Emulsions are used as delivery vehicles for many active and functional chemical ingredients. There is an increasing need for developing new ways of producing emulsions on demand having desired critical quality attributes. Hydrodynamic cavitation (HC), which is a process of generation, growth and collapse of vapour cavities leading to intense localised shear and energy dissipation, offers an attractive platform for producing emulsions. In this work, we present experimental and computational results of a breakage of a single oil drop injected in a HC device. A single drop of oil was injected in a continuous stream of demineralised water flowing through a vortex based HC device. Tween 20 surfactant (2%) was used to prevent coalescence. The droplet size distribution (DSD) at the outlet of HC device was characterised using the imaging method. A detailed 3D computational model was developed to simulate turbulent cavitating flow through the considered HC device and resulting drop breakage and droplet size distribution. The developed model was used to quantitatively relate Sauter mean diameter (d₃₂) and droplet size distribution (DSD) at the outlet with the operating parameters of the HC device. A single-pass through the vortex based HC device was able to bring down droplet size from ∼10³ µm to ∼10¹ µm. The data and the model discussed in this work will provide a systematic basis for developing models, cavitation devices and operating protocols to produce emulsions with desired DSD.

乳液被用作许多活性和功能性化学成分的载体。越来越需要开发新的方法来按需生产具有所需关键质量属性的乳液。流体动力空化(HC)是蒸汽空腔的产生、生长和坍塌的过程，导致强烈的局部剪切和能量耗散，为生产乳液提供了一个有吸引力的平台。在这项工作中，我们展示了注入HC设备的单个油滴破裂的实验和计算结果。将一滴油注入流过基于涡流的HC的连续软化水流中设备。吐温 20 表面活性剂 (2%) 用于防止聚结。使用成像方法表征HC装置出口处的液滴尺寸分布（DSD）。开发了一个详细的 3D 计算模型来模拟通过所考虑的HC设备的湍流空化流以及由此产生的液滴破裂和液滴尺寸分布。开发的模型用于定量关联出口处的Sauter 平均直径(d ₃₂ )和液滴尺寸分布(DSD)与HC设备的操作参数。单程通过基于涡流的HC装置能够将液滴尺寸从 ~10 ³µm 至 ~ ^{10 1} µm。这项工作中讨论的数据和模型将为开发模型、空化装置和操作协议提供系统基础，以生产具有所需DSD 的乳液。