HRS Heat Exchangers - Aseptic filling for fruit purees
22/01/2018 HRS Heat Exchangers Ltd
Aseptic filling is a key process in modern food and ingredients manufacturing, and nowhere is this truer than in the case of fruit purees and fillings. Demand for these products is growing around the world, with Americans alone consuming around 11 kilos of apple sauces, pies and juices per person each year.HRS Heat Exchangers recently installed an upgraded combined line to sterilise, cool and aseptically fill fruit purees for a client in the UK, and it provides a perfect illustration of how different equipment comes together to form a line capable of safely and efficiently processing a range of viscous products containing particulates. The client prides itself on the supply of high quality, locally grown ingredients with the highest provenance, so ensuring that the supplied solution was able to process the required volume of two tonnes per hour without any negative impacts on product quality or texture was at the heart of the brief.
A flexible solution
Because of the range of fruit purees produced, the ability to switch quickly and cleanly between different batches and products was another key consideration. The built-in CIP (cleaning in place) programme facilitates this and provides an efficient and hygienic process. This flexibility also enables the system to cope with seasonal changes in product and different orders in quick succession, and was a major factor behind the client's decision to choose the solution we had designed. For example, processing strawberry puree is very different to apples, but the system can cope equally well with all the fruit types required, switching easily from one batch to another.
Selecting the right heat exchanger
In order to use this method, the product itself has to be from microorganisms which could cause spoilage and so most food and drink products which are packaged aseptically are cooked, pasteurised or sterilised immediately prior to packaging, or if this is not possible, they are kept in sterile conditions until they can be packaged. There are different methods of doing this, and the type of equipment (for example, the type of heat exchanger) specified will depend on the nature of the product being processed.
For example, tomato puree and thicker materials generally use a triple-tube heat exchanger, such as the HRS Triple Tube AS Series used in this instance. Materials which contain particles frequently use a double-tube design (like the HRS DTA Series), while thinner, and less viscous materials will benefit from multi-tube heat exchanger technology, as found in the MI Series.
In the solution HRS provided for their client, fruit puree enters from the production lines via a balance tank before being pre-heated and de-aerated then passed to the thermal treatment section. Under normal operation, the product is heated to 94 deg. C and then held at this temperature to ensure full pasteurisation or sterilisation as required. Heat for this process comes from water, heated via an HRS K Series multi-tube heat exchanger, which is derived from steam used elsewhere in the factory.
Safety first
As a safety feature, the system constantly monitors the temperature of the product; any product which has not been fully pasteurised or sterilised is returned to the beginning of the process. Once fully heat-treated, the puree is cooled, first to around 30 deg. C using ambient water and another K Series heat exchanger, then cooled further to between 5 and 10 deg. C using chilled water. At the same time, the equipment itself, including the aseptic filling heads, is sterilised with hot water at 121 deg. C. Sterility throughout the process is maintained with steam which is automatically temperature controlled.
Increased productivity, improved quality
The HRS AF Series Aseptic Filler is designed with one or two automatic filling heads to fill 20 kg packs or 200 litre aseptic bags in plastic drums via a 1 inch spout, with packaging being presented and removed via a system of rollers and conveyor belts. As an optional extra, one of the two filling heads can be moved to allow the filling of 1 tonne bags when required.
At the end of each production cycle, the equipment and filling heads are automatically cleaned with CIP solution and the system is re-set ready for the next production batch, avoiding any cross contamination between different products, preserving product quality and maintaining food safety. The new line has increased productivity by removing the need to shut down and reconfigure the line between production runs of different products. It has also improved product quality through gentler handling and improved heat transfer.
For more information, please contact:
HRS Heat Exchangers Ltd
HRS House
10-12 Caxton Way
Watford Business Park
Watford
Herts
WD18 8JY
Tel: 01923 232 335
Email: info@uk.hrs-he.com
Web: www.hrs-heatexchangers.com
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