US 12,414,575 B2
Process and apparatus for phase-change extrusion of aqueous material
Richard Hamilton Archer, Palmerston North (NZ); Lindsay James Robertson, Palmerston North (NZ); and Jolin Morel, Palmerston North (NZ)
Assigned to Massey University, Palmerston North (NZ)
Appl. No. 17/613,127
Filed by Massey University, Palmerston North (NZ)
PCT Filed Mar. 31, 2020, PCT No. PCT/IB2020/053033
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 22, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/240287, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 3, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 754071 (NZ), filed on May 30, 2019; and application No. 2019904102 (AU), filed on Oct. 31, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0211058 A1, Jul. 7, 2022
Int. Cl. A23B 7/04 (2006.01); A23B 2/80 (2025.01); A23B 11/14 (2025.01); A23L 2/12 (2006.01)
CPC A23B 7/0416 (2013.01) [A23B 2/8033 (2025.01); A23B 11/1403 (2025.01); A23L 2/12 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A continuous process for rapidly freezing a flow of aqueous material in liquid form and moving the aqueous material through at least one tube having an inlet and an outlet, the process comprising the steps of:
a. continuously pumping aqueous material in liquid form into the tube inlet under pressure;
b. rapidly cooling the liquid aqueous material to cause a progressive phase change in the aqueous material, wherein the aqueous material comprises enough solutes to provide a freezing point depression of at least 0.4° C. and a freezing point range such that the phase change produces a substantially radially aligned arrangement of dendrite crystals being formed in the aqueous material and between which unfrozen liquid aqueous material is trapped to form a self-lubricating frozen extrusion comprising a crystal structure;
c. pumping the aqueous material through the tube from the tube inlet to the tube outlet; and
d. discharging at least a portion of the self-lubricating frozen extrusion through the tube outlet as a breakable or cuttable extrusion.