High shear methods to produce nano-sized food related to dispersed systems

Nanotechnology deals with the application, production and processing of materials at nanometer sizes (less than 1000 nm). The ability to control the macromolecules and small components in a food matrix at various length scales has become an integral part of the design of food products, processes, and pieces of equipment among which those that use high shear to break-up particles down to nano-size are revised in this chapter. Energy intensity in these methods is very high compared to other technologies and the discussed methods include: rotor-stator homogenizer, homogenizer of high-pressure valve and ultra-high pressure, ultrasonic devices, and microfluidizers. The several physical phenomena successively and/or simultaneously involved in these methods are pressure, intense shear forces such as elongational stress, turbulence, cavitation and impacts are also revised focusing on the novel structural and physicochemical properties that are characteristic of the nanoscale.