INDUSTRY FOCUS Food & Beveragey
Juice processing: from
concentrate to bottle Matt Hale, International Sales & Marketing Director at HRS Heat Exchangers, discusses new solutions
P
rocessing fruit and juice concentrates into fi nished bottled drinks is relatively straightforward, but to maximise
the quality of the fi nished product, attention to detail is needed at every stage: from de-packing the raw material through to pasteurisation and onto the fi nal aseptic packing process. While fruit juice concentrate is often
delivered in bulk containers, juice for the production of high-quality not-from- concentrate (NFC) is supplied in frozen form to maintain quality and freshness. The juice is often supplied in lined 200-litre drums. While the drums themselves are convenient and easy to handle, the frozen concentrate requires breaking up and warming before it can be processed further and packaged.
Solutions
HRS Heat Exchangers off ers complete processing solutions for fruit juices, from raw materials to fi nished products. The HRS I Series can de-pack and
crush (the IC Series) and melt (IM Series) frozen juice, ready for storage or further processing. The IC Series features a roller conveyor that feeds individual drums into a tipper to empty them into the crusher. A specially-designed spiked roller crushes the solid ice into slush, which is then transferred to the IM Series re-melting device.
Based on the tubular heat exchanger technology for which HRS is known, the IM Series raises the temperature of the juice from frozen to around 40
C in
90 seconds. From here, the cold liquid juice can be pumped to a holding tank, or straight into the next process step. One remelted, HRS can supply holding tanks of any required size, from 2,500 to 50,000 litres, to clients’ specifi cations.
Pasteurisation High-temperature short-time (HTST) pasteurisation, also known as ‘fl ash pasteurisation’, is the preferred technique for making premium quality juice. The
22 November 2020 | Automation
HRS series of MI/MR pasteurisers uses a food-grade, multi-tube corrugated tube heat exchanger to speed up the heat transfer, while the corrugated tubes create extra turbulence in the juice as it fl ows through. This extra turbulence means that the juice can be heated up to pasteurisation temperature much quicker – typically up to 30% faster. This is important, since the longer the heating process, the greater the deterioration in product quality. The temperature of the heating media can also aff ect quality – the hotter the heating media, the more damage to the product. Because of the high heat transfer rates of the corrugated tube technique, HRS’s pasteurisation systems use water at a lower temperature to reduce the risk of product damage. Another benefi t of higher heat transfer rate is that the system footprint can be reduced using shorter heat-exchanger pipes, resulting in a reduced pressure drop, saving pumping power and reducing energy costs – often by 40%.
The corrugated design/profi le of the inner tube helps reduce product fouling – it disrupts the fl uid boundary layer and creates higher velocity and turbulence. As the juice travels around the system, it is less likely to stick to the tube wall and cause corrosion and reduction in performance (leading to increased downtime and maintenance costs, expensive parts and reduced system lifespan).
Pumping
The smooth and economical pumping of the juice through the system is another important consideration. The HRS BP Series is a purpose-designed, hydraulically operated, reciprocating, positive displace- ment pump, with an expanding cavity on the suction side and a decreasing cavity on the discharge side. Material fl ows into the pump as the cavity on the suction side expands and is forced out of the discharge side as the cavity collapses. The BP Series features a sanitary design which incorporates a separator fi tted
The production of not-from-concentrate juice is supplied in frozen form to maintain quality and freshness
between the piston and the hydraulic chamber to ensure that there is no contact between the product chamber and the hydraulic oil. Once the pump is in operation, no part which comes into contact with oil comes into contact with the product.
Aseptic filling In recent years, aseptic technology has become well established in the food and drink sector as a fi lling technique. Following pasteurisation, the juice is cooled before cold aseptic fi lling of the fi nal pack is carried out. The HRS AF Series Aseptic Filler is designed with one or two automatic fi lling heads to fi ll a range of bulk packs between 200 and 1,400 litres. Packaging is presented and removed via a system of rollers and conveyor belts. At the end of each production cycle, the equipment and fi lling heads are automatically cleaned with CIP solution and the system is re-set ready for the next production batch, avoiding any cross contamination between diff erent products, preserving product quality and maintaining food safety.
CONTACT:
HRS Heat Exchangers
www.hrs-heatexchangers.com
automationmagazine.co.uk
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