Emulsion formation by homogenization is commonly used in food production and research to increase product stability and to design colloidal structures. High-energy methods such as high-pressure homogenizers and rotor-stator mixers are the two most common techniques. However, to what extent does the research community understand the emulsion formation taking place in these devices? This contribution attempts to answer this question through critically reviewing the scientific literature, starting with the hydrodynamics of homogenizers and continuing by reviewing drop breakup and coalescence. It is concluded that although research in this field has been ongoing for a century and has provided a substantial amount of empirical correlations and scaling laws, the fundamental understanding is still limited, especially in the case of emulsions with a high-volume fraction of the disperse phase, as seen in many food applications. These limitations in the current understanding are also used to provide future perspectives and suggest directions for further investigation.

中文翻译：

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均质形成的乳液：当前的认识和未来的观点。

通过均质化形成乳液通常用于食品生产和研究中，以提高产品的稳定性并设计胶体结构。高压均质器和转子-定子混合器等高能方法是两种最常见的技术。但是，研究人员在多大程度上了解这些设备中发生的乳液形成？该论文试图通过批判性地回顾科学文献来回答这个问题，首先是从均质器的流体力学开始，然后通过回顾液滴的破碎和聚结来继续。结论是，尽管该领域的研究已经进行了一个世纪，并且已经提供了大量的经验相关性和标度定律，但基本的理解仍然有限，尤其是在许多食品应用中看到的乳液中，其分散相的体积分数很高。当前理解中的这些局限性还可以用来提供未来的观点并为进一步研究提供指导。