Pasteurisation and sterilisation are widely recognised as being among the most effective and efficient processes to reduce or remove microbes from food and drink products, ensuring product safety, preventing spoilage and waste, and increasing shelf life.
Although the basic premise of pasteurisation and sterilisation is simple – heating the product to a specified temperature for a specified time – in practice other elements such as heating the service fluid, rapidly cooling the product after pasteurisation, and maintaining aseptic conditions all need to be considered.
This means that while the actual pasteurisation process can be performed efficiently and effectively by a single corrugated tube heat exchanger model (the choice of which will depend on the nature of the product), other elements such as additional heat exchangers, or the ability to recover and reuse heat to maximise energy efficiency, can quickly add size and complexity to even a simple pasteuriser.
All-in-one pasteurisation
The range of HRS Thermblock Series pasteurisers and sterilisers are purposely designed to provide a convenient packaged solution for the pasteurisation or sterilisation of food and drink products ahead of further aseptic filling or any other packaging method.
Based on HRS Heat Exchangers’ proven range of corrugated tube heat exchangers, The HRS Thermblock Series is available with annular space (AS Series), double tube (DTA Series), or multitube (MI Series or MR Series) heat exchangers. All HRS Thermblock Series allow for the adjustment of the heating and cooling cycle of the product, and are ideally suited to HTST (High Temperature, Short Time) pasteurisation and sterilisation.
Often skid-mounted for easy installation, depending on configuration the HRS Thermblock Series can be designed to directly or indirectly recover as much as 90% of the energy for reuse, greatly reducing overall energy consumption and significantly reducing payback period. Depending on the model chosen, the HRS Thermblock is suitable for a wide range of products from simple juices and sauces up to products containing large particles, such as diced onions and tomatoes, fruit dices, etc.
For those looking for a packaged pasteuriser/steriliser and aseptic filler the HRS Asepticblock and HRS Asepticblock Mini are also available, combining all the benefits of the HRS Thermblock with high-capacity HRS AF aseptic fillers which are suitable for a range of liquid and pulp-type products.
