the reaction rate and the yield.
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3.1.2 H
 ydrolysis of oils
Glycerol and free fatty acids are obtained through the
hydrolysis of triglycerides. Traditional methods require
high temperature (200°C–250°C), high pressure (50–60
bar), and high energy for mixing these highly viscous
and immiscible liquids (Albasi et  al. 1999). For getting
a high reaction yield, catalysts are used to accelerate
the reaction. Many studies had reported on the use of
enzyme-based catalyst for the hydrolysis of oil (Rooney
and Weatherley 2001, Al-Zuhair et al. 2002, 2008, Weath-
erley and Rooney 2008, Sainte Beuve and Morison 2010).
To obtain a high reaction yield, interfacial area should
be maximum and thus the reaction is usually conducted
using vigorous mixing, generating fine emulsion of tri-
glycerides and enzymes. Even the higher concentration of
enzyme may sometimes fail to achieve the desired yield
(Al-Zuhair et al. 2002, 2008) because of lower interfacial
area. Therefore, it becomes essential to intensify the con-
ventional processes as well as to conduct such reactions
with minimal use of energy. HC can facilitate the hydroly-
sis of oil because of its induced mechanical effects, which
can create better emulsion of triglycerides and aqueous
enzymes than the conventional methods. In addition,
high-temperature spots are created during cavity collapse
at multiple locations inside the reactor, which facilitates
the reaction by exposing reactant molecules directly to the
high-temperature zones.
Pandit and Joshi (1993) had first reported the hydroly-
sis of castor and kerdi oil using HC and AC under ambient
conditions. A loop reactor with a gate valve was used as
a throttling device to generate the cavitation. The higher
yield of the hydrolysis was obtained at an operating
inlet pressure of 3 bar and a temperature of 30°C. It was
observed that using HC, hydrolysis of oil can be conducted
at much lower temperature and pressure than conven-
tional methods. HC was found to be 22% more energy effi-
cient than AC for obtaining the same reaction yield.
Sainte Beuve and Morison (2010) conducted hydrol-
ysis of canola oil using HC. A venturi having circular
throat of 0.93  mm diameter was used to generate the
cavitation. The experiments were performed at differ-
ent inlet pressures (to cavitating zone) between 2 and 8
bar with corresponding cavitation number in the range
of 0.11–0.0381. They had observed a maximum yield
(60%) of fatty acid at an operating inlet pressure of 3.4
bar, and thereafter no change was observed in the yield.
Moreover, the extent of hydrolysis was same for the first
50  min at all the inlet pressure conditions, thereby not
showing any clear effect of the inlet pressure on the
extent of hydrolysis, whereas 90% yield was obtained
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      13
using normal stirring in 200  min. They concluded that
HC was not effective in enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis
of oil, and lower yields were obtained compared with
the stirred batch system. The lower yield of fatty acid
using HC may be attributed to the choked cavitation,
which arises at lower cavitation number. Because very
low cavitation numbers (0.11–0.0381) were used in the
experiments conducted by Sainte Beuve and Morison, it
might have resulted into choked cavitation at these oper-
ating conditions. This also is reflected in their reported
results as no significant effect of pressure was observed
on the extent of hydrolysis. It has been reported in many
studies that the cavitational yield gets reduced because
of choked cavitation, and therefore HC should always be
operated above the choked cavitation. For most of the
applications, the optimum operating cavitation number
in the range of 0.15–0.5  has been reported by many
researchers as shown in Table 1. A study conducted by
Saharan et  al. (2012) showed that choked cavitation
occurs at cavitation number lower than 0.15. Therefore,
there is a vast scope of research in this field where dif-
ferent geometries of venturi and orifice, different β and
α values, and higher operating cavitation numbers typi-
cally in the range of 0.15–0.5 can be used to intensify the
hydrolysis process using HC. It is also necessary to estab-
lish the mechanism of hydrolysis reactions using HC.
3.1.3 Depolymerization reaction
HC is well applied for the degradation of various
biopolymers into essential monomers. The induced
­
shear and localized high temperature and high pres-
sure (hot spots) can break molecular bonds of polymers
and reduce intrinsic viscosity of the polymeric solution.
The extent of depolymerization is quantified in terms of
reduction in viscosity of polymeric solution (Prajapat
and Gogate 2015).
Huang et al. (2013) reported the degradation of poly-
saccharide chitosan polymer using HC. They had inves-
tigated the effect of operating parameters and different
geometries of orifice on the degradation of chitosan. It
was observed that the degradation of chitosan increased
as the pH level increased from 3.6 to 5.2 under HC effects.
The degradation was increased from 26% to 32% as the pH
level increased from 3.6 to 5.2 in 3 h. At higher pH levels,
cavitational effects generate more ˙OH radicals. These
hydroxyl radicals attack the molecular bonds of chitosan
and break them into smaller molecules, thereby reduc-
ing the intrinsic viscosity. Also, as the pump discharge
pressure increased from 0.1 to 0.5  MPa, the degradation
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14      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
increased from 27% to 48%, showing that the maximum
stress was created at higher pressure for breaking the
molecular bonds. A geometrical comparison was also
made by comparing different orifices, and a maximum
33% degradation was obtained using the orifice having
higher α (1.6  mm−1). Similarly, the extent of degradation
was increased from 27% to almost 33% as β increased
from 0.010 to 0.040, which indicated that an orifice having
larger holes provided sufficient flow area to produce
active cavitation. It has been observed that the viscosity-
averaged molecular weight of chitosan decreased from
1200 to 560  kDa, indicating that HC is capable of break-
ing the larger molecules into smaller molecules through
its induced effects.
Prajapat and Gogate (2015) performed the depolym-
erization of guar gum using HC. Guar gum mainly consists
of high molecular weight polysaccharides. Because of its
low cost and many unique properties such as biodegrada-
bility, biocompatibility, and nontoxicity, guar gum and its
derivatives are used in many applications such as paint,
paper, textile, food processing, oil recovery, pharmaceuti-
cal, and personal care. However, before its use, guar gum
needs to be processed to reduce its molecular weight and
intrinsic viscosity. They conducted the depolymerization
of guar gum using three different cavitating devices such
as slit venturi, circular venturi, and single-hole orifice
plate. They had obtained 74% depolymerization using slit
venturi at an optimum pressure of 3 bar when compared
with 71% and 61% obtained using circular venturi and
orifice, respectively, at 4 bar pressure. Also, the optimum
Cv was estimated to be 0.38, 0.25, and 0.3 for slit venturi,
circular venturi, and orifice plate, respectively. The
maximum depolymerization in slit venturi was attributed
to the higher perimeter in slit venturi as compared with
orifice and circular venturi. To intensify the degradation
efficiency, potassium persulfate (KPS) was added, and it
was observed that as the loading of KPS increased from 1
to 5 g, depolymerization increased from 75% to 98%. The
presence of KPS enhanced the generation of free radicals
under cavitation, and hence depolymerization increased.
They had observed that there was no significant change
in the functional groups and basic chemical structure
of guar gum using HC and the viscosity reduction was
mainly because of the reduction in molecular weight of
guar gum. The depolymerization reaction was found to
be mainly initiated by the reaction of generated hydroxyl
radicals on long chain polysaccharides molecules of guar
gum, In addition, larger molecules are either thermally or
mechanically broken into smaller molecules because of
high-temperature conditions that exist during the cavity
collapse.
3.1.4 Crude oil upgradation
In petroleum refineries, a huge amount of energy is
required in cracking of higher molecular petroleum frac-
tion into the smaller molecular fractions. Various pro-
cesses such as thermal cracking, catalytic cracking,
visbreaking, and delayed coking require very high tem-
perature (750°C–1000°C) and high pressure (100–200
atm) for the production/upgradation of petroleum resi-
dues (Heinemann and Spelght 2006). Cracking is mainly
the radical chain process that involves the formation and
reaction of free radicals with other molecules present in
the solution followed by termination reactions. To initi-
ate the reaction, catalysts are used to generate the free
radicals. These cracking processes are very costly because
they require high energy and the catalyst, and therefore
there is a need to develop alternate techniques where
cracking can be performed at moderately lower tempera-
ture and pressure and may be without the catalyst.
In the last decade, few researchers have reported the
use of cavitation for thermal cracking of petroleum crude.
Cataldo (2000), Sawarkar et al. (2009) and Kaushik et al.
(2012) used AC for the upgradation of crude oil, vacuum
residue, and cracking of various aliphatic and aromatic
hydrocarbons and observed that AC can crack larger mol-
ecules into the smaller compounds at ambient conditions.
However, there exists certain limitations of AC, such as
lower power efficiency, high fabrication cost, and lower
irradiating surfaces, which restrict its use on large scale.
By contrast, HC can be a good alternative for the cracking
of petroleum fractions because of its advantages such as
capacity of handling large volume, continuous operation,
and capability to generate similar cavitation conditions as
generated in AC.
Recently, Ansari et  al. (2015) reported work on an
HC-assisted upgradation of various crudes. The different
crude oils and residues from crude distillation unit (CDU)
and vacuum distillation unit (VDU), namely, crude oil 1,
crude CDU/VDU, crude CDU, and crude VR + kerosene,
were treated using orifice-based cavitating device at 303 K
for 60 min and for different inlet pressures (to cavitating
unit) varying in the range of 0.5–0.8  MPa. The treated
crude oils were subjected to the atmospheric distillation
for the separation of products based on the differences in
their boiling point, and the product yields were compared
for both the treated and the untreated samples. It had
been observed that the percentage distillate increased by
37%, 12.8%, 11%, and 10.6% after the treatment using HC
for the crude oil 1, crude CDU/VDU, crude CDU, and crude
VR + kerosene, respectively. The yield of gaseous prod-
ucts such as ethylene and butane was also significantly
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enhanced because of the cracking of heavier molecules
under the cavitation effect. It had been reported that
ethylene production increased by 2.9- and 3.8-fold using
HC treatment as compared with that obtained without
HC for the crude CDU/VDU and crude CDU, respectively.
The butane production increased by 41% using HC for
the crude oil 1, whereas it reduced by 8% and 37% after
HC treatment for crude CDU/VDU and crude CDU, respec-
tively. Further, it was observed that in the case of crude oil
1, gasoline and naphtha fractions increased by 257% and
27%, whereas kerosene fraction decreased by 7.7% after
the HC treatment. For crude CDU/VDU, however, gasoline
and naphtha fractions decreased by 33% and 45%, respec-
tively, whereas kerosene and middle distillates increased
by 56% and 17%, respectively.
All of these results indicate that HC is capable of break-
ing the larger molecules into the more useful low molec-
ular weight products. In HC, the induced effects such as
high-temperature, high-pressure, and high-velocity liquid
jets are the major factors that cause the breakdown of
higher carbon number heavier molecules. Because the
studies were limited to using HC for crude disintegration,
there is therefore a need to further investigate the effects
of various geometrical and operating parameters of HC on
effective crude disintegration.
3.1.5 T
 ransesterification reaction: synthesis of biodiesel
In recent years, biodiesel is found to be nontoxic, renewa-
ble, biodegradable, and pollution-free fuel and has shown
a potential to be used as an alternative fuel for diesel
engines (Chuah et  al. 2015a). Biodiesel is the mixture of
esters of simple alkyl fatty acids and is produced by the
transesterification reaction of animal fats or vegetable
oils with alcohol. In the transesterification process, the
alcohol either ethanol or methanol is deprotonated with a
base to make it a stronger nucleophile. Under normal con-
ditions, the reaction is very slow, and to increase the reac-
tion rates, catalysts such as sodium hydroxide, potassium
hydroxide, and sodium methoxide are introduced in the
reaction. Many other conventional processes (Zhang et al.
2003) such as supercritical method, anaerobic digestion,
lipase-catalyzed method, etc., have also been developed
for the production of biodiesel.
In recent years, HC has been successfully used for
the production of biodiesel from various vegetable oils
(Gogate et al. 2006, Ji et al. 2006, Kelkar et al. 2008, Pal
et al. 2010, Gole et al. 2013, Franke et al. 2014, ­Maddikeri
et al. 2014, Chuah et al. 2015a,b). Several studies reported
on biodiesel synthesis using HC are given in Table  2.
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      15
Cavitation has ability to dissipate the energy at the molecu-
lar level and directly at the interface of the two immiscible
liquid layers. In the liquid-liquid system, the mechanical
effects of cavitation enhance the mass transfer rate, which
increases the overall reaction rates, and therefore a higher
yield is obtained.
HC, when compared with AC as well as the other
conventional methods for the production of biodiesel,
is found to be the most energy efficient process. Ji et  al.
(2006) first reported the comparison of HC, AC, and con-
ventional methods based on their energy consumption for
the transesterification of soybean oil. It was observed that
both cavitation techniques gave the shortest reaction time
and the highest yield than mechanical stirring. The reac-
tion time was found to be more in the case of HC for higher
product yield, but based on the consumption of energy,
HC was 2.7 times more efficient than mechanical stirring
and 1.3 times more efficient than AC because of its ability
to treat larger volume at low energy input. A similar obser-
vation was also reported by Kelkar et al. (2008) in that for
the same amount of energy supplied, the yield of methyl
esters using HC was six times higher than obtained in AC.
Recently, Gole et  al. (2013) reported the comparison of
HC and AC for obtaining methyl esters from nonedible oil
stock and reported that HC is more energy efficient than
AC for the synthesis of methyl esters. It can be observed
from all these studies that conventional techniques are
less effective than HC because they required high operat-
ing temperatures (60°C), gave lower reaction rates, and
consumed high energy (Gole et al. 2013). HC and AC may
produce the same reaction yield, but HC requires less
amount of energy than AC, which makes it more energy
efficient and a potential technique to be explored on an
industrial scale.
The rate of transesterification reactions can be con-
trolled using HC by altering the geometry of the cavi-
tating device, thereby enhancing the conversion of the
reactant. Ghayal et al. (2013) optimized the geometry of
the orifice for the synthesis of biodiesel. The optimiza-
tion of various configurations of orifice was performed
based on the objective of conversion of triglycerides
to methyl esters by varying two parameters α and β
to decide on the best configuration of orifice. It was
observed that as the value of α increased from 0.5 to
2.0, the conversion increased from approximately 75%
to 95%, and the same trend was observed on varying β.
For the same value of β/flow area, the plate having more
number of small holes gave better conversion. More
than 95% conversion was achieved with plates having
α = 2.0 as compared with the plates having α in range
of 0.40–1.33 for the same value of β. Moreover, when
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 Table 2: Overview of various studies for biodiesel production using HC.

Oil/substrate   Catalyst   Alcohol   Molar ratio   Reaction  Reaction  % Yield  Optimum conditions   References
of alcohol temperature time  
Geometry   Operating conditions
to oil (°C) (min)

Used frying oil   KOH   Methanol   –   60  10  > 95  Orifice plate: 25 holes (2 mm   Inlet pressure: 1–3 bar)   Ghayal
each) Cavitational yield: 1.28 × 10−3 g/J et al. (2013)
Flow area: 78.54 mm2
Waste cooking oil   NaOH   Methanol   6 : 1   60  15  > 95  Orifice plate   Inlet pressure: 2 bar   Chuah et al.
Flow area: 148.365 mm2 Catalyst: 1 wt% (2015b)
Waste cooking oil   Potassium   Methyl   12 : 1   –  60  90  Slit venturi   Inlet pressure: 3 bar Geometry: slit venturi   Maddikeri
16      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation

methoxide acetate Flow area: 3.404 mm2 Catalyst: 1 wt% of oil, et al. (2014)
pellet Cavitational yield: 1.22 × 10−3 kg/kJ
Rapeseed oil   KOH   Methanol   4 : 1   45  0.16  96.5  Hybrid hydrodynamic-acoustic  β: 8.4%   Franke et al.
cavitation (HAC), single-hole Catalyst: 0.5 wt% (2014)
orifice (size 2.9 mm)
Flow area: 6.61 mm2
Raw Nag Champa oil  H2SO4   Methanol   6 : 1   –  130a  > 90b  Orifice plate (information not   Inlet pressure: 20 psi   Gole et al.
given) Catalyst: 1 wt% (2013)
Cavitational yield: 8.4 × 10−4 g/Jb
Thumba oil   NaOH   Methanol   4.5 : 1   45–55  45  80  Various configurations of   Catalyst: 1 wt% of oil   Pal et al.
orifice (2010)
No. holes: 7
Flow area: 49.45 mm2
C8-C10 fatty acid cut   H2SO4   Methanol   10 : 1   –  90  92  Orifice plate (information not   Catalyst: 1 wt%   Kelkar et al.
given) Cavitational yield: 1.66 × 10−4 g/J (2008)
Soybean oil   NaOH   Methanol   4 : 4   –  15  98  Orifice   Catalyst: 1% of oil Cavitational yield:   Gogate
Castor oil (vol/wt) 10 99 No. holes: 16, 2 mm in size) 3.37 × 10−4 kg/kJ et al. (2006)
Peanut oil 10 90 Flow area: 50.24 mm2
Soybean oil   NaOH   Methanol   6 : 1   45  10–30  > 95  Single-hole orifice plate   Catalyst: 1 wt%   Ji et al.
(information not given) Energy consumption: 183 W˙h/kg (2006)
a
A total of 110 min for esterification and 20 min for transesterification.
b
Yield after the transesterification.

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compared with AC, HC was found to give 95% conver-
sion in 10  min, whereas using AC, the conversion was
only 85% after 40 min, which shows that HC is more effi-
cient than AC for the transesterification.
Maddikeri et  al. (2014) reported the effect of differ-
ent geometries, i.e. orifice, slit, and circular venturi, on
the synthesis of biodiesel from waste cooking oil. At an
optimum pressure of 3 bar, a molar ratio (alcohol to oil) of
1 : 12, and a catalyst loading of 1%, the slit venturi deliv-
ered higher conversion of 89% than the circular venturi
and orifice, which gave 82% and 64% conversion, respec-
tively. The slit venturi had a higher α value of 2.71 for a
given cross-sectional area, and thus it produced a large
number of cavities as well as maximized the frequency
of turbulence. These findings are in accordance with the
study reported by Saharan et al. (2013), in which they had
obtained higher cavitational yield using slit venturi as
compared with circular venturi and single-hole orifice for
the degradation of orange G dye.
Another important parameter that affects the conver-
sion rate is the molar ratio of oil to methanol. As the trans-
esterification reaction is reversible in nature, a higher
molar ratio is preferred to perform the reaction to get
the desired yield and conversion (Maddikeri et al. 2014).
However, at lower molar ratio, the inadequate amount of
methanol caused the free fatty acids and NaOH to form
soap, and a higher ratio (excess methanol) increased the
load on separation (Maddikeri et al. 2014). Therefore, the
molar ratio needs to be optimized between the lower and
the higher ratio. As shown in Table 2, most of the studies
reported optimum molar ratios between 1 : 4 and 1 : 6,
with almost > 95% conversion of triglycerides into esters.
A higher conversion was obtained at ratios 1 : 10–1 : 12,
but these higher concentrations might increase the recov-
ery cost of methanol after the transesterification process.
Also, the reaction time was less typically in the range of
10–45 min in the case of an optimum molar ratio between
1 : 4 and 1 : 6 as compared with other higher ratio of oil
to alcohol. Additional parameters such as the effect of
inlet pressure, catalyst loading, cavitation time, etc., are
also required to be optimized to achieve high yield of
biodiesel.
Most of the studies reported the use of orifice geom-
etry for the synthesis of biodiesel because of its ability to
produce intense turbulent conditions. Recently, M ­ addikeri
et  al. (2014) reported the use of different geometries of
venturi. As discussed earlier, venturis have advantage
over the orifice plates in terms of increased cavitational
events and enhanced energy efficiency, and therefore new
designs of venturis may be tested for the transesterifica-
tion of triglycerides.
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      17
3.2 Wastewater treatment
Many industrial, agricultural, medical, and other domes-
tic activities produce wastewater composed of organic and
inorganic compounds such as pesticides, drugs, textiles,
etc. Many conventional techniques such as adsorption,
coagulation, ion exchange, membrane filtration, and other
biological methods have been used to overcome this pol-
lution caused to the environment. However, most of these
techniques can only remove these pollutants by means
of physical separation, thereby causing a secondary load
on the environment. Conventional biological methods are
not able to completely mineralize many organic pollut-
ants known as biorefractory pollutants (Bagal and Gogate
2014a). Therefore, cavitation is a promising technique that
is found to be efficient in mineralizing these pollutants
present in wastewater.
In the last decade, HC has been extensively studied by
various researchers for wastewater treatment. In HC, the
induced effects such as high temperature and high pres-
sure (hot spots) and high-velocity liquid jets can degrade
various organic substances and simultaneously generated
hydroxyl radicals that oxidize these pollutants present
in wastewater (Saharan et  al. 2014). The hydroxyl radi-
cals (˙OH) generated by the fragmentation of water mol-
ecule under the HC effects have high oxidation potential
as compared with the other oxidants and are efficient in
degrading these complex substances in wastewater. The
following reactions (2–5) take place during the mineraliza-
tion of effluent using HC:
HC + H2O → •H + •OH (2)
•
H + •H → H2 (3)
•
OH + •OH → H2O2 (4)
•
OH + organic molecules →
CO2 + H2O + some intermediates  (5)
The effective use of HC in wastewater treatment requires
rigorous optimization of several geometrical as well as
operating parameters. During the treatment of wastewa-
ter, the geometry of a cavitating device, operating con-
ditions such as inlet pressure and cavitation number,
and the physicochemical properties of the liquid sig-
nificantly affect the course of degradation. Sivakumar
and Pandit (2002) first reported the application of HC
and the effect of geometry on the treatment of dye con-
taminated water. They developed an HC reactor based on
various ­configurations of orifices for the degradation of
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18      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
rhodamine B dye as a model pollutant. The design param-
eters such as α and β were optimized to obtain the best
configuration of an orifice. For a given flow area, the fre-
quency of turbulence (fT) was higher for the orifice having
larger perimeter of holes, i.e. the large number of holes
of small sizes. A higher value of fT leads to the more effi-
cient cavity collapse and thus gives higher cavitational
yield. Saharan et al. (2013) examined the degradation of
orange G dye from water using various configuration of
the cavitating device. Using slit venturi, 92% decoloriza-
tion was obtained at an optimum discharge pressure of 3
bar, which was higher than 76% and 45% obtained using
circular venturi and orifice at an optimum pressure of 5
bar, respectively. Slit venturi has a higher value of α, and
therefore power dissipated in the slit venturi was three-
fold higher than the other two geometries for the same
pressure drop and number of passes. The flow area of cir-
cular venturi and orifice was same, but because of sudden
pressure recovery in the case of an orifice, the cavities
collapsed immediately before attaining their maximum
size and therefore produced lower cavitational yield
than venturi. Hence, higher degradation efficiency was
obtained in the case of venturis because of their smooth
convergent and divergent sections. It is also important to
optimize the operating cavitation number and inlet pres-
sure to the cavitating device for getting higher degradation
efficiency using HC. It has been reported that cavitating
devices should always be operated at a cavitation number
higher than the choked cavitation number (Saharan et al.
2011). Many researchers reported the optimum cavitation
number in the range of 0.15–0.30 for various pollutants
degraded using different cavitating devices (Saharan et al.
2011, 2013, Bagal and Gogate 2014b, Capocelli et al. 2014).
Physicochemical properties of the aqueous medium
such as density, viscosity, surface tension, etc., can also
affect the rate of the degradation process (Bagal and
Gogate 2014a). These properties affect the cavitation
number and cavitation phenomena. It has been reported
that at Cv > 1, cavity inception occurs, which signify the
presence of undissolved gases and solid particles in the
liquid, therefore changing the liquid properties such as
density and viscosity because of their presence. The nature
of the pollutant molecule also affects the degradation rate
using HC. When molecules are hydrophobic and vola-
tile, they have more chance of reacting with ˙OH radicals
by locating themselves in the core of a cavity and at the
cavity-water interface where the concentration of ˙OH radi-
cals is higher. By contrast, the hydrophilic compound can
only react with the residual unreacted ˙OH radicals in the
bulk liquid medium where the concentration of radicals is
limited. Saharan et  al. (2012) studied the degradation of
acid red 88 dye using HC. It was observed that because of
the protonation of AR88 dye under acidic conditions, AR
88  molecule became hydrophobic in nature and locates
itself at the cavity-water interface where it becomes more
vulnerable to attack by ˙OH radicals. Thus, it is necessary
to study the behavior and nature of pollutant molecules to
understand their degradation mechanism using HC.
On the other side, HC is also found as a supporting
technique for different various biological processes where
the combined effects can reduce the toxicity of water as
well as increase the efficiency of a conventional biologi-
cal process. Padoley et  al. (2012) studied the effect of
HC on the biodegradability of distillery wastewater. It
was reported that even after the conventional anaerobic
treatment, there was no satisfactory reduction in chemi-
cal oxygen demand (COD), and also the biodegradability
index (BI: biochemical oxygen demand [BOD5]/COD) was
very low, i.e. 0.14, which shows the inapplicability of an
anaerobic digester to further treat such effluent. HC treat-
ment was conducted with the aim of maximizing the BI
of distillery effluent and reducing the COD and the total
organic carbon (TOC) levels. The maximum reduction in
COD of 34.29% and TOC of 32.65% was obtained at a high
inlet pressure of 13 bar along with approximately 35%
decolorization. Because of the cavitational effects, the
BI value increased from 0.14 to 0.29. Moreover, when HC-
treated samples were subjected to anaerobic digestion,
the efficiency of anaerobic process in terms of methane
generation improved by six-fold as compared with that
obtained in the case of unreacted samples. This study
highlights the HC effects, which are beneficial for break-
ing the complex molecules into smaller intermediates,
and these intermediates are found to be more amenable
to get metabolized by microorganism in the subsequent
biological process.
Furthermore, many researchers studied the combina-
tion of HC with other advance oxidation processes (AOPs)
such as Fenton’s process, H2O2, ozone, photocatalytic
process, and AC, with the aim of increasing the efficiency
of these processes (Saharan et  al. 2011, Gore et  al. 2014,
Jawale et al. 2014, Patil et al. 2014, Gogate and Patil 2015).
These combined methods known as hybrid methods
proved to have synergetic effect and can overcome the
drawbacks of individual techniques. In the following part,
these techniques are briefly described. A more detailed
study about these hybrid methods is well described in our
previous review article (Rajoriya et al. 2016).
In the case of HC combined with H2O2, H2O2 easily
dissociates into ˙OH radicals under the cavitation effects,
and therefore the rate of generation of ˙OH radicals is
enhanced, and ˙OH radicals get efficiently distributed
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 J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      19

into the liquid. The following reactions (6–12) may occur Because the Fenton process involves the reaction of
during the combined process of HC and H2O2 (Saharan H2O2 with ferrous ion Fe2+ to give ˙OH radicals, it is nec-
et al. 2011, Patil et al. 2014): essary to optimize the dosage of Fe2+ and the ratio of Fe2+
to H2O2 to improve the overall efficiency of the combined
H2O2 
Cavitation
→ •OH + •OH (6)
process. Beyond an optimum dosage and ratio (Fe2+/H2O2),
the excess of unreacted H2O2 and Fe2+ can add to COD and

•
OH + •OH → H2O2 (7)
also scavenge the hydroxyl radicals (Rajoriya et al. 2016).
The molar ratio of Fe2+ to H2O2 is reported to be in the range

•
OH + H2O2 → HO2 • + H2O (8)
of 1 : 1–1 : 20 for the various pollutants degraded using
HC + Fenton (Jadhav et  al. 2013, Patil et  al. 2014, Gogate

•
OH + HO2  → H2O + O2     (9)
and Patil 2015). The solution pH is another parameter that
affects the efficiency of HC + Fenton process. It has been
HO2 • + H2O2 →• OH + H2O + O2    (10)
reported that a lower pH is more favorable for the degra-
dation of pollutants using HC + Fenton, and a pH range
•
OH + pollutant molecules →
of 2–4 is more suitable because acidic medium favors the
CO2 + H2O + other intermediates   (11)
generation of ˙OH radicals (Chakinala et  al. 2009, Bagal
and Gogate 2013, Jadhav et al. 2013, Patil et al. 2014).
H2O2 + pollutant molecules →
In the case of the combination of HC with ozone,
CO2 + H2O + other intermediates (12)
under the cavitational effect, ozone (O3) gets easily
decomposed and yields molecular O2 and atomic oxygen
To achieve a better synergistic effect of this combined
O (3P) (Saharan et al. 2014), which can form ˙OH radicals
process, the loading of H2O2 should be optimized so that
on reacting with water molecules. The following reactions
the entire amount gets used only by the pollutants mole-
(19–24) take place during HC + O3:
cules. Beyond an optimum concentration of H2O2, the rate
of reaction between ˙OH radicals and pollutant molecules O3 
Cavitation
→ O2 + O ( 3 P) (19)
was observed to get suppressed as the ˙OH radicals get
scavenged by H2O2 itself, and therefore the concentration H2O → •OH + •H (20)
of H2O2 needs to be optimized to avoid excess scaveng-
ing of ˙OH by H2O2 (Saharan et  al. 2011, 2014). As shown
O ( 3 P) + H2O → 2 •OH (21)
in Table  3, most of the studies reported a positive syn-
ergetic effect of HC combined with H2O2. For most of the

•
OH + •OH → H2O2 (22)
pollutants degraded using HC combined with H2O2, the
optimum molar ratio of pollutant to H2O2 was found to
be in the range of 1 : 20–1 : 60 (Saharan et  al. 2011, 2012,
•
OH + organic pollutant molecules →
Jadhav et al. 2013, Rajoriya et al. 2017). CO2 + H2O + other intermediates (23)
Similarly in the case of combination of HC with Fenton
process, the cavitational effects enhance the generation O3 + organic pollutant molecules →
of highly oxidizing agents such as ˙OH and HOO˙. The fol- CO2 + H2O + other intermediates (24)
lowing reactions (13–18) take place during HC + Fenton
Under the high interfacial turbulence, the mass transfer
process:
rate and the contact time between ozone gas and pollutant
Fe2+ + H2O2 → Fe3+ + OH− + •OH (13) molecule increases resulting in higher extent of degrada-
tion. O3 dosage needs to be optimized because beyond an

•
OH + Fe2+ → OH− + Fe3+ (14) optimum dose of O3, some unreacted O3 could be released
from the system and also special care needs to be taken
Fe3+ + H2O2 → Fe –OOH2+ + H+   (15) before selecting its dose to minimize the energy consump-
tion and environmental hazard because of unreacted O3 in
Fe –OOH2+ 
Cavitation
→ Fe2+ + HOO•   (16) the exhaust gas. Few studies reported an optimum dosage
of O3 at 3 g/h for the various pollutants present in the con-
H2O2 → •OH + •OH (17) centration range of 50–100 ppm.
Likewise, in the case of the combination of HC
• OH + organics → H2O + other oxidation products (18) with photocatalysis, HC-induced effects overcame the

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 Table 3: Overview of studies on the degradation of various water pollutants using different HC geometries and hybrid methods.

Pollutants   Geometry of   Hybridization of HC with other   Optimum conditions   Findings   References

cavitating device AOPs

Acid red 88 dye   Circular venturi   H2O2 and catalyst (Fe-TiO2)   Initial concentration = 100 μm   HC: 92% decolorization, 35% TOC reduction   Saharan
Inlet pressure = 5 bar HC + H2O2: 99% decolorization and 72% TOC reduction et al. (2012)
Cv = 0.30 at optimum conditions
pH 2.0 HC + H2O2 + Fe-TiO2: 45%–60% decolorization and 35%
H2O2 = 1 : 40 (dye to H2O2) TOC reduction
Fe-TiO2 = 1.8 g/l along with H2O2
is 1 : 1
Reactive red 120   Circular venturi   H2O2   Initial concentration = 34 μm   HC: 60% decolorization, 28% TOC reduction in 3 h   Saharan
dye Inlet pressure = 5 bar HC + H2O2: 100% decolorization and 60% TOC et al. (2011)
Cv = 0.15 reduction at optimum conditions
pH 2.0
H2O2 = 1 : 60 (dye to H2O2)
20      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation

Rhodamine 6G   Slit and circular   H2O2 and O3   Initial concentration = 10 ppm   HC: 32% decolorization   Rajoriya
dye venturi For slit venturi, inlet pressure = 5 HC + H2O2: 53.72% decolorization et al. (2017)
bar, Cv = 0.07, pH 10 HC + O3: 100% decolorization and 73.19% TOC
H2O2 = 1 : 30 (dye to H2O2) reduction in 120 min
O3 = 3 g/h
p-Nitrophenol   Circular venturi of   –   Initial concentration = 1 g/l   36% removal of PNP at optimum conditions in 30 min   Capocelli
throat diameter: Inlet pressure = 0.45 MPa et al. (2014)
2 mm pH 3.5
Cv = 0.25
Cyanide   Circular venturi of   H2O2   Initial concentration of   HC: 54.17% degradation at optimum condition   Jawale et al.
(K4Fe(CN)6) throat diameter: (K4Fe(CN)6) = 20 ppm HC + H2O2: 51.29% degradation (2014)
2 mm Inlet pressure = 6 bar Treatment time: 120 min
pH 2.0
Temperature = 30°C
H2O2 = 1 : 5 ((K4Fe(CN)6)/H2O2)
Orange G dye   Orifice plate   –   Initial concentration = 100 μm   92% decolorization in slit venturi, whereas 76% and   Saharan
(single hole), pH 2.0 45% decolorization was obtained with circular venturi et al. (2013)
circular venturi, For slit venturi, pressure = 3 bar, and orifice plate, respectively, in 2 h operation at
and slit venturi Cv = 0.29 optimum condition
For circular venturi,
pressure = 5 bar, Cv = 0.15
For orifice, pressure = 5 bar,
Cv = 0.24
Optimized geometry: slit venturi

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 Table 3 (continued)

Pollutants   Geometry of   Hybridization of HC with other   Optimum conditions   Findings   References

cavitating device AOPs

Methyl orange   Orifice valve   Zero valent copper (Cuo)   Initial concentration = 10 ppm   HC: 6.8% degradation   Li et al.
dye nanoparticles pH 3.0 HC/Cuo: 83% degradation (2015a)
Inlet pressure = 0.4 MPa, Cv = 0.64, Treatment time: 20 min
Cuo = 40 ppm All results at optimum conditions.
Methanol (˙OH scavenger) = 1 ml/l Methanol (˙OH scavenging): 18% degradation in
20 min
Acid orange 7 dye   Orifice plate:   Electric field with conventional   Initial concentration = 10 ppm   C-HC alone: 15% degradation   Jung et al.
electric field- and modified orifice, i.e. EFC, NaCl concentration = 2.5 g/l M-HC: 22% degradation (2015)
assisted EFM, and H2O2 Graphite electrode gives better C-HC/H2O2: 39.5%
conventional and removal efficiency than stainless C-HC/H2O2: 51% degradation after 120 min
modified orifice steel electrode. EFM-HC: 100% decolorization in 40 min
plates (EFC and Optimization of EFM-HC was EFC-HC: 100% decolorization in 80 min
EFM-HC) performed using RSM with a BBD EFM-HC: 100% decolorization at more than 80 min of
software technique. treatment time
Inlet pressure = 3.9 kgf/cm2 100% decolorization using RSM with a BBD technique
pH 3.0 for optimization
Applied voltage = 37.7 V
Triazophos: a   Orifice plate   H2O2, FeSO4, and ozone   Initial concentration = 20 ppm,   HC alone: 49.7% degradation and 29% mineralization   Gogate and
pesticide pH 3.0 in 120 min Patil (2015)
Inlet pressure = 5 bar HC + H2O2 + FeSO4: 83.12% degradation in 120 min
Triazophos/FeSO4/H2O2 = 1 : 4 : 4 HC + O3: 78.12% degradation when ozone inject at
O3 = 0.576 g/h, 1.95 g/h orifice and 86.68% degradation when inject in feed
tank at 0.576 g/h with treatment time 30 min
Diclofenac   Slit venturi: W,   UV, TiO2, and H2O2   Inlet pressure = 3 bar   HC alone: 26.8% degradation   Bagal and
sodium: a drug 6 mm; H, 1.9 mm; pH 4.0 HC + UV: 65.5% degradation Gogate
L, 1.9 mm Cv = 0.28 HC + UV + TiO2: 79.38% degradation (2014b)
TiO2 = 0.2 g/l HC + TiO2 + H2O2: 33.01% degradation
H2O2 = 0.2 g/l HC + UV + TiO2 + H2O2: 94.7% degradation
Imidacloprid   Orifice of 2 mm in   H2O2, FeSO4, Na2S2O8, and Fe   Initial concentration = 20 ppm   HC alone: 23.85% degradation, 14.3% TOC reduction   Patil et al.
diameter and slit pH 3 HC + H2O2: 99.14% degradation (2014)
venturi Pressure = 4 bar HC + H2O2 + FeSO4: 100% degradation (60 min) and
Throat HC/H2O2: imidacloprid/H2O2 = 1 : 4 71.42% TOC reduction
dimension: W, HC/FeSO4/H2O2: H2O2/H2O2/ HC + H2O2 + Feo: 100% degradation in 60 min and
7.67 mm; FeSO4 = 1:4:2 82.41% TOC reduction
H, 1.91 mm; and HC/Fe/H2O2: H2O2/Fe = 4 : 1 HC + FeSO4 + Na2S2O8: 98.9% degradation and 67.85%
L, 1.91 mm HC/FeSO4/Na2S2O8: FeSO4/ TOC reduction.
Na2S2O8 = 1 : 4 All results at optimum conditions
Cavitating device: slit venturi Also, higher degradation was achieved in slit venturi

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better than orifice as compared with orifice
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      21
 Table 3 (continued)

Pollutants   Geometry of   Hybridization of HC with other   Optimum conditions   Findings   References

cavitating device AOPs

Imidacloprid   Circular venturi   Fenton with FeSO4.7H2O and   Inlet pressure = 15 bar   HC alone: 26% degradation   Jadhav et al.
H2O2 pH 2.7 HC + Fenton: 100% degradation in 15 min (2013)
Photo-Fenton, photolytic, and H2O2 = 1 : 20 (imidacloprid/H2O2) HC + photo-Fenton: 99.23% degradation in 15 min
photocatalytic processes FeSO4·7H2O/H2O2 = 1 : 20 48.96% mineralization with HC + photo-Fenton in
180 min
HC + photolytic: 45.56% degradation in 120 min
HC + photocatalytic: 55.18% degradation in 120 min
Orange acid II and   Orifice of 2 mm in   H2O2, Na2S2O8, and NaOCl   Inlet pressure = 5 kg/cm2   Orange acid II   Gogate and
brilliant green dye diameter Orange acid II, initial HC alone: 34.2% degradation in 120 min, 27.3% TOC Bhosale
concentration = 20 ppm reduction (2013)
HC + H2O2: 60%–96% degradation on varying hydrogen
peroxide loading from 95.2 to 571.2 mg/l in 120 min
22      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation

HC + Na2S2O8: 90%–100% degradation on varying

Na2S2O8 loading from 44.52 to 535.72 mg/l in 60 min
HC + NaOCl: 100% degradation at 1250.59 mg/l and
60% degradation at minimum loading 178.65 mg/l of
NaOCl
For brilliant green dye
HC + H2O2: 77%–86% degradation on varying hydrogen
peroxide loading from 95.2 to 244.8 mg/l in 120 min
2,4-Dinitrophenol   Orifice of   H2O2, FeSO4, Na2S2O8, Fe, and   Initial concentration = 20 ppm   HC alone: 12.4% degradation   Bagal and
(DNP) diameter 2 mm CuO Pressure = 4 bar HC + H2O2: 21.3% degradation Gogate
pH 4 HC + FeSO4/H2O2:100% in 60 min (2013)
Temperature = 35°C HC + Feo: 16.3% degradation
HC/H2O2: DNP/H2O2 = 1 : 5 HC + Feo + H2O2: 54.1% degradation
HC/FeSO4/H2O2: FeSO4/ HC + CuO + H2O2: 29.8% degradation
H2O2 = 1 : 0.5 HC + FeSO4 + Na2S2O8: 55.3% degradation
HC/Feo/H2O2: Fe = 0.6 g/l, Treatment time: 120 min
H2O2 = 0.4/l All results at optimum conditions
HC/CUO/H2O2: H2O2/CUO = 1 : 6
HC/FeSO4/Na2S2O8: FeSO4/
Na2S2O8 = 1 : 2
Dichlorvos: a   Orifice plate   CCl4, H2O2, and FeSO4   Initial concentration = 20 ppm   HC alone: 13.5% degradation   Joshi and
pesticide Pressure = 5 bar HC + H2O2: 17% degradation Gogate
Temperature = 31°C HC + CCl4: 26.8% degradation (2012)
pH 3 HC + Fenton: 91.5% degradation
All results at optimum conditions

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H2O2 = 1 : 0.8 (dichlorvos to H2O2),
CCl4 = 3 g/l
FeSO4/H2O2 = 3 : 1
 J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      23

limitations of photocatalysis process such as adsorption

et al. (2009)
References
of contaminants on the catalyst surface which blocked the
Chakinala
UV active sites and increased mass transfer resistances
(Jadhav et al. 2013). The combination technique of HC with
photocatalysis is found to be superior and gives desirable
 

presence of iron pieces alone without using Cu winding

outputs in the area of wastewater treatment as the basic
mechanism of both the processes is greatly dependent on
60% mineralization at optimum pressure and in

the generation of ˙OH radicals, which is enhanced under

the combined effects.
Some researchers used the combination of HC with
photocatalysis for the mineralization of waste streams
(Wang et  al. 2011, Jadhav et  al. 2013, Bagal and Gogate
2014a,b). In HC combined with the photocatalysis process,
HC: 50% higher at 30°C.

the stability of photocatalyst plays an important role in

monitoring the overall degradation efficiency. From the
previously mentioned studies, lower loading of photo-
catalyst in the range of 100–200 mg/l is found to be more
suitable to achieve the higher degradation efficiency of
Findings

the pollutant molecules when combined with HC (Wang

et al. 2011, Jadhav et al. 2013, Bagal and Gogate 2014a,b).
A higher amount of photocatalyst in suspension may
 

1 cm, 2 cm, and 0.1 cm) and H2O2 =

decrease the degradation efficiency of the organic pollut-

loading = 150 g iron (100 pieces,

ants because of insufficient dispersion of UV radiation due

Temperature = 30°C, Fenton

to higher turbidity under cavitational conditions and also

Inlet pressure = 1500 psi

due to the obstruction in the irradiating light path. Hence,

Optimum conditions

it is necessary to optimize the amount of photocatalyst (in

the range of 100–1000 ppm) and operating conditions to
1900 mg/l

achieve a better efficiency of the degradation of the pol-

pH 2.5

lutant molecules, which can provide a great prospect on

large-scale operation.
A detailed theoretical analysis of previous studies on
Hybridization of HC with other  

AFP: zero valent iron as catalyst  

the combination of HC with other AOPs is well described

in our previous review work (Rajoriya et  al. 2016). An
overview of recent reported works on the degradation of
various pollutants using HC alone and its combination
with other AOPs is given in Table 3 along with the optimum
conditions observed for the different hybrid methods.
AOPs

4 A
 pplication of HC in physical
 

 
cavitating device

processes
Geometry of

Orifice plate

The physical effects such as the formation of high-pres-

sure liquid jet, pressure shock waves, and high interfa-
cial turbulence that are induced in HC set a benchmark
Table 3 (continued)

for its application in the various physical processes. As

discussed, the induced physical effects can assist various
wastewater

chemical processes such as synthesis of chemicals, but

Pollutants

Industrial

these physical effects have more effect on the physi-

cal transformation. These physical effects have much

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24      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
potential in initiating the various processes such as emul-
sification, particle size reduction, and cell disruption
(Jyoti and Pandit 2001, 2003, Patil and Pandit 2007, Pinjari
and Pandit 2010, Ramisetty et al. 2014). A detailed discus-
sion on the use of HC for the major physical processes
such as emulsification, nanoparticle synthesis, and cell
disruption is presented in following sections.
4.1 S
 ynthesis of nanomaterials
Today, nanomaterials have found wide applicability in
different chemical processes and day-to-day life. Day
by day, new nanomaterials are being generated such as
nanoparticles, nanocatalysts, nanofibrils, nanotubes, and
nanoemulsions having vast applications. The solid nano-
materials are widely applicable in the areas of biomedical
drugs, biotechnology, pharmaceutics, and paints (Barick
et  al. 2015). The liquid-based nanomaterials such as
nanoemulsions are used in paints, cosmetics, and various
food products and for the encapsulation of pharmaceuti-
cal drugs, nutraceuticals, and other essentials food-based
active agents (Gutierrez et  al. 2008). In pharmaceutics,
nanomaterials are used to encapsulate drugs to prevent
the essential drugs from their natural deterioration and to
improve their long term stability. Scientists are now more
focused on the development of new energy efficient tech-
nologies for the synthesis of such materials which can be
established on large scale.
Various chemical and physical methods have been
introduced for the synthesis of nanomaterials (Pinjari
et al. 2014). Chemical methods such as sol-gel processing,
precipitation method, phase inversion methods, etc., are
used but these methods consume large amount of chemi-
cals and energy. Apart from the chemical methods, many
physical methods such as solid-state technique, laser
ablation technique, vapor phase synthesis, high-speed
mixers, and homogenizers are used, which require high
amount of energy for the synthesis of nanomaterials. In
particular, high-pressure and high-speed homogeniz-
ers are applied for the preparation of nanoemulsions on
an industrial scale, but these techniques consume lot of
energy as these devices require high operating pressure
than orifice and venturi-based HC systems. Recently, few
studies have proved the applicability of HC for the synthe-
sis of nanomaterials.
Figure 6 depicts the asymmetric collapse of the cavi-
ties at the surface of a solid particle that create high-
pressure liquid jets and generate cracks and voids on the
solid surface. In the subsequent collapsing events, these
cracks are widened and particles break into the smaller
Figure 6: Mechanism of breakdown of solid particle or microbe.
sizes (Mahulkar and Pandit 2010). The shear provided by
the high-pressure liquid jet should be greater than the
strength of a particle (hardness, tensile strength, etc.). The
intensity of shear stress generated at the end of a cavity
collapse can be manipulated by varying the geometry
and operating parameters of HC (Pinjari et al. 2014). Simi-
larly, in the case of two immiscible liquids, the induced
effects reduce the interfacial tension leading to better dis-
persion of internal phase into the continuous medium.
Meanwhile, high-intensity turbulence breaks down the
emulsion droplets, thereby reducing the droplet size and
increasing the interfacial area.
In recent years, few studies have reported the effective-
ness of HC for the reduction of particles size to nanoscale,
indicating its scope for the application on large scale.
Patil and Pandit (2007) studied the size reduction
of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) particles using HC.
When SBR slurry was treated using an orifice plate having
33 holes of 1 mm diameter (β = 0.026) at 4.2 atm pressure,
the particle size was reduced from 275 μm to 129 nm in 3 h
with a cavitation number of 1.87. On further treating the
same solution using a single-hole orifice with hole size of
0.6 mm (β = 0.00035) at 11 atm pressure, the particle size
reduced to 20 nm in 4 passes with cavitation number of
0.18. The minimum particle size was obtained using HC,
and also less energy was required than AC to reduce the
SBR particle size. It was observed that operating param-
eters such as cavitation number and pressure and geom-
etry of the cavitating device greatly affect the final size of
the material to be obtained. This study signifies the effect
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of cavitation number on the particle size reduction and
suggested that a combination of lower and higher cavita-
tion number can be used for better output. To achieve a
small size, i.e. less than 100  nm, low cavitation number
is required because higher collapse intensity is gener-
ated at lower cavitation number. Also, it was found that
the geometry having higher perimeter, i.e. higher α, gave
higher efficiency in terms of particle size reduction as
evident from the results obtained.
Sonawane et al. (2010) synthesized CaCO3 nanoparti-
cles (nanocalcite) using various configuration of orifice.
The effects of various parameters such as diameter and
geometry of orifice, CO2 flow rate, and Ca(OH)2 concentra-
tion were also investigated. Three different orifices with
one hole of 2, 3, and 4 mm diameter and one orifice plate
having five holes of 1 mm diameter were used for cavita-
tion purposes. When the reaction was conducted without
HC at fixed concentration of Ca(OH)2 and CO2, three
regions were observed, i.e. induction period, nucleation,
and precipitation. It was observed that by using orifices, it
is possible to eliminate the induction period, and reaction
started directly with nucleation and resulted into smaller
particle size. It was found that the rate of consumption of
Ca(OH)2 increased with an increase in the β value, and the
consumption of Ca(OH)2 was maximum using the orifice
plate (single hole, 4 mm diameter) having β as 0.04. It was
further observed that the particle size decreased from 54
to 39 nm as the β value decreased from 0.04 to 0.01, and an
orifice with a 2-mm hole (β = 0.01) gave the smaller crystal
size of 39  nm as compared with orifices having bigger
holes (3 and 4  mm). There was no significant difference
between the particle sizes obtained using a 2-mm orifice
plate (β = 0.01) and an orifice plate having 5 holes of 1 mm
diameter (β = 0.0125). The size was just reduced from 39 to
37  nm by using an orifice with 1  mm × 5  holes. No effect
was observed on phases because of the change in orifice
diameter and the geometry of orifice. The average particle
size of calcite synthesized without cavitation was found to
be 101 nm. Moreover, a wide particle size distribution was
observed for the sample without orifice ranging from 90
to 168 nm, whereas a narrow particle size distribution was
observed ranging from 30 to 41 nm for the orifice with a
2-mm hole diameter. These results show that HC-induced
effects can reduce particle size to nanorange, and by alter-
ing the geometry of a cavitating device, it is possible to
achieve the required size.
Pinjari and Pandit (2010) processed natural cellulose
material with an initial size of 63 μm using HC and AC for
reducing its size to the nanorange. The slurry of cellulose
sample (1% wt/vol) was processed at 7.8 atm using orifice
plate having 33  holes of 1  mm diameter (β = 0.026). The
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      25
cavitation number was found to be 2.61. Under HC effects,
the cellulose size was reduced to 1.36 μm in 6  h. When
these hydrodynamically treated particles were further
processed using AC, the size was reduced to 301  nm in
1 h, 50 min. The larger particles were reduced to smaller
size as a result of microjet streaming during HC treatment,
and on further increasing the intensity of the cavitation
process using AC, the particle size reduced to nanoscale.
It has been observed that the crystallanity was reduced to
37.76% from an initial crystallanity of 86.56%, and melting
temperature (Tm) was reduced from 101.78°C of the origi-
nal to 60.13°C because of the cavitational effects. In terms
of energy efficiency, only 9.4 × 104 kJ/m3 of energy was
required by HC for 98% reduction in its initial size as com-
pared with 2.48 × 106 kJ/m3 required by AC for 78% reduc-
tion in its initial size. This shows that HC was more energy
efficient than AC for the particle size reduction of a cel-
lulose material.
In the case of the emulsification using HC, Parthasar-
athy et  al. (2013) developed a liquid whistle hydrody-
namic cavitation reactor (LWHCR) for the preparation of
palm oil-based submicron emulsion using Tween 80 as an
emulsifier and achieved the encapsulation of curcumin.
The LWHCR comprised an orifice and a blade, which was
kept at some distance away from the orifice plate. The
minimum droplet size was obtained to be 415 nm at 800
psi using combination of orifice and blade with an orifice
plate-blade distance of 0.5  cm. The distance between
orifice and blade was optimized for obtaining sufficient
back pressure to maximize the collapse intensity. The
effect of cosurfactant, i.e. span 80, was also studied,
and no significant reduction in the final droplet size was
observed with span 80.
In another study, Ramisetty et al. (2014) investigated
the use of HC reactor for the preparation of coconut oil in
water nanoemulsion using Tween 80 and Span 80  sur-
factants. The effect of inlet pressure, the number of
passes, and the geometry of a venturi (slit and circular) on
the emulsion droplet size were investigated. The average
droplet size of 200 nm was obtained in 30 min using circu-
lar venturi at an operating pressure of 10 bar and cavita-
tion number of 0.08. It was observed that the droplet size
reduces from 711 to 332 nm as the inlet pressure increases
from 5 to 10 bar measured for the samples collected after
10  min of treatment time, and no reduction in droplet
size was observed beyond 10 bar pressure. It was also
observed that the droplet size decreased with an increase
in the number of passes, and it became constant after 55
passes through the circular venturi at 10 bar pressure. The
slit venturi was found to be more energy efficient than a
circular venturi as it produced droplets of half the size
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26      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
than that obtained using circular venturi when compared
for the same operating pressure and number of passes
circulated through the cavitating device. Moreover, the
optimum cavitation number was found to be 0.23 for a slit
venturi as compared with 0.08 for a circular venturi. This
indicates that higher cavitational yield can be obtained in
slit venturi as compared with circular venturi and that too
with lesser pressure drop and minimum use of energy. The
volume fraction of oil and surfactant significantly affects
the droplet size. At 20 bar, the droplet size increased from
233 to 620 nm on increasing the oil volume fraction from
0.1 to 0.4 because as the oil fraction increases, the inter-
facial tension also increases, and therefore high energy
is required to break the interface. It was further observed
that as the emulsifying agent concentration increases, the
appearance of emulsion becomes translucent from white
color, which indicates the formation of the nanoemulsion.
The minimum droplet size of 175 nm was obtained at the
higher volume fraction (0.11) of emulsifying agent. This
study highlighted the effect of various parameters such
as inlet pressure, number of passes through a cavitating
device, geometry of a cavitating device, oil fraction, and
volume fraction of emulsifying agent on the droplet size
of oil in water emulsion.
Thus, as evident from these studies, HC can effec-
tively be used for the synthesis of nanomaterials.
Various operating parameters such as inlet pressure and
cavitation number, geometrical parameters such as α
and β values, and type of cavitating device, i.e. orifice
or venturi, affect the size of a nanomaterial to be pro-
duced. It can be observed from the reported results that
lower cavitation number, i.e. between 0.1 and 0.3, is
better for getting smaller particle/droplet in the range
of ­50–200  nm using HC. Lower β value in the range
of 0.01–0.02 and higher α value in the range 2–6  mm−1
intensifies the physical effects of HC and thereby pro-
duces lower size. A cavitating device with very low β and
high α value (beyond an optimum value) may reduce
the cavitational yield because of higher pressure drop.
More energy is required to pump the liquid through these
devices, and therefore it is necessary to avoid very low β
value as it does not improve the cavitational yield. A very
low β value, i.e. less than 0.01, should only be used if the
desired size is less than 50 nm.
4.2 Microbial cell disruption
As a result of various human activities, the release of
excessive nitrogen and phosphate compounds into the
aquatic environment had led to the formation of algae in
surface water bodies (Wang et  al. 2013). Common prob-
lems caused by these cyanobacterial growths include the
risk of the presence of disinfection by-products, the high
residual level of coagulants, the undesirable taste, the
odor, and the high organic content in surface water (Li
et al. 2014). These biochemical processes contaminate the
water, making it unfit for drinking purpose. Therefore, it is
necessary to prevent such kind of biopollutants from pol-
luting the water resources.
Cell disruption is one of the important steps adopted
in the downstream processing of intracellular enzymes
from microorganisms (Balasundaram and Pandit 2001).
There are many chemical and physical methods used for
destruction of these kinds of pollutant (Jyoti and Pandit
2001, 2003). The chemical methods include the addition
of chemicals such as Cl, H2O2, O3, and other biocides that
are effective in disinfecting the water to a maximum extent
but also generate undesirable by-products in treated water
that may be hazardous or toxic. On the other side, physical
methods such as high-speed homogenizer, high-pressure
homogenizer, and other cavitational techniques are found
to be safer as compared with chemicals methods (Jyoti and
Pandit 2001, 2003). Most of the physical methods such as
high-speed rotor and high-pressure homogenizer consume
large amount of energy. Among all the techniques, HC has
a great potential on a large-scale operation to disinfect
water (Save et al. 1994, Jyoti and Pandit 2001).
HC is found as an alternate to the biocides in this area
because of its induced chemical and mechanical effects
(Gogate and Kabadi 2009, Mezule et al. 2009). Because of
cavitational effects, high-pressure shockwaves and high
temperature created in liquid medium cause the death
of microbes. By contrast, highly reactive ˙OH radicals and
H2O2 produced during HC destroy the organisms and dis-
infect the water. The mechanism of the breakage of cell
wall is shown in Figure 6. The asymmetric implosion of
cavities at the cell/microorganism surface breaks the cell
wall and inhibits their growth. The stress provided by
the cavity collapse should be higher than the cell wall
strength of the microbes to break the cell wall (Sawant
et al. 2008). Sawant et al. (2008) developed a mathemati-
cal model that correlates the extent of cell disruption with
cell wall strength and other geometrical and operating
parameters of the cavitating device. The model helps to
know the amount of stress needed for the breakdown of
cell wall strength. As shown in Eq. (25), the cell disrup-
tion rate (X) is a function of cell wall strength (Scell), cavita-
tion number (CV), choked cavitation number (CCN), orifice
diameter (do), perimeter of hole (Ph), and area of pipe (Ap).
The following equation signifies the killing of cells under
the cavitational effect:
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 −S 
A
 −CCN   Ph X 0.07d0 
B
X = K exp  cell
 exp     (25)
 ∆Pcavity   CVN   Ap 
 initiated even at a higher cavitation number, i.e. more
where A and B are exponents. It is observed from the equa-
tion that the extent of disruption is more at the higher
perimeter of holes and lower cavitation number. There-
fore, the extent of cell disruption can be controlled by
varying the operating pressure, cavitation number, and
geometry of a cavitating device.
Arrojo et  al. (2008) reported the use of different
venturi and orifice devices for the inactivation of Escheri-
chia coli. Three orifice plates having different α values
(0.8, 2, and 4) were used for the experimentation. The
flow area (cross-sectional area of throat) of all the orifice
plates was same as 20 mm2. The rate of E. coli inactivation
increased from 0.001 to 0.004  min−1 as α increased from
0.8 to 4 at a discharge pressure of 1.5 bar. It was observed
from the previous results that a higher α value is more
beneficial for the E. coli inactivation. The higher ratio of
throat perimeter to its cross-sectional area produced high
shear and more cavities therefore resulted in the higher
inactivation of E. coli. However, the maximum inactivation
rate of 0.015 min−1 was obtained using a venturi having the
lowest flow area (10 mm2) as compared with other venturis
of higher flow area and orifice plates used in their study.
The venturis proved to be better for the inactivation of E.
coli as higher flow was obtained in the venturis as com-
pared with orifices for the same pressure drop across the
device. This higher flow rate produced lower cavitation
number and thereby generated more cavities resulting in
the higher inactivation of E. coli.
Sawant et  al. (2008) studied seawater disinfec-
tion using the different configurations of orifices. It was
observed that as the β value of the orifice plates increased
from 0.147 to 0.442, the extent of killing of zooplankton
merely increased from 79.5% to 81.7% and appeared to
be constant. Unlike the results presented in previous sec-
tions where higher efficiency was observed at lower β
value (Senthilkumar et  al. 2000, Sivakumar and Pandit
2002), these results indicated that even a less throttling,
i.e. larger, cross-sectional area of the throat can induce
cavitation-like effects that are enough to kill the microor-
ganisms. Only a mild cavitation condition is required to
break the cell wall of many microorganisms; therefore, it
is advisable to use less throttling, which gives higher flow
and requires less pressure drop. The cavitation numbers
obtained were 5.13, 3.94, and 14.68 for the orifice plates
having β value as 0.147, 0.294, and 0.442, respectively.
Almost 82% of the zooplankton were killed at an operat-
ing cavitation number of 14.68, indicating that seawater
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      27
contained lot of ready nuclei in the form of dissolved gases
and suspended particles, and therefore cavitation can be
than 1.
Balasundaram and Harrison (2011) reported the effect
of various shapes of orifice geometry on the release of peri-
plasmic product during cell disruption. It was observed
that as the value of α increased from 0.8 to 2.0, the yield of
periplasm increased from 45% to 93%, and consequently
the cavitation number was decreased from 0.18 to 0.14. It
was concluded that orifice plate having multiple circular
holes (44 holes) gave higher amount of periplasm than the
noncircular orifices having square and rectangular throat
shape. Because the orifice having more smaller holes pro-
duced the highest number of jet streams and cavities, it
resulted in more cell disruption.
Wu et al. (2012) reported the effect of three different
orifice plates of throat diameter 5, 10, and 12 mm, respec-
tively, on the removal of blue green algae. The cavitation
device was placed at two different locations, i.e. in the
suction and discharge line of the pump. The cavitation
numbers were reported to be 0.03, 0.08, and 0.54 with the
5-, 10-, and 12-mm orifices under suction conditions and
were 0.01, 0.06, and 0.43 under discharge, respectively.
When orifice plates were placed in the suction line, a
maximum 20% removal of algae was obtained at a cavita-
tion number of 0.54 (0.063 MPa, suction pressure). More-
over, a maximum 13% removal of algae was obtained at a
cavitation number of 0.43 (0.118 MPa, discharge pressure)
when orifice plates were placed in the discharge line. The
higher algae removal was obtained using bigger orifice
(12  mm), which signifies the use of larger β value (0.36)
instead of a smaller orifice for algae removal.
Wang et al. (2015) investigated the effect of inlet pres-
sure and various configuration of multiple-hole orifice
plates on the disinfection of bore well water. It was
observed that as the operating pressure increased from
0.35 to 0.45  MPa, disinfection efficiency increased from
57.3% to 67.3%, indicating that higher pressure increases
the cavitational activity. The highest reduction of approxi-
mately 68% was achieved using the plate having highest
perimeter and number of holes at 0.45 MPa in 60 min of
treatment time. Thus, it can be concluded that, among all
the orifice plates, the plate having a large number of small
holes is a suitable geometrical configuration to achieve
the higher disinfection efficiency.
In another study, Badve et  al. (2015) reported the
comparison of venturi and orifice for the disinfection of
seawater. It was observed as the inlet pressure increased
up to an optimum value, the disinfection efficiency was
increased and decreased thereafter. Using slit venturi,
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28      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
maximum efficiency of approximately 45% was achieved
at an optimum inlet pressure of 3 bar, whereas almost 50%
and 20% was achieved using circular venturi and orifice,
respectively, at an optimum inlet pressure of 5 bar. The
slit venturi was proved to be better in terms of energy effi-
ciency because it requires less permanent pressure drop
to achieve the same cavitation number as compared with
other two devices.
In all, it can be concluded that unlike other processes
such as wastewater treatment, emulsification, oxidation
reactions, and hydrolysis of oil, which require very low
cavitation number in the range of 0.1–0.3, the microbial
disinfection can be performed at relatively higher cavita-
tion number, i.e. more than 0.6. In some cases, even the
cavitation number more than 1 can also be used to get the
desired disinfection efficiency depending on the dissolved
gases and suspended particles present in the water. It can
also be concluded that cavitating devices of larger throat
area or higher β value (> 0.3) are better and also α value
should be maximized for a given cross-sectional area by
keeping more smaller holes to get higher disinfection of
water. Moreover, venturis are proven to be better than
orifice plates for getting maximum disinfection because
venturi generates more cavities per unit volume to be
treated than an orifice plate and thereby increases overall
cavitational yield.
4.2.1 E
 ffect of other disinfectants in ­combination
with HC
Moreover, the efficiency of HC can be improved by com-
bining with other biocides such as oxides of chlorine
(ClO2), sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), hydrogen peroxide
(H2O2), and ozone (O3) similar to wastewater treatment
studies. HC effects can make cell wall more permeable
to these oxidants. Jyoti and Pandit (2003) have reported
the effect of the combination of HC with H2O2 and O3 on
water disinfection. A maximum of 83% reduction in total
coliform was achieved using a multiple-hole orifice plate
(α = 4) in 60 min at an operating pressure of 5.17 bar. The
reduction in coliform content was further increased to
90% and 94% on combining HC with 5 mg/l of H2O2 and
2  mg/l O3, respectively. The synergetic effect of HC with
H2O2 and O3 enhanced the generation of hydroxyl radicals
and also accelerated the decomposition rate of H2O2 and
O3 in solution which improves the disinfection efficiency.
Wang et  al. (2015) found that ClO2 and NaClO are
better consumed during disinfection when used in the
presence of HC. It was found that the disinfection effi-
ciency increased from 67.3%, obtained using HC alone,
to 98% on combining HC with ClO2 in 60  min. Also, a
higher disinfection efficiency was obtained at a lower
concentration of ClO2. Almost 82% disinfection was
obtained using 0.5 mg/l of ClO2 as compared with 78%
disinfection obtained using 1 mg/l in 30 min. When HC
was combined with 2  mg/l of NaClO, the extent of dis-
infection increased to 60% as compared with 43% and
40% obtained using HC alone and NaClO alone, respec-
tively, in 30 min. Badve et al. (2015) studied the combi-
nation of HC and NaClO for the seawater disinfection.
They observed that the % disinfection increased from
45%, obtained using HC alone, to 100% using 5 ppm of
NaClO with HC.
In all, HC in combination with other biocides can
increase the disinfection efficiency and reduce the biocide
consumption. It is necessary to optimize the loading of
biocides for their better use under HC effects. The over-
view of recent work on the use of HC for the cell disruption
of various cell media with different cavitating devices is
presented in Table 4.
4.3 Food processing
Recent developments in food processing are focused on
producing high-quality, pure, and fresh food products as
per the consumers demand. The advanced technologies
now emphasize on increasing the stability and shelf life
of the food products having low/reduced bacterial load,
favorable processing conditions, time, and costs with
minimal use of chemical preservatives that conserve the
high-quality product characteristics. Many techniques
including the thermal pasteurization method have been
used for microbial inactivation in the food products.
However, these thermal methods are unable to prevent
the loss of vitamins, flavors, taste, etc., or cause the inac-
tivation of heat-resistant bacteria, which reduce shelf life
of products (Milly et  al. 2007, Mohammadi et  al. 2014,
Samani et  al. 2015). To overcome the adverse effect of
thermal methods, some nonthermal methods including
high hydrostatic pressure processing, electric fields, and
cavitation are currently being explored for the pasteuriza-
tion of fluid foods (Samani et al. 2015). In the last decade,
cavitation was found to be an efficient technique for pro-
cessing the impure food products because of its several
advantages. According to literature, cavitation not only
destroyed the microorganisms but also eliminated the
external heat sources that caused cell disruption. Many
studies have reported the use of ultrasound (AC) for the
pasteurization of many fluid foods (Chandrapala et  al.
2012, Mohammadi et al. 2014, Samani et al. 2015), but the
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 Table 4: Overview of studies on disruption of different microbes using HC at different geometries and optimum conditions.

Process   Cavitating device   Optimum conditions   Findings   References

Bore well   Multiple-hole orifice plate: 33 × 1 mm   At different pressure: 1.72 and 5.17 bar   % killed total coliform after 15 min   Jyoti and
water H2O2 = 5 mg/l HC at 5.17 bar = 58% Pandit (2003)
disinfection AC/US flow cell 40 = kHz HC (5.17 bar) + 5 mg/l H2O2 = 75%
HC (1.72 bar) + AC (40 kHz) = 85%
HC (1.72 bar) + AC + 5 mg/l H2O2 = 92%
Removal of   Different configurations of orifice   Orifice = 75% open area   82% killing of zooplankton   Sawant et al.
zooplankton Orifice: 25% open area, 50% open area, Pressure = 3.2 kg/cm2 (2008)
from seawater and 75% open area Cv = 14.68
Inactivation   Multiple-orifice plates: 1 × 5 mm, 6 × 2 mm,   Orifice = 25 × 1 mm   At 2 bar, with orifice, the rate of inactivation of E. coli was   Arrojo et al.
of Escherichia 25 × 1 mm Pressure = 2 bar 0.0075 min−1 (2008)
coli Different venturis: V1 = 40 mm2, Venturi = V3 (10 mm2) At 1 bar, with venturi V3, the rate was almost 0.018 min−1
V2 = 20 mm2, V3 = 10 mm2 Pressure = 1 bar
Release of   Orifice of different shapes and sizes   Orifice geometry Circular = 40 × 2 mm   > 90% release of periplasm with circular orifice (40 × 2 mm) than   Balasundaram
Periplasm and Circular = 40 × 2 mm α = 2 mm−1 other geometries and Harrison
total soluble Square = 2 × 2 mm2 Cv = 0.14 Approximately 50% of total soluble protein release in all orifice (2011)
protein during Rectangular = 2 × 4 mm2 plates
cell disruption Circular = 2:25
Circular = 5 × 5 mm
Circular = 1 × 14 mm
Removal of   Various single-hole orifice of 5, 10, and   Initial concentration = 30 μg/l   20% removal of algae by suction and 13% removal of algae by   Wu et al.
blue green 12 mm diameter placed in suction side and PSUCTION = 0.063 MPa extrusion orifice at optimum condition in 20 min (2012)
algae extrusion side PEXTRUSION = 0.118 MPa HC/O3: 91% removal of algae by suction and 63% removal of algae by
Geometry: orifice of 12 mm diameter extrusion in 5 min with HC/O3
O3 = 1.9 mg/min
Input voltage to ozonizer = 190 V
Removal of   2 orifice valves before and after the pump   Pressure = 0.4 MPa,   > 90% reduction in cell density at optimum conditions in 30 min   Li et al. (2014)
algae Air flow rate = 0.5 l/min
Cell disruption  Multiple-hole orifice plate: 13 holes,   Pressure = 4 bar   With pretreatment: almost 100% lipid yield using HC, 66.5% using   Lee and Han
and lipid 0.5 mm in size Initial concentration = 20 g/l autoclave, 27% using ultrasonication at an input of 10,000 kJ/kg (2015)
extraction Cross-sectional area: 2.55 mm2 In simultaneous process: 78% extraction in minimum period than
separate process
Microcystis   Orifice valve   Air flow rate = 0.5 l/min   M. aeruginosa = 90% reduction and Chlorella = 63% reduction in 72 h  Li et al.
aeruginosa Culture analysis time = 72 h In HC, 90% reduction in 10 min (2015b)
and Chlorella In AC, > 60% reduction in 30 min)
Combination of HC/H2O2, > 60% reduction at 1 mm of H2O2
Seawater   Slit venturi   Geometry: slit venturi   Using HC only: 56% disinfection was achieved at optimum conditions   Badve et al.
disinfection α = 2.71 mm−1, cross-sectional Pressure = 3 bar HC with NaOCl (2015)
area = 3.404 mm2 Cv = 0.10 At 5 ppm: 100% disinfection in 15 min
Circular venturi and orifice

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α = 2 mm−1, cross-sectional area = 3.14 mm2
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      29
30      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
main challenge facing AC is its scale-up to large scale for
commercial processing of fluid foods.
In the last decade, HC was found to be a more effective
technique as compared with AC and other high-pressure
methods in the fluid food processing. In HC, the process gen-
erally occurs at ambient conditions with no requirement of
external heating, and the desired yield can also be achieved
at lower operating pressures, unlike high-pressure devices
or homogenizers used for the inactivation of microbes. The
mechanism involved in inactivation or destruction of the
microorganisms is well discussed in the previous section.
As a result of HC-induced physical stresses, the generated
high-pressure shockwaves and high-temperature condi-
tions in liquid medium resulted in the complete inactiva-
tion of bacterial content from foodstuffs (Albanese et al.
2015). Hence, HC can be applied effectively for the steriliza-
tion of fluid foods to increase their stability and shelf life for
the consumer wellness and safety.
Milly et  al. (2007) reported the application of HC
reactor for the sterilization of different fluid foods such as
apple juice, skimmed milk, and tomato juice. The shock-
wave power reactor (SPR), as shown in Figure 7, is mainly
composed of two concentric cylinders, i.e. a stationary
outer cylinder and a rotating inner cylinder. The liquid
flows in the annular region (between two cylinders) and
passes through the indentations provided on the rotat-
ing cylinder surface. Because of the high-speed rotation,
extreme conditions of high temperature were generated,
which resulted in intense cavitation. This extreme thermal
condition was responsible for the inactivation of spoilage/
harmful microorganisms. It was found that HC generated
adequate destructive forces for the complete inactivation
Figure 7: Schematic of a shockwave power reactor (SPR).
of vegetative cells of yeast, bacteria, yeast ascospores,
and heat-resistant bacterial spores. It was observed that
the inactivation of various microorganisms present in
apple juice such as Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacil-
lus sakei, Zygosaccharomyces bailii, and ascospores was
caused using 3000 and 3600  rpm rotor speeds with exit
temperatures of 65.6°C and 76.7°C. The inactivation of
Bacillus coagulans present in tomato juice was caused
using 3000 and 3600 rpm rotor speeds with exit tempera-
tures of 93.3°C and 104.4°C. Hence, HC was found to be an
efficient technique for the sterilization of fluid foods by
operating the reactor at ambient conditions or low tem-
perature conditions.
Milly et al. (2008) also reported the use of shockwave
power-based HC reactor for the inactivation of Saccha-
romyces cerevisiae in apple juice. Initially, there was a
negligible inactivation of S. cerevisiae at a processing tem-
perature of 54.4°C or lower. However, at higher tempera-
tures, i.e. when increased to 65.6°C and 76.7°C, operating
the SPR at 3000 and 3600  RPM caused the inactivation
yield to increase to 6.27 logs. Apart from that, based on the
energy consumption, SPR was found to be more efficient
than conventional heating process. The energy required
by SPR was considerably lower, i.e. 173 kJ/kg, whereas for
a conventional process, it required 258  kJ/kg to achieve
the higher inactivation of S. cerevisiae. In all, it was con-
cluded that the proposed HC-based reactor can be easily
scaled up on an industrial level for the pasteurization of
food products with enhanced energy saving and efficiency
(i.e. 55%–84%).
Recently, Crudo et al. (2014) investigated the applica-
tion of hydrodynamic and AC for treatment of fresh cow
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milk. The HC treatment was performed using venturi
and orifice devices in the presence of CO2. At 6 bar, 88%
destruction of total bacterial content was obtained using
a rectangular orifice of flow area 1.17  mm2, which was
higher than 75% obtained using circular venturi of same
cross section. The orifice configuration was found to be
more efficient than venturi device because of its capabil-
ity of generating high magnitude collapse conditions than
venturi. Moreover, the maximum extent of microbial inac-
tivation was achieved by AC, i.e. 95% in 10 min at an input
power of 370 W. However, based on the energy consump-
tion, HC was found to be more efficient than AC as the
power density required by HC was 2 W/l, which was lower
as compared with that obtained with AC, i.e. 1194 W/l. It
is also reported that HC can be adopted on an industrial
scale for the pasteurization of milk.
From these studies, HC appears to be a promising tech-
nology for the sterilization of food at favorable conditions
that lead to improved shelf life of product, low microbial
load, and better processing conditions. However, further
enhancement in the microbial inactivation can be per-
formed by exploring various cavitating devices such as
orifice and venturi of different configurations that have not
been yet studied for its applications in food sterilization,
pasteurization, processing, and conservation. To date, all of
the studies were focused on microbial disinfection of fluid
foods; however, HC can also be explored for the extraction
of important food products from various fluid foods such as
separation of fats and protein from milk and extraction of
antioxidants such as phenolic compound from fruits.
5 Conclusion
This article highlights the significance of HC in different
physicochemical and biological applications. HC appears
to be a very effective technique for the intensification
of various chemical and physical processes because of
its ability to impart the required energy at the location
of transformation and at ambient conditions. Different
applications require different cavitational intensities,
which can easily be manipulated by varying geometry of
the cavitating device and operating parameters such as
cavitation number and operating pressure. On the basis
of the theoretical analysis of cavitation phenomena and
its application reported in the literature, some key points
in the selection of geometrical parameters of HC may be
concluded as follows:
1. The geometrical parameters such as α and β sig-
nificantly affect the cavitational yield. β should be
J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation      31
selected and optimized based on the application for
which HC is being conducted. For most of the appli-
cations such as wastewater treatment, hydrolysis of
oil, transesterification of triglycerides, and chemical
synthesis, a β value in the range 0.01–0.25 is prefer-
able. For applications involving particle size reduc-
tion where particle size is required to be less than
100 nm, a lower β value, i.e. < 0.01, should be used
and a β value higher than 0.3 can give better disin-
fection efficiency for microbial disinfection. A very
low β value should be avoided as it causes excessive
pressure drop resulting into higher operating cost.
It is necessary to optimize the β value separately
for the applications under consideration before the
scale-up of HC.
2. The cavitating device of higher perimeter generates
more number of cavitational events and gives higher
cavitational yield. A higher value of α should be pre-
ferred for all kinds of applications as mentioned ear-
lier. In the case of a venturi-based HC, it is advisable
to use a venturi with elliptical and rectangular throat
because of the higher perimeter than circular ven-
turi. However, in the case of an orifice-based HC, it is
advisable to use multiple holes of smaller sizes than a
single-hole orifice to enhance the cavitational activity.
Various shapes such as rectangular and elliptical can
also be attempted in an orifice to improve α. The opti-
mum value of α is reported to be in the range of 2–4.
3. The cavitation number is an important operating
parameter that characterizes the cavitating condi-
tions inside the reactor. On the basis of the theoreti-
cal analysis, cavitation number in the range of 0.1–0.3
is better to obtain the higher cavitational yield in
the case of wastewater treatment, hydrolysis of oil,
emulsification, and biodiesel synthesis. In the case of
nanoparticle synthesis and cell disruption, a higher
cavitation number could be used, and indeed a cavi-
tation number higher than 1 can be effective in micro-
bial disinfection.
4. An orifice configuration is found to be more suitable
to achieve a chemical or physicochemical transfor-
mation as it generates intense cavitation conditions.
For application such as particle size reduction and
microbial disinfection, orifices are mostly used and
found to be efficient. Some disadvantages of an orifice
plate such as less number of cavitational events and
shorter cavity life as compared with a venturi make it
less preferable than a venturi for most of the applica-
tions. The efficiency of a single-hole orifice plate can
be enhanced by placing multiple holes in a single-
orifice plate.
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32      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation
5. Venturi-based devices are proved to be more suitable
for the chemical transformations such as wastewa-
ter treatment and transesterification. Venturis are
proven to generate more number of cavities as well as
to improve the life of a cavity because of its smooth
convergent and divergent sections. In a venturi, throat
size and shape and divergent angle are very important
geometrical parameters that alter the cavitational
behavior inside a venturi. A throat shape should be
kept in such a way that it maximizes the throat perim-
eter, e.g. rectangular and elliptical shapes provide
higher perimeter than a circular shape for a given
cross-sectional area. Similarly, a half divergent angle
should be kept between 5.5° and 6.5°, as higher angle
may cause quicker pressure recovery resulting into
early cavity collapse. The possibility of curved con-
verging surface also appears to improve the efficiency.
These optimization strategies developed through the
theoretical analysis of many experimental studies may
help in the design, optimization, and scale-up of HC on
an industrial scale for conducting various chemical and
physical processes.
Nomenclature
ΔP shear stress developed by cavity (Pa)
AC acoustic cavitation
AOP advance oxidation processes
Ap area of pipe (m2)
BI biodegradability index
BOD biochemical oxygen demand (mg/l)
CCN choked cavitation number
CDU crude distillation unit
COD chemical oxygen demand (mg/l)
CV cavitation number
CVi cavitation inception number
do orifice diameter (m)
f T frequency of turbulence (kHz)
HC hydrodynamic cavitation
LWHCR liquid whistle hydrodynamic cavitation reactor
P2 discharge pressure at downstream of constriction (N/m2)
Ph perimeter of open area or perimeter of holes (m)
PV vapor pressure of liquid (N/m2)
Scell cell wall strength (Pa)
TOC total organic carbon (mg/l)
VDU vacuum distillation unit
VO velocity of liquid at throat (m/s)
X extent of killing of zooplankton
α ratio of perimeter of the hole to the total flow area (mm−1)
β ratio of throat area to cross-sectional area of pipe
γ ratio of throat height/diameter to its length
ρ density of liquid (kg/m3)
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Sci Technol 1998; 32: 2727–2733. Saharan at the Chemical Engineering Department, MNIT, Jaipur.
Wu Z, Shen H, Ondruschka B, Zhang Y, Wang W, Bremner DH. Removal He has completed his master’s degree at Shaheed Bhagat Singh
of blue-green algae using the hybrid method of hydrodynamic State Technical Campus, Ferozepur. He is currently working on
cavitation and ozonation. J Hazard Mater 2012; 235–236: 152–158. the treatment of biorefractory pollutants from wastewater using
Zhang Y, Dube MA, Mclean DD, Kates M. Biodiesel production hydrodynamic cavitation. He has published two research articles
from waste cooking oil: process design and technological in international journals and presented one at an international
assessment. Bioresour Technol 2003; 89: 1. conference.

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36      J. Carpenter et al.: Hydrodynamic cavitation

Suja George Aniruddha B. Pandit

Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering,
Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai
Jaipur 302017, India 400019, India

Aniruddha B. Pandit is a professor at the Chemical Engineering

Suja George is an associate professor at the Chemical Engineer-
Department and a dean of Student Affairs and Human Resource
ing Department and an associate dean of International Affairs
Development (SA and HRD) at the Institute of Chemical Technology,
at NIT Jaipur, India. She earned her PhD degree at the Malaviya
Mumbai. He has been instrumental in starting a major activity and
National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India, in 2009. Her current
a program in the area of hydrodynamic cavitation for the intensi-
research interests include water and wastewater treatment, process
fication of physical and chemical processing applications. Prof.
modeling simulation and control, microbial fuel cell, and synthesis
Pandit has authored more than 300 publications, 5 books, and more
of nanomaterials. She has published 10 research articles in SCI jour-
than 12 chapters with more than 13,000 citations, and he has five
nals, presented 50 papers at national and international conferences,
patents. He is on the editorial board of five international scientific
and guided 10 master’s theses so far.
journals. He has guided 35 PhD and 55 master’s students so far.

Virendra Kumar Saharan

Department of Chemical Engineering,
Malaviya National Institute of Technology,
Jaipur 302017, India,
vksaharan.chem@mnit.ac.in

Virendra Kumar Saharan is an assistant professor at the Chemical

Engineering Department, NIT Jaipur, India. He earned his PhD (Tech)
degree at the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India, in
2013. During his PhD, he studied the application of hydrodynamic
cavitation in various fields such as degradation of biorefractory pollut-
ants, emulsification, particle size reduction, nanomaterial synthesis,
and water disinfection. His current research interests include process
intensification, sonochemistry, nanoparticle synthesis, and nanoemul-
sion. He has published 13 research articles in SCI journals and a book
chapter and presented four papers at international conferences.

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 Rev Chem Eng   2016 | Volume x | Issue x

Graphical abstract

Jitendra Carpenter, Mandar Badve, Review: Mechanism and induced

Sunil Rajoriya, Suja George,
Virendra Kumar Saharan and
Aniruddha B. Pandit
Hydrodynamic cavitation: an
emerging technology for the
intensification of various chemical
and physical processes in a
chemical process industry
effects of hydrodynamic cavitation.
Keywords: biodiesel synthesis;
hydrodynamic cavitation; microbial
cell disruption; nanomaterials;
wastewater treatment.

DOI 10.1515/revce-2016-0032
Rev Chem Eng 2016; x(x): xxx–xxx

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