Plant for treating foodstuffs

Foods and beverages: apparatus – Mechanical – fluid or heat treatment of dairy food – With temperature or atmosphere modification

Patent

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Details

99452, 99454, 99472, 99483, 99516, A23C 302, A23C 3037, A23L 300

Patent

active

058816380

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a plant for treating heat-sensitive fluid foodstuffs, such as whey protein concentrate and cheese milk, said plant comprising an infusion chamber in which the fluid is heat treated by way of a supply of steam, and a vacuum chamber connected thereto for the removal of water from the fluid.


DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

Inter alia AU-PS No. 610,233 discloses a plant for sterilizing milk. Such a plant is known as a direct UHT plant (ultra high Temperature). In these plants, steam is sprayed into milk which is fed to an infusion chamber in such a manner that the milk is heated to a temperature of approximately 140.degree. C. Subsequently, the milk is fed to a so-called holding chamber in which the milk is kept for a predetermined period (approximately 2 to 15 sec) in the heated state. Then the milk is carried to a vacuum chamber in which the water deriving from the steam is removed in such a manner that the solid content of the milk is the same when the milk leaves said vacuum chamber as before the feeding of steam. After the processing in the vacuum chamber, the milk is usually carried to a homogenizer and then subjected to a cooling and packing.
Furthermore the above holding chamber is known to comprise a centrifugal pump, which is connected to the outlet of the infusion chamber through a tube, and pumps the heated milk into a length of tube extending through an expansion valve to the vacuum chamber. In this manner a quick transfer is ensured of the heated milk to the length of tube between the pump and the expansion valve, where, as mentioned, the actual sterilizing process is performed in a few seconds in the heated state before the temperature drops quickly after the passing of the expansion valve.
When it is a question of fluids being more heat-sensitive than ordinary milk, and of products having a lower pH-value (less than 6.6) than ordinary milk, a tendency of the fluid burning onto the sides in contact with the fluid applies; as a result, the plant processing such fluids must be cleaned in a short period of use. When the above plant for treating for instance whey protein concentrate (WPC) at temperatures suited for this fluid, the processing period is typically less than 30 minutes.
Usually, the fluids in question are subjected to a heat treatment in order to remove bacteria and spores but to minimize the destruction of, inter alia, proteins and vitamins. When the holding time at a predetermined temperature is shortened, the occurrence of chemical changes or destructions of useful ingredients relative to the killing of bacteria are considerably reduced. Therefore the temperature can advantageously be raised in connection with heat-sensitive products at the same time as the holding time is shortened.
Previously, the heat-sensitive fluids were conventionally subjected to a heat treatment in plate heat exchangers, but a demand for raising the treatment temperature while simultaneously shortening the holding time at the high temperature has resulted in the use of such plate heat exchangers no longer being advantageous.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a plant suited for a continuous heat treatment of heat-sensitive fluids or fluid foodstuffs involving a long processing period.
The plant according to the invention is characterised in that the inlet opening of the infusion chamber is directly connected to the inlet of a positive-displacement pump, and that the outlet of the positive-displacement pump is connected to the inlet of the vacuum chamber in such a manner that a pressure drop applies across said pump when seen in the flow direction of the fluid during the running of the plant.
The resulting plant allows an increase of the treatment temperature and a correspondingly short stay period at the temperature in question. The latter is in particular due to the fact that a positive-displacement pump accommodated directly at the outlet of the infusion chamber ensures an instantaneous and fast removal of the heated fluid from s

REFERENCES:
patent: 3896716 (1975-07-01), Carasso
patent: 4253386 (1981-03-01), Egnell
patent: 4310476 (1982-01-01), Nahra et al.
patent: 5443857 (1995-08-01), Arph et al.
patent: 5470595 (1995-11-01), Kopp et al.
patent: 5591469 (1997-01-01), Zettier
patent: 5683733 (1997-11-01), Krabsen et al.

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