Conceptual Design of an Adjustable Venturi for Hydrodynamic Cavitation in Food Processing Optimization and Bioactive Compound Recovery

Hydrodynamic cavitation is attracting increasing interest in food processing as a non-thermal approach for preserving product quality and supporting the recovery of valuable bioactive compounds. Conventional Venturi devices are usually designed for fixed operating conditions, whereas real process streams may vary in temperature, viscosity, and gas or solid content. This can make it difficult to maintain stable and effective operating conditions when a fixed geometry is used. In this work, an adjustable circular Venturi is presented as a simple conceptual device for hydrodynamic cavitation in food applications. The external body and pipeline connections remain unchanged, while the throat section can be adjusted to adapt the device to different process requirements. In this sense, the proposed concept may also serve as an adjustable platform for exploring different operating conditions and identifying suitable throat configurations for specific food matrices and process targets. Once identified, such conditions may support the definition of a dedicated final Venturi configuration for the intended application. The proposed concept may be of interest for applications such as green extraction, food by-product valorization, and mild processing strategies aimed at preserving or enhancing bioactive compounds. This study is presented as a conceptual design contribution for food applications.