Dairy products
Dairy products have to be treated at high temperature, around 140ºC UHT (Ultra High Temperature), due to their low pH, over 4.2. And they contain protein and other ingredients that have a high tendency to foul. This does not allow long running-times in the production plant because the heat exchangers must stopped for being cleaned (CIP) very often.
There are two ways of processing dairy desserts:
- Discontinuous. Blending and cooking are done in vessels. Sterilization is done through tubular or plate heat exchangers.
- Continuous. Blending, cooking and sterilization are done with scraped surface heat exchangers - particularly Contherm from Alfa-Laval and others.
Filling is usually done in preformed plastic containers but with two different philosophies:
- Aseptically.
- Refrigerated.
Unicus® for dairy desserts
Advantages:
- Unicus® does not provoke high shear stresses on the product.
- The use of Unicus® allows long production cycles because the continuous movement of the scraping elements against the tube wall keeps them clean, so cleaning materials and personnel costs are minimized.
- The installation is very versatile as it can process different products each with its own distinct qualities. It is sufficient to calculate the temperature which must be obtained within the mixture of ingredients inside the heat exchanger to obtain consistent final product quality. No overheating is necessary and products are more natural.
- The heating/cooking takes place in the tube side of Unicus®.
- Control over the continuous process is total.
- Unicus® is much more competitive in price per square meter than the rest of scraped surface heat exchangers.
Applications:
- Rice pudding. The integrity of the rice grains is guaranteed thanks to the delicate but thorough treatment produced by the scraping elements of Unicus® heat exchanger.
- Custard.
- Vanilla flan.
- Chocolate mousse.
- Others.
Schematic of HRS' dairy desserts plant
