Experimental investigation and modelling of foam-flow cleaning in milking systems – FOAMAT

id="offer-description" class="ecl-u-type-heading-2 ecl-u-mt-none ecl-u-mb-l">Offer Description Cleaning milking systems is essential for maintaining equipment hygiene and milk quality. Conventional cleaning-in-place (CIP) procedures require water, energy and detergents. In complex circuits, bends, junctions, vertical sections and changes in diameter can lead to uneven liquid renewal and mechanical action, allowing dairy residues and biofilms to persist. Cleaning by foam flow offers an alternative approach, with the potential to improve contact with equipment surfaces while reducing resource consumption. Its effectiveness depends on foam formulation, liquid fraction, bubble size, drainage, stability and flow conditions. A key scientific challenge is to connect these properties to near-wall hydrodynamics, mechanical stresses and contaminant removal, and to determine how laboratory findings can be transferred to representative milking circuits. Within the FOAMAT project, this PhD will combine foam physical chemistry, millifluidic experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The objective is to establish relationships between foam properties, flow behaviour and cleaning performance, and to support the development of operating conditions suitable for pilot-scale applications. The doctoral researcher will undertake the following activities:. • Foam formulation and characterisation: contribute to the selection of surfactant formulations and measure foamability, bubble-size di