Kosaric 1981

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UHT milk: Production, quality, and economics

a b c d
Nairn Kosaric , Barbara Kitchen , Chandra J. Panchal , John D. Sheppard , Kevin
e f g
Kennedy , Alan Sargant & D. R. Arnott
a
Professor and Chairman, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering , University
of Western Ontario , London, Ontario
b
Graduate Student, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering , University of
Western Ontario , London, Ontario
c
Research Associate, Labatt Brewing Company, Ltd. , London, Ontario
d
Process Engineer, Eco‐Research, Ltd. , Willowdale, Ontario
e
Research Engineer, Eco‐Research, Ltd. , Willowdale, Ontario
f
Director of Research and Development , Silverwood Industries, Ltd. , London, Ontario
g
Professor, Department of Food Science , University of Guelph , Guelph, Ontario
Published online: 29 Sep 2009.
To cite this article: Nairn Kosaric , Barbara Kitchen , Chandra J. Panchal , John D. Sheppard , Kevin Kennedy , Alan Sargant &
D. R. Arnott (1981) UHT milk: Production, quality, and economics, C R C Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 14:2,
153-199, DOI: 10.1080/10408398109527302
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February 1981 153
UHT MILK: PRODUCTION, QUALITY, AND ECONOMICS
Authors: Nairn Kosaric

Barbara Kitchen
Department of Chemical and
Biochemical Engineering
University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario
Chandra J. Panchal
Labatt Brewing Company, Ltd.
London, Ontario
John D. Sheppard
Downloaded by [University of Auckland Library] at 15:14 09 April 2015
Kevin Kennedy
Eco-Research, Ltd.,
Willowdale, Ontario
Alan Sargant
Silverwood Industries, Ltd.
London, Ontario
Referee: D. R. Arnott
Department of Food Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario
I. INTRODUCTION
A number of systems for pasteurizing milk have been used commercially. The earli-
est were batch systems employing holding tanks. The milk was heated in a jacketed
tank to a temperature of 63°C (145°F), and held for 30 min. This type of system is
now rarely found, but it can be suitable for small operations. Improvements on the
batch system came with the advent of the continuous-holding or retarding system.
Holding times and temperatures are the same; however, the tanks automatically fill,
hold, and empty in a timed cycle. The system of choice in most modern dairies is now
the high-temperature-short-time (HTST) process. It has the following advantages over
the batch and continuous-holding system:1
1. Lower initial cost due to elimination of holding tanks.

2. Less labour required as the system incorporates mechanized circulation cleaning.
3. More economical in floor space. About 10,000 l/hr can be pasteurized in 4.5m2
(48 ft2).
4. Increased flexibility. The capacity of the plant or the processing rate is easily and
quickly controlled.
5. Ease of recording and safeguarding the pasteurization temperature requirements.
Milk can be readily diverted if it does not reach minimum safe pasteurized tem-
peratures.
6. Lower operating costs. The plant can be almost entirely automatically controlled.
154 CRC Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
Although the HTST process is continuous, it can be divided into the following steps
for clarity:
1. Raw milk flows from a storage tank to a balance tank by means of a valve that
maintains a constant level in the balance tank.
2. Milk is pumped from the balance tank through a regenerative heat exchanger at
a rate regulated by the pump speed. (This is referred to as the "timing pump".)
3. The cold raw milk is preheated to about 60°C (140°F) by hot pasteurized milk
flowing on the other side of the regenerator plates.
4. The timing pump sends the preheated raw milk to the heat exchanger where the
temperature is raised to a minimum of 72°C (161 °F) using hot water as the heat-
ing media.
5. The hot milk leaves the heat exchanger and enters a holding section or a holding
tube where passage time of the milk is not less than 16 sec.
6. At the end of the holding system the milk temperature is detected by thermometer
bulbs connected to a thermal limit safety recorder. The recorder controls a flow
diversion valve that accepts the milk in a forward flow position if the temperature
is correct, or diverts the milk back to the original raw milk balance tank if the
temperature is below the setting.
7. The accepted hot pasteurized milk is sent first through the regenerative heat ex-
changer where it is cooled by incoming cold raw milk on the other side of the
plates to approximately 16°C (64°F) with a second temperature reduction in the
cooling section of the unit to approximately 4°C (39°F), using cold water as the
cooling media. The milk then goes to storage tanks for subsequent packaging.
Today, the majority of milk is pasteurized as above and represents the common
product for consumption. The pasteurized product is stored and distributed in a cooled
state, at 5°C, during its short 10 to 20 day useable life. Consequently, refrigeration
equipment is essential for commercial utilization of the pasteurized milk. Production
of milk by an alternate route whereby the product becomes "sterilized" rather than
pasteurized has a number of advantages. This review is an attempt to point out the
processes that are involved in production of a milk product whose useable life can be
extended considerably (to 60 or even 365 days) at storage in ambient temperatures.
The ultrahigh temperature (UHT) treatment allows us to accomplish this effect, result-
ing in a marketable product: UHT milk.
II. ULTRAHIGH TEMPERATURE PROCESSING OF MILK
The International Dairy Federation has suggested that UHT milk should be defined
as "a milk which has been subjected to a continuous-flow heating process at a high
temperature for a short time and which afterwards has been aseptically packaged. 2
The heat treatment is to be at least 135°C for one or more seconds."
It has been found that the rate of thermal death of microorganisms increases more
rapidly with temperature than does the rate of chemical reactions which cause a loss
of quality.3 By increasing the processing temperature, therefore, sterilizing effect in-
creases in relation to chemical change exponentially as shown in Figure la. UHT proc-.
esses use temperatures of between 130 to 150°C. These high temperatures mean that
the processing time must be reduced if the process is not to be too severe. The varia-
tions in holding time with temperature in order to have adequate sterilization are
shown in Figure lb.
UHT plants can be divided into two main categories of heat treatment: direct and
indirect heating. With the indirect systems, a physical conducting barrier (heat exchan-
February 1981 155
Q,1o0 VALUES ASSUMED

3500 sporlcidal effect 12.5
chemical effect 2.5
24
|2500
20
! 1500
10
o
2
a 500
100 110 130 150 135 140 145 150 °C

processing temperature °C
a) b)
FIGURE 1. Effect of processing temperature in milk sterilization, (a) Effect on the ratio of bacteriological
to chemical change, (b) Variation of the holding time required for a good sterilizing process. (Adapted from
Burton, H., IFSTProc, 10(3), 130, 1977.)
ger), usually made of stainless steel, separates the product and the heating medium
(hot water or steam). The geometry of the heat exchanger may be of the tubular, plate,
or scraped surface type.
In the direct system, milk is mixed with steam to give temperatures of 135° to 150°C.
There are two separate ways of mixing steam with milk. There is the steam-into-milk
or injection method and the milk-into-steam or infusion method. The purpose of all
steam injectors is to give rapid condensation of steam at the milk-steam interface. To
do this, steam is injected as a thin sheet or through small holes to give discrete bubbles
which condense rapidly. With steam infusion, milk is heated as it falls inside a cham-
ber. The milk reaches equilibrium with the steam in the chamber as it falls. Milk col-
lects at the bottom of the chamber, preventing steam from escaping to the holding
tube or expansion chamber. The milk enters the chamber either as a film or a jet of
small droplets.
The heat transfer rates in direct heating systems are very high. For a temperature
change from 85° to 140°C heating times of 0.9 sec have been measured for a steam
injection system operating at 1100 l/hr and of 0.1 sec with a small laboratory-scale
infusion system.3 Indirect systems can never achieve such impressive values; however,
by increasing turbulence in the heat exchanger the heat transfer coefficient can be
increased high enough for commercial operation. The difference in time-temperature
profiles for direct and indirect heating systems is demonstrated in Figure 2. An impor-
tant difference between the two methods is that the direct steam injection results in a
quantity of water condensing in the milk, resulting in about 10% dilution. This pre-
sents several problems:
1. The water must be completely removed in order to maintain milk quality. Pres-
ently this involves flash cooling and very accurate control over preheating tem-
peratures, steam injection times, and flashing temperatures.
2. The flash cooling results in an inefficient use of energy since the extent of regen-
eration is limited.
3. In some countries, the law prohibits the introduction of water into milk during
processing.
Concerning the nutritional quality of the milk processed by the two methods, the
160
140
I2O
100
O 80
O
« 60
| 40
| 20
~ 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
mean time s
a
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
- 0
O 5 IO 15 2O 25 3O 35 40 45 5O 95 6O 65 7O 75 8O
mean time s
b
FIGURE 2. Time-temperature profiles, (a) Direct heating; (b) indirect heating. (Adapted
from Burton, H., J. Soc. Dairy Technol., 30(3), 135, 1977.)
differences are slight. The most notable difference is in the stability of some vitamins,
e.g., ascorbic and folic acids. These are lost more rapidly after indirect processing than
after direct processing. This may be due to more efficient oxygen removal during the
direct process. The directly processed milk has an inferior cooked flavor during the
first 10 to 14 days after production. The removal of oxygen during expansion cooling
in the direct processing systems reduces the rate of oxidation of the off-flavor produc-
ing sulfur compounds that were liberated from serum protein denaturation. An ac-
ceptable flavor is achieved after storage of 5 to 10 days when the SH-groups are oxi-
dized by the small amount of residual oxygen.3
Direct systems are favored mainly for practical reasons. There is more freedom with
a direct system from deposit formation. Direct systems also have more flexibility in
processing different products of different viscosities on the same plant as well as pos-
sibility of longer runs between cleanups.3
The indirect systems were introduced to the market at about the same time as the
direct systems. In these systems, a rapid cooling immediately after sterilization is im-
portant for reducing the cooked flavors. Calculations indicate the heat regeneration
to be about 73% instead of over 80% as is sometimes claimed. Plant sterilization is
accomplished with pressurized water at 137°C (278°F). An intermediate cleaning cycle
(dilute alkali followed by water rinsing) can be used while maintaining plant sterility.
In summary, the indirect systems usually use lower sterilizing temperatures com-
bined with longer holding times and some deaeration. Due to greater burn-on, run
February 1981 157
PRODUCT IN
STEAM
COOLING
' WATER
PRODUCT OUT
1 FLOAT HOPPER 7 FLOW DIVERSION VALVE

2 CENTRIFUGAL PUMP 8 VACUUM VESSEL
3 PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER 9 COOLER FOR DIVERTED FLOW
4 STEAM INJECTOR FOR WATER 10 ASEPTIC CENTRIFUGAL PUMP
5 POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT PUMP 11 ASEPTIC HOMOGENIZER
6 STEAM INJECTOR FOR PRODUCT
FIGURE 3. Vacutherm instant sterilizer (VT1S ALFA-LAVAL). (Adapted from Alfa-Laval,

UHT Treatment, Brochure No. PB6O457E Reg. 41213, 7310, Chicago.)
times are generally shorter. The direct systems require finer temperature controls and
aseptic homogenization valves. The higher temperatures and pressures utilized also add
to the capital costs while the limited capacity for heat regeneration raises the operating
costs.
The detailed differences between the various commercial systems involve the meth-
ods of heat regeneration and automation, including product quality control. The small
variations in processing temperatures and holding times between systems could have a
pronounced effect on milk quality; however, these differences do not significantly af-
fect either the energy requirements or the economics of the system.
There are a number of processes designed for production of sterile milk. The most
commonly used are presented below.
A. Direct UHT Processes
/. Vacutherm Instant Sterilizer (VTIS, Alfa-Laval)*6
The Vacutherm Instant Sterilizer (VTIS) is a steam-into-milk heating system. This
system is similar to the Uperisation process discussed below; however, this system uti-
lizes a flow diversion valve and an expansion cooling vessel in the diverted milk line.
The plant is available for flow rates of 2000, 4000, or 6000 l/hr.
The general design of the plant is in four sections: preheating and cooling, homoge-
nization, sterilization, and cleaning in place (CIP) treatment. The continuous process
is shown in Figure 3.
Milk is pumped from the storage tank into the float hopper (1), from which it is
pumped by the centrifugal pump (2) to the plate heat exchanger (3), where its temper-
ature is raised by means of hot water to 75°C (167°F). The water temperature is main-
tained by injecting steam into the water in the injection nozzle (4). A positive displace-
ment pump (5) delivers the milk further into the steam injection nozzle (6), where the
COOLER
ASEPTIC
HOMOGENIZER
PRODUCT
REMOVAL PUMP
FIGURE 4. The ARO-VAC direct-heating system. (Adapted from Aseptic Processing Catalogue and Tech-
nical Digest, Cherry Burrell Corp., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1971.)
milk is heated to the sterilization temperature of 140°C (285°F) in a fraction of a

second. The milk is maintained at the sterilization temperature for 3 to 4 sec by passing
through the holding pipe and return valve (7) and the vacuum vessel (8).
For the vacuum vessel, the milk is cooled very rapidly to 76°C (168°F). An aseptic
centrifugal pump (10) draws the milk from the vacuum vessel and delivers it to the
homogenizer (11). From the latter, the milk flows to the aseptic section in the plate
heat exchanger (3) where it is cooled to approximately 20°C (68°F) by the same water
that was used earlier for heating the incoming milk. Thus cooled and sterilized milk
can go directly to an aseptic packaging machine.
If the milk is insufficiently heated in the steam injector (6), a flow diversion valve
(7) will be actuated and the milk will be diverted to the return cooler where it is cooled
to approximately 75°C (167°F). At the same time, as the return valve changes over,
the homogenizer will stop and the milk supply to the plant will be interrupted, and
water will be circulated to the equipment. This diversion prevents insufficiently heated
milk from contaminating aseptic parts of the plant. No renewed sterilization is there-
fore required before production is resumed.
2. ARO-VAC Process7
The ARO-VAC system was developed by the Cherry Burrell Corporation of Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, which sells UHT components, e.g., steam injection heads, aseptic
pumps, homogenizers, and heat exchangers. The system is purchased and tailored to
the requirements of the manufacturer. The combination direct heater and flash cooler
is called the NO-BAC ARO-VAC. The ARO-VAC system is shown in Figure 4.
The process is very similar to both the Uperiser and the VTIS. It operates as follows:
1. The raw milk is preheated by regeneration to 70°C (158°F).

2. Steam injection raises the milk temperature to 145°C (293°F).
3. After being held for 3 sec the milk is flash cooled back to 70°C (158°F).
4. Aseptic homogenization and regenerative cooling prepares the milk for packag-
ing. Aseptic plate regeneration is not recommended for this system.
February 1981 159
HP STEAM
MILK OUT
FIGURE 5. Flow diagram of the uperisation process. (Adapted from Burton, H., Am. Dairy
Rev.. 9, 32, 1967.)
3. Uperiser'
The Uperisation system was developed by the Alpura Company of Burn and Sulzer
Bros., Ltd. of Winterthur, Switzerland. The product is marketed exclusively by the
APV Company, Ltd. of England. The Uperiser was developed in the 1950s and was
the first UHT plant to be linked to the aseptic TetraPak filling system. Standard units
are available with 4000 or 8000 l/hr capacities.
Uperiser direct heating systems are available in two models. One utilizes a tubular
preheater, the other a plate-type preheater. The plate-type system allows a larger proc-
essing capacity. The tubular preheater uses low pressure steam while the plate-type
utilizers vacuum steam. Product cooling is by regeneration with the plate Uperiser,
while the tubular system uses a separate aseptic cooler.
The basic Uperiser process is outlined in Figure 5. Milk is pumped from a strong
tank (1) to a pair of preheaters, (2 and 3), where the temperature of the milk is raised
to 75° to 80°C. The milk is then pumped to the steam injector (4). Steam is added at
140 psi through a control valve. The steam transfers its latent heat to the milk and
raises the milk temperature to 150°C. Milk is held at this temperature for 2.4 sec in a
tubular holder. The milk temperature is controlled by a unit (Rl) which operates a
valve in the high pressure steam line. Milk is cooled to 77°C by spraying it into a
vacuum chamber (5). Pressure in the tank is maintained by a water condensor and
- ejection pump (6).
Vapors from the vacuum chamber are used in the first preheater. The second pre-
heater is supplied with steam at atmospheric pressure. Milk is pumped aseptically from
the expansion chamber to a homogenizer (7) and then to the sterile cooler (tubular,
plate) before aseptic filling. The Uperiser can be cleaned in place (CIP) by circulating
caustic soda and acid after a water rinse.
4. LaguilharreSystem'
Laguilharre direct UHT sterilizers are manufactured by Ets Laguilharre of Courbe-
voie, France. A schematic diagram of a typical Laguilharre processing plant is shown
in Figure 6.
Milk is pumped by a high pressure pump through two preheaters, (1 and 2). In the
first, milk is preheated by vapor from the expansion cooling vessel, while the second
MILK
MILK OUT
FIGURE 6. Schematic diagram of the Laguilharre UHT plant. (Adapted from Burton, H.,
Am. Dairy Rev., 10, 40, 1967.)
preheater is heated with steam from the heating vessel. Temperature of the milk after
the preheaters is 75 °C. The milk is then sprayed into the heating chamber (3) where it
is heated to the steam temperature as it falls to the bottom of the chamber. The steam
bleed to the second preheater is removed from the top of the heating chamber. The
bleed also allows oxygen released from the milk to escape from the chamber which
could otherwise interfere with the action of the steam in the heating chamber. Con-
troller Cl regulates the steam pressure and maintains the processing temperature at
140°C. The pressure forces the milk to the expansion chamber where it is flash cooled
to 75°C. The vapor is used in the first preheater (1) which acts as a vacuum producer.
Water vapor from the preheaters and noncondensable gases from preheater (2) are
removed by a vacuum pump. Milk is pumped aseptically from the expansion chamber
(4) and cooled in tubular coolers to 5°C with cold water.
The correct total solids content is maintained by a controller which compares milk
temperature before heating and after expansion. The controller operates a pneumatic
valve in the steam bleed line from the steam vessel to the second preheater, thereby
maintaining the correct temperature difference.
5. Thermovac'
Thermovac is manufactured by BreiL and Martel of Paris, France. The Thermovac
process is similar to the Languilharre system, the difference being in preheating. Ther-
movac uses plate heat exchangers, while the Languilharre process uses tubular pre-
heaters. The process is shown in Figure 7.
Two plate heat exchangers (1 and 2) preheat the milk to 75°C. The second preheater
(2) is heated by low pressure steam to give the correct milk temperature for mixing
with high pressure steam in the heating vessel. Preheater (1) is heated indirectly by the
vapors from the expansion chamber through a "calo-condensor" (7). The calo-con-
densor is an ejection condensor that condenses the vapors from the expansion chamber
and maintains the proper vacuum for flash cooling. The condensing water is circulated
through the first preheater to give regeneration and further condensing of extracted
vapors. A vacuum pump removes noncondensible gases from the expansion chamber.
The milk is mixed with steam in the heating vessel (3), then flash cooled in the
expansion chamber to 75°C. Two plate heaters (4 and 5) are used for further cooling
of the product before aseptic packaging.
February 1981 161
MILK IN
MILK OUT
FIGURE 7. Schematic diagram of the Thermovac process. (Adapted from Burton,

H., Am. Dairy Rev., 10,40. 1967.)
LP STEAM
MILK OUT
FIGURE 8. A simplified flow diagram of the Palarisator plant. (Adapted from Burton, H.,
Am. Dairy Rev., 10,40, 1967.)
6. Palarisator9
The Danish Palarisator is made by Paasch & Silkeborg of Horsens. The Palarisator
utilizes Laguilharre patents but is highly modified; many of the modifications deal
with maintaining absolute sterility and automatic cleaning. The process can be fol-
lowed in Figure 8.
Milk is pumped from the storage.tank-(l) to Ihe first tubular preheater (2). Vapors
from the expansion cooling chamber pass through the ejector condensor and are used
in the first preheater. A second tubular preheater using low pressure steam raise the
milk temperature to 75°C. Milk then passes through a three-way diversion valve into
the heating vessel (4). Steam pressure in the heating vessel is maintained to give a milk
FIGURE 9. The DA-SI sterilizer.

(Adapted from Slater, L. E., Food Eng.,
12,88, 1973.)
temperature of 145°C. Milk then passes to an expansion cooling vessel (5). Tempera-
ture and pressure are controlled to give a milk temperature of 75°C. Total solids in
the milk are determined by the temperature difference between the milk after the sec-
ond preheater and after expansion cooling. Air released from the milk in the heating
chamber is extracted and sent to the condensor (6). Here air is removed by a vacuum
pump. An aseptic pump passes the milk through a small tubular water cooler (7) to
an aseptic homogenizer (8). The milk is then pumped aseptically through water coolers
(9) to a sterile holding tank (10). Bacterial filters maintain the air above the milk sterile
until the milk is packaged.
7. The Da-Si Sterilizer10

The Da-Si sterilizer is manufactured by Da-Si Industries of Silver Spring, Md. The
main feature of the process is a novel heat exchanger design as shown in Figure 9.
Milk comes from preheaters at 75 °C via a tube (1) and passes through a bank of
control valves (2) which control flow. Gauges (3) measure pressure as the milk flows
through individual feed lines to 4-in. screens (5) which shape it into continuous, lami-
nar free-falling films only 0.02-in. thick (6). Superheated steam at 65 psig enter the
chamber through a series of inlet nozzles (4). The steam saturated atmosphere (7) sup-
plies the heat absorbed by the product at 145°C. Moisture added is removed later in
the Da-Si process.
Crusting is prevented in the sterilizing chamber (8) by maintaining the teflon-coated
cone-like bottom at maximum product temperature. Input/output flow of product is
maintained by a low-level liquid seal (9) and a liquid level control (10) interconnected
with the main feed line. Sterile product leaves the exchanger at the bottom (11). The
Da-Si sterilizer has no moving parts and need not be disassembled since steam injection
makes the system self-cleaning. CIP spray balls are also integrated into the chamber
for use after each run.
The operation of the sterilizer in the overall process is shown in Figure 10. The milk
12
FIGURE 10. Schematic diagram of the DA-SI process. (Adapted from Slater, L. E., Food Eng., 12, 88,
1973.)
is fed by a positive pump (2) to a preheater where the temperature is raised to 75 °C,
and is homogenized in a homogenizer (3) operating at 2500 psig. The milk is then
heated in the sterilizer (5) for 1.5 to 3.0 sec at 145°C. A level controller (6) at the base
of the sterilizer activates a flow control valve (4) which recycles product if supply ex-
ceeds demand. Milk passes out of the sterilizer through a holding tube (7) to a flow
diversion valve (8) which can divert any unsterile milk to an auxiliary tank (9). Sterile
milk is then deareated (10) to remove moisture absorbed in steam infusion as well as
off-flavors. A densitometer (11) controls product concentration. The product is asep-
tically packaged after being cooled to 10°C in a continuous cooler (13).
B. Indirect UHT Processes

l.The Sterideal System''
Stork-Sterideal UHT sterilizers are manufactured by the Gebr. Stork & Co.'s Ap-
paratenfabriek NV of Amsterdam. The system is based on the use of concentric stain-
less steel tubes for all heat exchangers. A high degree of natural turbulence and high
pressure drop give good heat transfer. The high pressure drop can be tolerated because
no gaskets are used; however manual cleaning is impossible. Pumping pressure is sup-
plied by the homogenizer.
Early Sterideal plants ran at a capacity of 2000 l/hr. Figure 11 is a schematic of a
typical plant. Milk is pumped by a centrifugal pump (2) from the main storage tank
(1) to a five-cyclinder positive displacement pump (3) which is the pumping section of
the homogenizer. The five-cylinder pump has small fluctuations in the output pressure
because of low piston speeds due to the greater number of cylinders. It is necessary to
use air bottles to absorb pressure fluctuations and decrease mechanical vibration if the
pump has fewer than five cylinders. The air bottles are difficult to clean and sterilize.
The first tubular regenerator (5) preheats the milk to 65°C before it passes through
the first homogenizing valve (6) at 300 psi. The second regenerator (7) heats the milk
to 120°C. Milk is then passed to the tubular heating section (8) where it is heated
indirectly to 135° to 150°C. A pneumatically controlled steam inlet valve maintains
the required temperature. Product holding sections are optional. Sterilized milk passes
through the cooling section of the regenerator (10) and then through the second ho-
mogenizing valve (11) and then through the regenerator (12) at 750 psi. Milk leaves
the regenerator at about 30CC (86 °F) and then passes to mains and chilled water cool-
ers (13 and 14) before passing to the packaging machine.
Sterilization is automatic and coupled with sterilization of the TetraPak machines.
Water heated to 140°C in the circuit sterilizer flows through the system. Steam to the
circuit sterilizer is pneumatically controlled.
The plant automatically goes to its rinse, cleaning, and sterilizing cycle if proper
STEAM
COOLING
WATER
COOLING
WATER
MILK OUT
MILK IN
FIGURE 11. A simplified flow diagram of the Sterideal plant. (Adapted from Burton, H.,
Am. DairyRev.,7, 46, 1967.)
sterilization temperatures are not maintained. The plant can run continuously from 6
to 12 hr under normal conditions.
2. Ultramatic12'3
The indirect Ultramatic process was the first to use plate-type heat exchangers to
sterilize milk. The development of new gasket material that could withstand higher
pressures allowed for processing temperatures of 135° to 138°C. Research at APV
Somerset creamery showed that with a temperature of 135°, a holding time of 2 sec
was required to give a milk virtually free of resistant spores. Until the arrival of the
TetraPak filler, aseptic filling was too expensive and the Ultramatic system was often
used as a presterilizer before an in-bottle sterilization process. Over 70 APV systems
are in use in Japan, the objective being to extend product shelf life without full aspetic
packaging.12
Figure 12 is a simplified layout of a fully automated Ultramatic plant. Milk is
pumped from a storage tank (1) through a regeneration (2) and low pressure (3) steam
section. A temperature of 85°C is maintained in the steam heating section by a pneu-
matically operated control system. The milk solids deposited in later high temperature
sections are reduced by holding the milk in a retarder tank (4) for 6 min. The milk is
then pumped to the homogenizer (5). As this is before the sterilization section, it need
not be aseptically operated. A second regenerator (6) precedes the final heating section
(7). A pneumatically operated system supplies steam at 50 psi and maintains a temper-
ature of 135°C for 2 sec. If the milk temperature falls below 130°C, a diversion valve
diverts milk back to the storage tank through the water cooling section (8).
Milk leaves the process after water cooling at a temperature of 10° to 15°C. Heat
obtained from regeneration is as high as 90% in this plant. A time-temperature profile
for milk in the plant is shown in Figure 13. The plant is automatically sterilized with
pressurized water at 145°C.
3. The Ahlborn Process'4

The Ahlborn UHT plant is an indirect process marketed by Ed Ahlborn of Hildesh-
eim, Germany. The Ahlborn system uses platetype exchangers and includes two deaer-
February 1981 165
TO
CARTON r •-STEAM
FILLER
MILK -*
FIGURE 12. A simplified schematic diagram of the APV Ultramatic plant. (Adapted from Ridgway,
J. C , Am. Dairy Rev., 52, 1967.)
24 « c 6fnin 20SK 32 sec

(a)
FIGURE 13. Time-temperature curves for the Ultramatic process, (a) Standard process; (b) modified
process. (Adapted from Burton, H., Am. Dairy Rev., 7,46, 1967.)
ation stages. Figure 14 shows a flow diagram and Figure 15 the temperature profile of
the process.
Milk from a storage tank (1) is heated to 72 °C by passing it through a regenerator
(3) and a hot water heating section (4). The milk is held at 72°C in a plate holding
section (5) for 80 sec. This procedure stabilizes the milk against deposit formation.
The milk is then homogenized (6) and deaerated. The deaeration process consists of a
water cooler (7) that discharges into a vacuum chamber (8) exhausted by a vacuum
pump (9). Deaeration removes dissolved gases and volatile sulfhydryl compounds. No
water is removed during the deaeration process.
MAINS WATER
MILK IN
FIGURE 14. Simplified flow diagram of the Ahlborn process. (Adapted from Burton, H.,
Am. Dairy Rev., 12,28, 1967.)
150 i i 1
| !
OIOO
1I
! ! /
Y
UJ
50
/
J
rj
ji
1
17!
y 1
13
\ \
\
3 j; 5 12 14 3 j
JBJH j
50 100 150 200

TIME (sec)
FIGURE 15. Temperature profile of the Ahlborn process.

(Adapted from Burton, H., Aw. Dairy Rev., 12, 28, 1967.)
Further on, the milk passes from the vacuum chamber to a hotwater heating section
(11), then to a steam heated section (12) where steam at 40 psi gives a final process
temperature of 139°C. The milk is then deaerated in a degasser identical to the first
system, the cooler (13) and the vacuum chamber (14). Further volatile sulfhydryl com-
pounds are removed and the milk is cooled to 72° C.
Cooling (7) and sections (11) and (13) share a common water circuit. In this way,
an indirect regenerative effect is obtained. Milk is cooled to a filling temperature of
20°C by incoming and raw milk in the first regenerator (3).
The plant is sterilized by pressurized water at 139°C. Circulation cleaning is used,
with the help spray heads in the vacuum chamber (8 and 14). No hand cleaning is
necessary.
4. The Sordi Sterilizer"

The Sordi indirect sterilizer is made by M. Sordi of Lodi, Italy. Like the Ahlborn
MILK IN
FIGURE 16. Simplified diagram of the Sordi process. (Adapted from Burton, H., Am.
Dairy Rev., 12, 28, 1967.)
system, the Sordi sterilizer uses plate-type heat exchangers, but has only one deaeration
stage sterilization. A simplified flow diagram is shown in Figure 16.
Milk is pumped from the storage tank (1) to two regenerative pre-heaters where a
temperature of 75°C is obtained. The milk is then homogenized (4) and sometimes
clarified (centrifugally) to decrease deposit formations at higher temperatures in the
later stages of the process.
The heating of milk to 108°C is accomplished in a third regenerator stage (5). The
milk is kept at this temperature for 33 sec in a holding tube (6). This hold also reduces
deposit formation later in the process. A final heating section (7) raises the temperature
of the milk to 135°C. The heating medium is hot water at 139°G. The water is heated
by steam in a heat exchanger under 90 psi of pressure to prevent boiling. A pneumati-
cally operated diversion valve (9) diverts the milk through a cooling section back to a
returned milk tank if sterilization temperatures are not maintained.
Following sterilization, two stages of regeneration cooling (5) and (3) lower the milk
temperature to 70°C. The milk is the deaerated (11) in a vacuum deaerator at a pressure
of 4 psi absolute. An aseptic pump pumps the milk through a final regenerator stage
(2) and a water cooling stage (13) to give a filling temperature of 18°C. The combined
regeneration effect in the process is said to be approximately 75%.
Plant cleaning is by a series of water rinses, alkaline, and acid washes. Plant sterili-
zation is by hot water at the processing temperature of 135°C.
5. Spiratherm"
The Spiratherm indirect heating method is offered by Cherry Burrell and uses a
tubular heat exchanger (spiratherm), which has a series of spiral tubes in clyindrical
heating chambers. The absence of gaskets enables the unit to operate under higher
pressure. Spiratherms are used for heating above 70°C and for cooling the product.
The heating medium can be either hot water, cold water, or steam. If water is used,
the Spiratherm cylinder is fitted with baffles to direct water flow and to increase the
heat transfer rates. If the heating medium is steam, flow velocities of 18 to 22 ft/sec
are required to give adequate heat transfer and reduce deposit formation. Where lower
heat transfer rates can suffice (lower temperature heating sections) flow velocities of 8
TUBULAR
COOLERS
SPIRAL
TUBE STRAINER
HEATER HOLDER
TUBULAR OR
PLATE HEATER
i—, DEAERATOR
TO FILLER
CENTRIFUGAL POSITIVE HIGH-PRESSURE ASEPTIC

PUMP PUMP PUMP HOMOGENISING
VALVE
FIGURE 17. Simplified flow diagram of the Spiratherm process. (Adapted from Burton, H., Am. Dairy
Rev., 11,30, 1967.)
to 12 ft/sec are adequate. Product tubes within the Spiratherm will withstand 150 psi.
Figure 17 is a flow diagram of a typical Spiratherm system.
Milk is pumped through a plate or tubular preheater (1) raising its temperature to
70°C. A high pressure pump (2) provides the pressure to force the milk through the
tubular heating section and later to homogenize the milk. Tubular heaters (3) using
steam as the heating medium, raise the temperature of the product rapidly to 138 to
150°C. The product is held for up to 8 sec. The milk passes to tubular coolers (4)
where the temperature is lowered to 50°C. If homogenizing is required, an aseptic
homogenizer head (5) is placed in the cooling line where the temperature is 70°C.
The product pressure is maintained higher than the pressure of the heat transfer
medium in the spiral cooler by a restriction at the sterilizer outlet to produce back
pressure. An aseptic strainer is fitted immediately before the filler to remove any
burned-on particles.
Often a deaerator (6) is fitted after the preheater and before the high pressure pump.
This system helps remove off-odors which are removed by flash cooling in direct sys-
tems. Deaeration usually allows a longer process run by reducing the amount of deposit
formation during the high temperature stages.
In some of the larger processing systems regeneration is incorporated up to a maxi-
mum of about 50%. In smaller systems regeneration is uneconomical as the first costs
outweight the returns.
III. ENERGY REQUIREMENTS AND ECONOMICS IN DIRECT AND

INDIRECT PROCESSING SYSTEMS
In a typical direct heating system there would be no change in the circuit if the
injection head was replaced with an infusion head. The circuit contains three milk
pumps and the high pressure pump of the homogenizer. Often a fourth pump is re-
quired to deal with vapors from the expansion chamber. This might represent 110 kW
for the pumps and homogenizer at a capacity of 8000 i/hr. Consequently, the direct
system requires more power and pumps in order to operate, resulting in higher capital
costs.
An indirect plate-type UHT system requires a single centrifugal pump and a homog-
enizer with an installed capacity of 90 kW. A tubular indirect system requires only a
single high pressure pump to provide both homogenizing pressure and pressure drop
through the heat exchanger.
Economic utilization of heat in the direct system is poor. Because of expansion cool-
February 1981 169
ing of the milk to 85°C, regenerative heating is not possible beyond about 80°C. If
the incoming milk temperature is 5°C with a final processing temperature of 145°C,
the maximum amount of regeneration possible is 50%. Regeneration can be increased
by raising the temperature at which direct heating is applied to more than 85 °C. How-
ever, the benefits of rapid heating in the absence of heat exchangers are progressively
lost. With indirect systems regeneration levels of greater than 80% can be obtained.
Another loss in thermal efficiency for the direct system lies in the high quality of
steam required to mix with the milk. A separate boiler would be needed for the steri-
lizer alone; such a small unit might incur energy costs higher than the costs of using
steam from a main boiler.
One disadvantage of the indirect systems is that deposits accumulate on their heat
exchangers which interfere with heat transfer. This means the heating medium temper-
ature must rise during a process run in order to maintain sterility. Deposit also restricts
milk flow through the heat exchanger which requires higher pump pressures for flow
maintenance. With plate exchangers, there is a limit to the permissible pressure increase
which is set by the bursting strength of the gaskets. Plate exchangers will operate be-
tween 1 and 6 hr depending on operating conditions and type of product.
The need for regular cleaning reduces the efficiency of indirect plants, especially
plate-type plants. Deposit formation occurs in direct plants, but to a much smaller
extent. Deposit usually forms at the restriction valve between the expansion chamber
and holding tube. However, the deposit build-up is so slow that runs of 20 hr are quite
common. The specific energy consumption per unit of milk produced is lower for the
direct than for the indirect process.
With the direct system, extra water is required for vapor condensation and the exten-
sive water cooling. A water demand is estimated to be 2.0 kg per kg of milk.
The major difference in the total operating costs between the direct and indirect
systems is due to the steam requirements. As fuel costs continue to rise, the extra
energy requirements for the direct systems will increase in importance in a cost analy-
sis. A comprehensive economic analysis for different plant models is discussed by
Neitzke."
Accurate data on capital costs are difficult to obtain since almost all systems are
custom designed for a particular application. In general the capital and operating costs
of the direct system are higher than those of the indirect heating system.17
Representative prices for a direct heating UHT system range from $36,000 to
$43,000 (1977) for 1000 l/hr capacity. This small output is more suitable for cream
sterilization than for milk processing. Assuming straight line depreciation for 12 years
and no salvage value, the capital cost for equipment will add about 0.11£ to the cost
of a litre of milk. Higher capacity systems of 8000 l/hr cost between $150,000 and
$200,000.
The indirect systems are about 80% of the price of comparable direct systems or
about $160,000 for an 8000 i/hr plant. The longer run times that are possible with
the direct systems could significantly decrease the capital costs per unit of milk, how-
ever, a 12 to 14 hr run time may not be compatible with the other dairy operations.
In summary, the total sterilizing costs are about 0.54(f per liter using a direct system
and 0.34^ per liter using an indirect system. The steam and, hence, five requirements
are about twice as high for the direct system. In a full automated plant, the labor
associated with the sterilization process would likely be less than 0.05£ per liter.
Hedrick" analyzed the VTIS direct heating UHT system and determined the total
sterilizing cost to be about 0.52^ per liter while aseptic packaging costs were 2.05^ per
liter. Not including the raw milk or delivery costs, the sterilization accounted for about
21% of the total milk costs; or when all costs were included, the sterilization costs
were only 4% of the total costs.
x 1.8
11!
m x 1.6
•:•:•:•:•:•:•
•
n
IB
x 1.4
111 111 || x 1.2
DATUM
x x*s
PI mm
ill Pi •I*X*>X (Ult PM)
111 ills •:-:X:X:'

>*«X*X'
vX*X*!
Ultra PM Ultra PA Ultra TM Ultra TA UP.
FIGURE 18. Relative capital costs. (Adapted from APV

UHT Systems: Comparative Advantages and Costs. APV

Company Ltd., Crawley, West Sussex.)
Figure 18 shows a comparison of relative capital costs for indirect heating systems
(Ultramatics) or direct steam injection (Uperisers). The Ultramatic systems incorporate
indirect heating by plate heat exchangers. They are available with low regeneration for
highest product quality and low capital cost or with high regeneration with lower op-
erating costs. The Ultramatic PM is a fully aseptic plant with push button sequencing
of plant operating stages, but with some manual valve operations and CIP selection.
The PA system has fully automatic UHT sequencing and programmed CIP.
In the Ultramatic Tubular, the steam heated UHT plate section is replaced by a shell
and tube heat exchanger. Plants are designed either Ultramatic TM or Ultramatic TA
according to level of automatic control provided, which is exactly the same as that in
the PM and PA versions described above.
IV. COMPARISON WITH THE HTST PROCESS
Generally, aseptic processing equipment costs about four times the comparable
HTST equipment. An HTST system capable of processing 8000 i/hr costs about
$40,000. Assuming a straight line depreciation for 12 years and no salvage value, the
equipment would account for about 0.02^ per liter of milk. The operating costs for
pasteurization are about 0.18j£ per liter giving a total pasteurizing cost of 0.20(^ per
liter. The steam requirements account for about 33% of the total. Assuming a whole-
sale milk price of 50yi per liter, the pasteurization contributes only 0.4% to the total
milk costs. If the raw milk costs are not included, then this value would be between 1
and 2% of the total milk processing and distribution costs. The cost of pasteurization
is about 37% of direct sterilization costs and 59% of indirect sterilization costs.
A comprehensive economic comparison between UHT and HTST processes was
published in 1965 by the Food and Agriculture Organization as part of a general report
on milk sterilization." The study examined four different sterilization processes: three
in-bottle systems and steam injection (Uperiser) with aseptic filling. The in-bottle proc-
esses included stationary autoclaves, rotary autoclaves and hydrostatic sterilizers. Even
though the in-bottle sterilization proved to be more economical, this discussion is con-
fined to the UHT and HTST systems. The in-bottle processes are not considered to be
UHT processes.
The Uperisation plant had a maximum output of 5400 I/hr, but could operate at
lower rates. It was combined with two TetraPak machines with a combined output of
February 1981 171
7200 Vz-l containers per hour. The cost was based on 3600 l/hr with daily working
times of 3 hr, 20 min, and 5 hr. The daily output was 12,000 and 18,000 1 (27,600 and
41,4001b).
The annual machinery and equipment costs were 32,890 DM ($8,854) in 1965, cor-
responding to 5,400,000 I or 12,420,000 lb of milk. This computes to a cost of 0.0713j^
/lb of milk. Electrical consumption was 75.0 kWh to produce 41,400 lb daily, or 0.0018
kWh/lb. Water requirements were 5 m3 (10,946 lb) or 0.26 lb/lb of milk. Steam usage
was 300 kg per day or 0.016 lb steam per pound of milk.
The combined capital costs and operating utility costs were 0.0833cf/Ib of milk. The
total production cost was 88.2 DM ($23.74)/500 I or 2.1^/lb. The Uperisation cost
was therefore about 4% of production costs and only 3% of the total expenses. Aseptic
packaging accounted for 63% of the total costs and 75% of the production costs.
Pasteurization (HTST) cost 2.00 DM ($0,538) for 500 1 or about 0.0468jf/lb of milk.
This is 56% of the Uperisation cost. At the production rate of 18,000 I/day,
the cost of pasteurization is about 5% of total production costs and 3% of total milk
costs. The total costs for pasteurized milk were 58% of the costs for sterile milk by
Uperisation. However, the sterilization process itself only increased the milk price by
about 2%. The major expense is aseptic filling and packaging. This is evidenced by
the large number of UHT plants in operation without employing aseptic filling or
packaging.
Another comparison for prices of UHT vs. pasteurized milk was presented from
Alster Milch in Hamburg, Germany." Alster Milch operates two separate processing
plants; one for UHT milk and the other for pasteurized milk. Each of the two plants
processes approximately 250,000 I/day. The average distribution cost of UHT milk is
1.5 to 2.0 pfg/l compared to 4.5 pfg/i for pasteurized milk. The saving in distributing
UHT milk is, however, offset by the greater UHT milk processing costs. According
to Alster Milch, it costs 8 pfg/l more to process and package UHT milk than it does
pasteurized milk. The result is that the total cost of distributing and processing UHT
milk is 5 pfg/l higher than for pasteurized milk.
In summary, pasteurization costs account for between 1 and 2°7o of total processing
and distribution costs, whereas the sterilization process contributes about 4% to the
price of sterile milk. Generally pasteurized milk can be produced for about 60% of
the cost of sterile milk. However, it is the aseptic packaging that is responsible for the
high cost of sterile milk, not the sterilization itself.
V. MARKETING
The first commercial introduction of UHT milk with the TetraPak process was in
Switzerland in 1961. UHT milk now accounts for about one third of the total European
milk market." Further, the per capita milk consumption is rising with the increase of
UHT sales. However, is the North American public ready for UHT milk?
Several economic and marketing subjects constantly appear when UHT milk is dis-
cussed:
1. Cost of packaging. Ambient temperature storage requires a package which is

more expensive than present packaging. Materials such as aluminum foil or po-
lyvinylidene chloride which act as good moisture and oxygen barriers are also
very expensive.
2. Energy savings. Refrigeration is expensive and will continue to rise in price due
to increased energy costs. The savings could reach all branches of the UHT op-
eration, one of which might be in the home where less refrigerator space is re-
quired to store the product. Dairy product distributors would save on reduced
warehousing costs, trucking, and in-store displays. However, distribution costs

for the remaining refrigerated dairy products will increase once UHT milk is
handled unrefrigerated.
3. Market acceptance. Will the North American housewife accept UHT milk as eas-
ily as her European counterpart? American-sized refrigerators are only now be-
coming available to the average European family who are accustomed to smaller
refrigerator units. Another aspect is the higher percentage of total milk in Europe
that goes into cooking and desserts. Slight flavors in the UHT milk are not as
noticeable. The American housewife is being asked to accept a new package, a
new flavor, and a change in a long-established buying and usage pattern, without
major benefits for her.
The first commercial UHT milk plant in North America was started in 1969 by
Nelson's Dairy in Toronto. The milk was packaged in TetraPak and was available in
many areas of the province of Ontario through supermarket chains. The "Sterile
Milk" or "Long Life Milk" was processed using a Sordi Sterilizer. However, the prod-
uct was a commercial failure mainly due to government regulations which demanded
that milk only be sold in the market area where it is processed, or in other areas if the
processor controls market outlets in the other areas.
In Canada there are five production facilities capable of producing and packaging
UHT dairy products. These are (1) Nelson's in Toronto; (2) Burn's Foods, Palm Dair-
ies Division, in Edmonton (went on-stream in 1979); (3) Epellett's Dairies in Toronto
(scheduled to reach the market in March 1980);31 (4) Fraser Valley Milk Producers,
Vancouver (March 1980); and (5) Laiterie Cite in Quebec City (started production in
1975).
The UHT operation that has been most successful in Canada has been that of Lai-
terie Cite. The 2% butterfat product Grande Pre captured 2O"Vo of the fluid-milk mar-
ket in the area it served during the first two years.21 The product costs 5£ more per
liter than its pasteurized counterpart. This would suggest that consumers feel there is
extra value in the unrefrigerated keeping properties, taste, and convenience of Grande
Pre.
VI. MATERIAL AND HEAT BALANCES FOR FLUID-MILK

PROCESSING, STORAGE, AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
As shown in previous sections of this review, little information is available on energy

requirements and economics for the two basic routes: milk pasteurization and sterili-
zation. A detailed analysis of all steps of the operations by calculating mass and heat
flows shows a quantitative basis for comparison. With this objective the material and
energy balances and the conclusions based on them are presented in this section of the
review.
For this analysis, fluid-milk processing, storage, and distribution systems are broken
down into the following steps:
1. The process
2. Fluid storage and transportation
3. Intermediate retail store storage
4. Dairy case display
As shown in Figure 19, the net difference in energy requirements can be determined
from the heat and material balances for pasteurization and 40°F (4.4°C) storage vs.
February 1981 173
PROCESS WAREHOUSE
RAW MILK- PASTEURIZATION AT 4 0 ° F VS. DAIRY
VS. U H T AMBIENT < 8 0 ° F
TRUCKS
AT 4 0 ° F VS. TRANSPORT
AMBIENT
INTERMEDIATE STORAGE DAIRY CASE RETAIL

AT 4 0 " F V S . AT 4 0 ° F VS. CUSTOMER
AMBIENT STORE
AMBIENT
FIGURE 19. Schematic flow plan of fluid milk processing, storage, and distribution system.
UHT processing and ambient temperature storage below 80°F (26.7 °C). Figure 20
shows a typical ambient temperature profile22 to which the warehouse and trucks in
the sample system are subjected. For this profile, ambient temperature storage below
80°F for UHT milk would result in a significant reduction in refrigeration load. How-
ever, UHT processes generally have greater heating and cooling loads than pasteuri-
zation processes because of the higher temperatures and rapid heating and cooling
requirements.
The sections that follow present the calculation methods and a sample system for
which net energy demand differences were calculated. For this sample system, the re-
frigeration load savings, although considerable, fall far short of compensating for the
increased processing loads, due largely to the lower heat recovery efficiency for the
UHT process studied compared to the pasteurized (55.1 and 81.5%, respectively).
A. Calculation Methods
The following subsections describe the equations and analyses used to determine the
cooling loads required for pasteurized and UHT milk in the stages of processing, ware-
house storage, truck storage and transport, and retail storage. The nomenclature used
in the equations is defined below.* The calculations were performed on the basis of
Nomenclature: A, area across which heat is transferred, ft2; C», heat capacity, BTU/lb°F; D, equivalent
diameter of a rectangular prism, ft; G, gas mass flow rate, Ib/hr; H, enthalpy, BTU/day; K, thermal
conductivity, BTU/hr ft2 (°F/ft) or BTU/hr ft1 (°F/in); L, vertical length of convective film ft; O, heat
transferred, BTU/hr; T, temperature, °F; U, overall heat transfer coefficient, BTU/hr ft2 °F; d, gas
density, lb/ft J ; h, convective heat transfer coefficient, BTU/hr ft2 CF; m, liquid mass flow rate, Ib/day;
q, local or component heat transfer, BTU/hr; x, thickness of a layer, ft or in (as requred by K); A,
difference between two values at different conditions or locations; \t, viscosity, lb/ft hr. Subscripts: a,
air; i, internal; n, number of layer, from inside outwards; o, external; s, of surface, due to solar radiation;
1,2, etc., value at specific conditions or locations 1,2, etc.
MEAN MAX.
DAY MEAN
MEAN MIN.
EXTREMES ( I / 3 0 Y R )
+ 10
F M A M J J A S 0 N 0 J
MONTH
FIGURE 20. Normal mean monthly temperatures. (From Temperature and Precipi-
tation Normals 1941 — 1970, Atmospheric Environmental Service, Department of the
Environment, Ottawa, 1971.)
40°F (4.4°C) storage for pasteurized milk and ambient temperature storage below 80°F
(26.7°C) for UHT milk. Farral" and Harper" give background information on heat
transfer.
1. Process
Process calculations were based on the sensible heat absorbed by or removed from
the whole milk product. The equation used to determine change in enthalpy is
AH = mC p (T 2 - T , ) (1)
The datum at which the product has zero enthalpy was taken as 40°F (4.4°C). In
order to separate direct heating, heat recovery, and direct cooling, the pasteurizer and
the UHT processes were evaluated stepwise at six points as shown in Figures 21 and
22.
2. Stationary Storage Subject to Ambient Temperatures

The warehouse and the stationary trucks are subject to the annual variations in am-
bient temperatures shown in Figure 20. Heat transfer through the structures of these
hollow rectangular prisms is defined as:
Q = UA(T O -T;) (2)
This relates area A and overall temperature difference, (To-T,) to heat transferred Q
via an overall heat transfer coefficient U. However, the overall heat transfer coefficient
must be evaluated on the basis of internal convection, construction, and external con-
vection:
February 1981 175
COOLING REGENERATION PASTEURIZATION

SECTION SECTION SECTION
RAW MILK 4 0 ° F
COOLING WATER O U T - * - * HOT WATER OUT
COOLING WATER IN HOT WATER IN

PASTEURIZED MILK
40°F
HOMOGENIZER
FIGURE 21. Schematic diagram of the dairy pasteurizer considered for material and heat balances.
RAW MILK
CONDENSATE
STEAM
COOLING WATER OUT-*
STERILE MILK
COOLING WATER IN •*
FIGU RE 22. Simplified flow plan of the UHT process under consideration.
x
1 1 n 1
(3)
_ =_ + +
U. hj K,, ho
internal construction external
convective convective
film film
For a wall (Figure 23), if the external temperature T. is higher than the internal
temperature T,, heat is transported by convection across the external film, by conduc-
tion through the successive layers of construction materials and again by convection
across the interior film. Construction materials include structural (e.g., concrete
INTERIOR LAYERS OF EXTERIOR
,
CONVECTIVE CONSTRUCTION CONVECTIVE
FILM MATERIALS FILM
JL
n. 1 2
2
K2
3
3
3
. . . .
K
-*X * - -*X » >*X *- • • • •

. . . . N
K
N
•j- /
OUTSIDE
BULK
I
INSIDE AIR
BULK T2
AIR • TEMF ERATl RE
< I T|
PROF LE
T|—«
DIRECTION OF HEAT TRANSFER
FIGURE 23. Heat transfer through a wall.
blocks), insulation (e.g., cork), and finishing (e.g., plastic) components. Conductive
transfer is readily determined on the basis of thermal conductivity K and dimensions
x and A:
(4)
_T n )
For materials in series the heat transfer through each layer is equal:
This yields the equation for an entire wall of uniform cross-sectional area (A = A, =
A2 = . . . = A,):
(6)
2—
Kn
Generally, the thermal conductivity of construction and finishing materials is higher

than that for insulation. Convective heat transfer coefficients h, and ho are more diffi-
cult to evaluate because they depend on the surface temperatures of the wall T, and
T,,,, which are generally unknown.
February 1981 177
For a vertical laminar convective film of air h, and ho may be calculated from the
following equations:
/T -T
hQ 029^P 'w
Since the surface temperatures Ti and Tr+, are unknown, it is necessary to iterate to
find h, and ho. Then U may be calculated from Equation 3, and Q from Equation 2.
For a roof, the rationale and equations are similar with two exceptions. First, the
equation for h, is
hj = 0.20 ( T i - T , ) ' 4
(9)
Secondly, roof surface temperatures increase as a result of solar radiation, which

has negligible effect on the walls because they are shaded by roof overhang and orien-
tation. Faber and Kell" give values for the actual measured temperature increase T,
for various roofing materials and times. For this study, the following values, based
on different emissivities were used:
1. Warehouse roof: T, = 20.0°F

2. Truck roof: T2 = 15.0°F
This was considered adequate because measured values of T, take into account the
radiant and convective heat transfer from the hotter roof to the cooler air above.
For a floor, the method and equations are identical to those for a wall except that
the equations for h, and h. are
hj = 0.38 (T, - T,)% (10)
ho = 0 . 3 8 ( T n + 1 - T o ) ^ (11)
Computer programs were used to perform the above calculations at the normal mean
daily temperatures, monthly and annually, shown in Figure 21, for the warehouse and
stationary trucks.
For UHT milk, refrigeration would only be required for ambient temperatures above
80°F. This refrigeration load was estimated using the methods described above by
estimating the hours of operation at an ambient temperature of 85°F over the warmest
months. In terms of equivalent "days" of 24 hr the distribution was: 1 day in June, 9
days in July, 8 days in August, and 2 days in September. The refrigeration load for
85°F ambient temperature was calculated by the difference in cooling load for the
warehouse at 80 and 85°F. The net savings in cooling duty were calculated by differ-
ence between the 40°F warehouse cooling load and the UHT refrigeration load.
3. Moving Trucks
It was assumed that the trucks would be subject to the monthly mean maximum
temperature for most of their moving time. This assumption would help to offset ad-
ditional heat pick-up when truck doors are open for which no data was available. The
calculation method used for conductive, internal convective and overall heat transfer
coefficients, and cooling load is identical to that described in Section VI.A.2. At 15

mi/hr in the city, the air flow around the truck is highly turbulent (Reynold's Number
of 1. 2 x 106). Reducing the Colburn- and Nusselt-type equations to simplest terms
gives the following equation for the external convective heat transfer coefficient:
0.023 G °-"C _ , " 3 K ' ' 3
The mass flowrate G. is a function of the air density d«. Since air properties Cpa,
d,,, and \i. are all functions of temperature, ho was calculated at each temperature. The
computer programs were used to calculate the cooling duties required to maintain 40°F
(4.4°C) for pasteurized milk and 80°F (26.7°C) or less for UHT milk.
4. Retail Store Refrigeration

Since retail stores are generally climate controlled year round, using a store ambient
temperature of 75°F (24°C) allows the retail store intermediate storage to be calculated
by analogy to the heat absorbed by the dairy warehouse from the packaging room.
This analogy approach to the problem of retail intermediate storage cooling load is
the only one possible because the retail stores vary in size, construction, age, and op-
eration, which would affect the heat transfer area per pound of milk stored, the values
of the heat transfer coefficients, the condition of the construction materials, and the
other sources of heat input ( e.g., door opening or efficiency of space utilization),
respectively.
The retail stores and refrigeration contractors contacted did not provide data on the
cooling load necessary for 40°F storage of pasteurized milk in a dairy case. A study
by Corpus Research26 calculated the nonlabor operating costs of dairy case storage of
pasteurized milk ranging from 0.18 to 0.36jzf/! of milk, with 0.2/6/1 being the average
for Canada.
B. Sample System
This example considered heat and material balance differences between a conven-
tional plate heat exchanger pasteurizer and a direct steam sterilization/flash cooling
UHT process, as well as savings in cooling duty that would result if current 40°F
(4.4CC) storage were changed to ambient storage below 80°F (26.7°C) in the ware-
housing, transportation, and retail areas. Additional heating to prevent freezing when
ambient temperatures fall below 32°F (0°C) would be identical in both cases and there-
fore was not calculated separately. Calculations were based on a throughput of 200,000
lb of whole milk per day through the processing, storage, and distribution system
shown in Figure 19.
For all calculations 40°F was taken as datum. Cooling load was defined as the heat
that must be removed by the refrigeration system to maintain the specified storage
temperature. Ambient temperatures used in this study were the mean monthly normals
as published by the Atmospheric Environment Service of Canada22 as shown in Figure
20. To keep the comparison between the two systems consistent, the storage times used
for the calculation were those currently applied to pasteurized milk: namely, 5 days in
the warehouse, 1 day in the trucks, 3 days in the intermediate storage of the retailer,
and 1 day in the dairy case.
1. Pasteurizer
The conventional plate heat exchanger pasteurizer, shown in Figure 21, consists of
three sections: the cooling, the refrigeration, and the pasteurization sections. Raw milk
February 1981 179
(1) enters the regeneration section at 40°F (4.4°C) and is preheated by a counter-cur-
rent flow and hot homogenized pasteurized milk. The preheated raw milk (2) leaves
the regeneration section at 150°F (66°C) and passes into the pasteurization section
where it is heated to 175°F (80° C) by counter-current heat exchange with hot water.
A temperature difference of 25°F (14°C) between the hot water and milk is maintained
to prevent fouling or overcooking. The pasteurized milk (3) moves from the pasteuri-
zation section to the homogenizer. The homogenized pasteurized milk (4) at 170°F
(77°C) is cooled to 60°F (16°C) by preheating the raw milk in the regeneration section.
Final cooling of the pasteurized milk (5) from 60°F (16°C) to 40°F (4.4°C) is achieved
in the cooling section by counter-current heat exchange with cooling water. The heat
and material balance for the process does not include packaging, which is part of the
warehouse storage calculation. Since only sensible heat is of interest in this study,
further mechanical specifications for the pasteurizer are not relevant. As stated earlier,
the throughput is 200,000 lb/day.
2. UHT Process
The direct steam sterilization/flash cooling UHT process under consideration is
shown in Figure 22. The raw milk (1) enters at 40°F (4.4°C) and is preheated by flash
cooler overheads to 176°F (80°C). The preheated raw milk (2) then enters the sterilizer
where it is mixed directly and sterilized with live steam. The sterile milk, steam, and
steam condensate stream (3) at 288°F (142°C) is flash cooled to 182°F (83.5°C) to
remove steam and steam condensate which would otherwise dilute the milk product.
The sterile milk (4) is pumped to the homogenizer. The homogenized sterile milk (5)
is cooled from 177°F (81 °C) to 68°F (20°C) by heat exchange with cooling water. The
cool sterile milk (6) then proceeds to aseptic filling.
3. Warehouse
The warehouse is constructed of 6-in. concrete blocks with 4-in. brick veneer having
dimensions of 60 ft x 200 ft * 15 ft high. One 60 ft x 200 ft wall is common to the
packaging room, while the other three walls are exterior walls. The roof is flat with a
felt, asphalt, and gravel finish. The ceiling and walls are insulated with 4-in. thick
cork. The walls have a 1-inch thick plaster finish on the cork. The storage time in the
warehouse is 5 days. The packaging room temperature is maintained at 75°F (24°C)
year round. The auxiliary warehouse cooling load due to packaging and storage mate-
rials, personnel, and air infiltration during 40°F (4.4°C) storage is equal to the mean
July load because the refrigeration plant runs at one half capacity during the winter
when ambient temperatures are below 40°F (4.4°C).
Based on tempeature data,22 the cooling required to keep UHT milk below 80°F
(26.7°C) was estimated by distributing 20 (24 hr) days of operation at 85°F (30°C) as
follows: 1 day in June, 9 days in July, 8 days in August, and 2 days in September.
4. Trucks
The city trucks are 20 ft x 5 ft x 7.5 ft high. The walls and roof are constructed of
1/2-in. plywood with a 1/8-in. fiberglass exterior finish, insulated with 3 in. of 2.2-
lb/ft3 density foamed-in-place polyurethane foam insulation and finished inside with
26-guage galvanized steel plate. The floor is constructed of 3/4-in. well as heated in
the winter, the ambient temperature in the store was taken as 75°F (24°C) all year.
Thus, retail stores would require no refrigeration for UHT milk.
C. Results for the Sample System

The calculations produced the following results for the components discussed above.
Table 1
PROCESS HEAT AND MATERIAL BALANCE
Stream Number
Property 1 2 3 4 5 6
Pasteurizer Rate (thousand Ib/day) 200 200 200 200 200 200
Temperature (°F) 40 150 175 170 60 40
Enthalpy 0.0 20.46 25.11 24.18 3.72 0.0
(million BTU/day)
UHT Rate (thousand lb/day) 200 200 200 200 200 200
Temperature (°C) 4 80 142 83.5 80.7 20
(°F) 39 176 288 182 177 68
Enthalpy 0.0 25.44 46.20 26.61 25.68 5.35
(million BTU/day)
Difference Enthalpy 0.0 4.98 21.09 2.43 21.96 5.35
(UHT-Pasteurizer) (million BTU/day)
/. Process
Table 1 presents the heat and material balance results for the pasteurizer and the
UHT process. The streams are identified by the same numbers as in Figures 21 and
22. For both processes the enthalpy of stream (2) represents heat recovered from the
process and that of stream (3) represents the total heat input. The enthalpy difference
between streams (5) and (6) represents the additional water cooling required, whereas
that between streams (3) and (6) represents the total cooling load. In the pasteurizer,
20.46 million BTU/day, or 81.5% of the total heat input, is recovered from heat ex-
change with the hot homogenized pasteurized milk. In the UHT process, 25.44 million
BTU/day, or 55.1% of the total heat input, is recovered by heat exchange with flash
cooler overhead. The pasteurizer requires only 4.65 million BTU/day in additional
heating, while the UHT process requires 20.76 million BTU/day (almost 4.5 times as
much). Final cooling shows the same trend: 3.75 million BTU/day for the pasteurizer
and 20.33 million BTU/day for the UHT process. Since the UHT milk is packaged at
a higher temperature (68°F) than pasteurized milk (40°F), the UHT milk leaving the
UHT process has marine plywood surfaced with a 1/8-in. steel deck. Each truck carries
15,000 lb of milk, making eight deliveries between 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. daily. Milk
is loaded onto the trucks when they return in the afternoon and stored in them over-
night. There are 14 trucks in service at any one time.
The trucks are stationary, on the lot, in traffic, or while delivering 20.7 hr/day. This
was based on an average total trip length of 50 mi/day at an average speed of 15 mi/
hr. The 50-mi trip length was estimated by multiplying the maximum radial distance
from the dairy to the outskirts of London, Ontario (6.14 mi,) by 23, which allows a
factor of 2 for each of the grid nature of the streets, the return trip, and the "out of
the way" deliveries. Thus, the trucks are moving 3.3 hr/day.
5. Retail Store Storage

For a throughput of 200,000 lb of milk per day and 1875 lb per delivery, 107 stores
are served daily. By analogy to the dairy warehouse which stores one million pounds
of milk in 180,000 ft3 of space, each store would need 337.5 ft3 of space. Assuming
dimensions of 5 ft x 7.5 ft * 9 ft, the heat transfer area involved would be 262.2 fta.
Retail stores vary in size; therefore, for this study an "average" store has been de-
fined as one that takes one delivery of 1875 lb of whole milk every four days. This
gives a conservative estimate of cooling load to maintain 40°F storage of milk in each
store. Since almost all retail stores are air conditioned in the summer, an additional
5.35 million BTU/day in sensible heat is required. Based on 5 days/week operation,
February 1981 181
2.0
I/DAY
1.8
m 1.6
o
LOAD ( MILL
1.4
1.2
1.0
MEAN DAIU< COOLII
4 0 ° F STORAGE
OF PASTEURIZED MILK
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 AMBIENT STORAGE

OF U H T MILK BELOW 80°F
"•—•-_• • ^ A
• • • •
D J F M A M J J A S O N D J
MONTH
FIGURE 24. Mean daily warehouse cooling load per month.
the UHT process would require 4204 million BTU/year more heating and 4335 million
BTU/year more cooling than the pasteurizer.
2. Warehouse
Figure 24 shows how the warehouse mean daily cooling loads vary through the year.
The mean warehouse cooling load for 40°F-storage of pasteurized milk peaks in July
at 1.9 million BTU/day, and drops to 0.98 million BTU/day in January. For ambient
storage of UHT milk the warehouse requires no cooling during January to May and
again during October to December; its maximum cooling load of less than 50,000
BTU/day occurs in July. Averaging the mean daily cooling loads for each month yields
annual means of 1.45 million BTU/day or 529 million BTU/year for 40°F (4.4°C)
storage of pasteurized milk, and 5,500 BTU/day or 2.0 million BTU/year for ambient
temperature storage of UHT milk below 80°F (26.7°C). This is a savings of 527 million
BTU/year with UHT milk processing.
3. Trucks
The annual variation in mean daily cooling load for 14 trucks is shown in Figure
25. The negative values indicate the supplementary heating necessary to prevent prod-
uct freezing. For pasteurized milk at 40°F (4.4°C) the maximum cooling load of 0.55
million BTU/day occurs in July. For the UHT milk cooled only when ambient temper-
atures exceed 80°F (26.7°C) the maximum cooling load is 42,000 BTU/day in July.
Neglecting negative values, these numbers yield average annual loads of 0.210 million
BTU/day for pasteurized milk and 5540 BTU/day for UHT milk. If the trucks operate
4 0 ° F STORAGE
4 0 ° F STORAGE, DISCOUNTING WINTER
HEATING DUTIES
AMBIENT STORAGE < 8 0 ° F,
DISCOUNTING WINT. HEATING DUTIES
-300
M A M J J 0 N D J
MONTH
FIGURE 25. Mean daily truck cooling load per month.
5 days/week, this corresponds to 54.8 million BTU/year for pasteurized milk and 1.45
million BTU/year for UHT milk processing.
4. Retail Store
Intermediate retail store refrigeration takes a cooling load of 8500 BTU/day per
store or a total of 0.909 million BTU/day. This is equivalent to 332 million BTU/year.
At 0.24e7qt dairy case operating costs" for 200,000 lb of milk per day, 5 days/week,
total operating costs would be $186/day or $48,600/year.
5. Net Loads
The calculated mean heating and cooling duties were compared on the basis of an-
nual computations to allow for different operations of various parts: 5 days/week for
the process and trucks; 7 days/week for the warehouse and retail stores. Table 2 pre-
sents the mean annual duties for pasteurized and UHT milk, as well as the difference
between them. Of necessity, the retail dairy case is compared on a cost basis. The
BTU/lb and / / l b figures may be used to relate these values to different production
rates using the same facilities. The net storage cooling duty savings to be captured by
the warehouse, trucking, and retail store operations is 912 million BTU/year or 17.5
BTU/lb for UHT milk compared with pasteurized milk. This is less than 25% of the
additional cooling required for the process considered. The direct steam sterilization/
flash cooling UHT system used in this study would require 4204 million BTU/year
(80.5 BTU/lb milk) more heating and 3423 million BTU/year (65.6 BTU/lb milk) more
cooling than the pasteurized milk system for processing, transportation, and storage.
Retail dairy case storage saving would be about $48,600/year (0.093//lb).
D. Conclusions
The higher temperatures used in UHT processes would require more heat than a
February 1981 183
Table 2
ANNUAL DUTY SUMMARY
Annual duty Difference: U H T - Difference/annual
Operation (million BTU/yr) pasteurizer throughput
(days/yr) Pasteurizer UHT (million BTU/yr) (BTU/lb)
Process
Heating 261 1214 5418 4204 80.5
Cooling 261 971 5306 4335 83.0
Storage and Distribution
Warehouse 365 529 2.0 -527 -10.1
Trucks 261 54.8 1.45 -53.4 -1.02
Retail storage 365 332 0.0 -332 -6.36
Subtotal 915.8 3.45 -912.4 -17.5

Retail dairy case 365 -48,600/yr 0.0 —$48,600/yr -0.093^/lb
conventional pasteurizer. In this case, an additional steam requirement for 4204 mil-
lion BTU/year or 80.5 BTU/lb of milk would result. This additional heating generally
necessitates additional cooling loads. The UHT process used in this study employed
heat recovery from the flash cooler overhead. Additional heat recovery from flash
cooled milk (at 177°F) would be possible but could only be transferred by conventional
slow heat exchange equipment. The steam injection at 176°F is necessary for rapid
heating. Since the additional process cooling load that results, 4335 million BTU/year
(83 BTU/lb), is only partially offset by the storage and transportation refrigeration
savings of 912 million BTU/year (17.5 BTU/lb), the UHT process would impose a net
additional cooling duty of 3423 million BTU/year (65.5 BTU/lb). Therefore, the direct
steam sterilization/flash cooling UHT process would be more expensive than pasteur-
ization in terms of heating and cooling duties.
The calculations performed for this study show clearly that the UHT process has
the largest impact on the processing storage and distribution system heat and material
balance for fluid milk. Higher heating loads can be expected. Higher cooling loads
may be partially offset by refrigeration savings in downstream facilities, but this will
depend on the UHT process used. Other UHT processes may have better heat recovery
efficiency than the 55.1% for the process used in this study. Clearly, minimizing ad-
ditional heating and cooling requirements must be an important criterion in the choice
of a UHT process to replace a conventional pasteurizer.
VII. ASEPTIC PACKAGING
The development of the UHT milk-processing methods for sterilizing in a continu-

ous flow has brought about the need for aseptic packaging of the product. It is only
through the use of aseptic packaging that the benefits of UHT treatment can be fully
realized.
Aseptic packaging is, however, still a developing technology and many improve-
ments are required. It is the packaging process that is usually the major cause of con-
tamination of the product rather than the package. It is estimated that the milk con-
tributes 1/1000 of the total contamination whereas the surface of the packaging
contributes 1/1,000,000 of the total contamination." Thus the package is a thousand
times better than the product it contains.
Nevertheless, in aseptic packaging, even a single resistant spore is significant and
has to be taken care of. Thus, often a potential spoilage rate of one in a thousand
containers is taken as a guideline as opposed to an actual spoilage rate of the same
numbers. Usually, raw milk contains an average of one resistant spore per milliliter,
and sterilizing efficiencies of a UHT treatment are in the region of 7 to 8 log cycles.
This sets the potential spoilage of 1 in 10,000 to 100,000 liters — well below the ac-
cepted guideline.
Packaging, however, becomes crucial for the long shelf life of the UHT milk, and
also for the expense of producing and marketing the milk. It is estimated that about
30% of the cost difference between pasteurized and sterilized milk (UHT) is due to
the packaging and handling of the sterilized milk.
Thus, there are a set of strict requirements that aseptic packaging systems should
fulfill." " 3 0 The packaging materials should:
1. Be made of material unable to transmit light

2. Be impermeable to gases and vapors
3. Be resistant to the absorption of moisture
4. Not impart flavors or taints to the product

5. Not contain substances which are toxic or harmful to health
6. Be unaffected by any chemical and/or heat treatment which may be applied prep-
aratory to filling
7. Be capable of being hermetically sealed by suitable means or by closures con-
forming to the requirements already given
8. Not be susceptible to deteriorative changes when stored for prolonged periods
of time under the different climatic conditions likely to be encountered; they
should remain durable for a period of time compatible with the anticipated "life"
of the product
9. Conform to specifications
10. Be a minimun waste of usable material(s) during preparation and filling of the
containers
11. Be easily disposable, thereby constituting minimum possible ecological problems
12. Be containers, that are light in weight but sufficiently robust to withstand shock
or rough treatment likely to occur during handling and transportation
13. Be relatively inexpensive
14. Meet with general consumer acceptance
15. Be containers that can be marked or printed in such a manner that they conform
to legal requirements and be descriptive of product and the conditions which
should apply to storage, expected "life", etc.
All of the above requirements are of great importance and no general priority is
placed on any one. However, it may be that having all the requirements met, one of
them may have far reaching benefits; for example, public attraction to a light package
or an attractive carton design.
The packaging area or "clean" filling room should also receive a fair amount of
attention. Cutting corners in sterility maintenance could prove disastrous. A few notes
of caution are in order."
1. Floors, walls, and ceilings sealed with crevice-free resin coating are preferred to
the usual tiled construction.
2. Sewers should be outside the filling room.
3. Floors should be dry.
4. All air should be well-filtered and the room should be operated under a positive
pressure.
5. Packaging operations should be isolated from the interdepartmental traffic pat-
tern — only essential personnel should be in the filling room.
February 1981 185
6. Employees should wear clean uniforms and single-service hats.

7. Package storage should be protected from gross external contamination.
8. Light fixtures should be flush mounted to prevent dust and dirt contamination
or accumulation.
9. Wash basins should have germicidal soap and foot-operated fixtures.
10. No visitors should be allowed in the filling room. Observation windows or a
balcony should be installed instead.
Needless to say, the aseptic packaging unit has to fill a container under conditions
that do not allow recontamination of the product or the container. Modern aseptic
packaging systems rely more heavily on shrouded packaging units than on the plant
environment. Different packaging units have different methods of doing this, details
of which will follow later. A realistic definition of aseptic packaging used in industry
might be of interest.29 " . . . commercial aseptic packaging is the filling of a substan-
tially sterile product into a substantially sterile container, while maintaining a bacteri-
ological quality of the packaged product to be treated as a sterile commodity prior to
its delivery to the ultimate consumer."
Other important considerations in the use of a sterile filling and packaging unit are
the speed of packaging and the maintenance required for the machine. Also, in these
days of energy conservation, one would be foolhardy not to consider an overall energy
balance of the unit.
A. Packaging Materials
In general, there are four basic categories of aseptic packaging containers used (or
tried) for packaging sterile milk and milk products.30 These are
1. Glass bottles or jars sealed with plastic-lined "crown" or twist-off closures

2. Heat-sealed paperboard laminates in carton form
3. Heat-sealed sachets or pouches of pliable plastic materials; heat-sealed semirigid
plastic tubes or bottles
4. Suitable sealed tinned steel drums or hermetically sealed tinned steel cans; her-
metically sealed aluminum cans
/. Glass Bottles or Jars

The aseptic filling of glass containers was attempted very early in the history of
aseptic operation, but because of difficulties of satisfactory sterilization of glass con-
tainers, very few commercial processes have been developed. The Avoset process de-
veloped in the U.S. was the first one to be used for filling cream products.31
There have been attempts made to follow the principles of the Martin-Dole aseptic
canner (see below) by using dry heat to sterilize the container followed by a prolonged
cooling period to prevent thermal shock breakage on filling with a cool product. Some-
time prior to November 1963, Satco Ltd. of Switzerland published a brochure entitled
"Perstalized Milk" giving details of a sterile bottling machine which could be con-
structed to handle varying sizes of bottle. Output ranged from 2500 x !4-J bottles per
hour to 4000 x 1-1 bottles per hour. In this system, infrared heat from electric elements
is used to sterilize the bottles, which are rotated as they pass the heaters in order to
give a uniform temperature rise. The bottles are raised to 180°C and held at that tem-
perature for 214 min. They are then cooled to about 70°C with cool, sterile air, and
filled with a two-head vacuum-assisted filler. "Omnia" caps are sterilized by steam at
200°C, and after application they are held in place by the vacuum developed by steam
injected into the headspace immediately before closing. The filling temperature is 40°F
(4.4°C). A bottle takes about 10 min to pass through the complete machine. Whether
Satco has marketed any of these machines for commercial operation is not known to
the authors of this review.
An alternative to the use of dry heat which has the same advantage of not requiring
a pressure chamber for the sterilizing process is the chemical sterilization process used
in the UDEC system." Here, a modified bottle washer with an additional sterilizing
section after the conventional washing stages, is used. The sterilizing medium is hot
QAC and sodium hydroxide. The sterilizing medium is rinsed from the bottles by water
previously sterilized in a plate-type UHT heater. The bottles are discharged into a
protected area kept sterile with filtered air and passed along an enclosed vacuum filler
of conventional design. The process uses 26-mm crown seals with plastic gaskets which
are sterilized by spraying with hydrogen peroxide and heating. The filled and capped
bottles leave the filling zone through a water trap.
Saturated steam can act as a clean and efficient sterilizing agent when used at 302°F
(150°C) for a few seconds, and two known processes have been developed using this
method. One is the James Dole Engineering Co. (Redwood City, Calif.,) system, and
the other is one developed by the National Institute for Research in Dairying (NIRD)
in England. The James Dole Co. has two known small-scale units. The Dole Lab 1050
has a maximum speed of 4 x 8-oz (U.S.) containers per minute and occupies a floor
space of 8 ft.2 The rotary machine, Model 800, has a rated output of 450 x 8-oz jars
or bottles per minute. It is linked to an inline capping unit as an integral unit. The air
is evacuated from the glass containers, after which they are sterilized with saturated
steam; they are 53 mm, plastics-lined, and of the twist-off type. Commercial trials
have been done on this machine for a few years now. Where in the Dole machine the
caps are sterilized with saturated steam in a separate sterilizer from the one for bottles,
in the NIRD system the bottles are filled in the same chamber after sterilization.
The design of the machine is such that it allows cleaning with hot caustic detergents
by circulation of the detergents through the sterilizing cylinder on the main turret, the
filling valves, and the sterile milk header tank as well as the connecting pipes. Both
the single- and the multihead prototypes have been developed, though no commercial
usage has been reported.
A different system developed by Unigate Ltd. (U.K.) has also been described by
Hoare." In this system, a conventional Soaker-jet type bottle washer was modified to
include a chemical sterilant soak section and a sterile rinse section following the prelim-
inary prerinse, detergent rinse, and detergent jetting stages. The discharge conveyor
from the washer enclosed to link up with a standard vacuum-type rotary filler with an
integral capping unit, all of which are enclosed in a sealed compartment. Bottles are
capped by seals of the "crown" type. The caps are sterilized by hydrogen peroxide,
followed by exposure to radiant heat. The filled and capped bottles are discharged
from the sealed compartment through a water seal. The prototype had a filling rate
of 2000 x 1-pt (U.K.) bottles per hour.
From the above descriptions, one can conclude that the use of glass bottles or con-
tainers for the aseptic packaging of milk is still in the experimental stages. Glass bottles
have been used for pasteurized milk for many years, but UHT milk packaging needs
more rigorous controls and perhaps with further developments, bottles may well be
used for such a process. In general the arguments for and against glass bottles or
containers can be stated as follows. Advantages are
1. Glass is inert and impermeable to gases, vapors, and liquids.

2. Glass containers have high resistance to compression or internal pressure.
3. Bottles can be filled at a very fast rate (generally more than 4000 per hour).
4. Glass can be recycled and hence would not present many environmental prob-
lems.
February 1981 187
5. Glass can be relatively inexpensive.

6. Bottle returns lower the expenses.
Disadvantages are
1. Glass containers are usually very heavy and add to handling expenses.
2. The containers are very fragile.
3. For UHT packaging, the need for colored or coated glass is apparent in order to
keep out light.
4. Problems of cleaning bottles contaminated with hydrocarbons persist.
5. Glass bottles may be considered not "fashionable" these days.
2. Heat-Sealed Paperboard Laminates

There are at least five different types of machines in commercial use for the pack-
aging of UHT milk in paper cartons."30-33-34 The two major companies that command
most of the market are TetraPak of Lund, Sweden, and Ex-Cell-O of the U.S. with
its PurePak® cartons. TetraPak, which commands a big majority of the UHT pack-
aging market, makes the carton in two different shapes, the pyramid-shaped tetrahed-
ron and the brick-shaped TetraBrik®.
a. Tetrahedral-Type (TetraPak)
The tetrahedral cartons were introduced by TetraPak in the early 1960s and have
proved to be quite successful in some countries. Carton sizes of 1 and 0.5 I and 250
to 300, 150, and 7 to 22 mi are available. The corresponding rates of output are 3600,
4500, 4500 and 7200 cartons per hour, respectively. There are two types of laminates
used. They are from outside to inside:
1. Waxed paper/polyethylene lined

2. Waxed paper/polyethylene/aluminum foil/polyethylene
Type 1 is gas and vapor permeable and intended for a product shelf life of 1 to 2
weeks. Type 2 is gas and vapor impermeable and intended for a product shelf life of
at least 3 months.
The laminated materials for the carton are supplied in rolls which are then formed
into cartons on the filling machine. This process is shown diagramatically in Figure
26. As the laminated paper leaves the roll, a reinforcing polyethylene strip is thermally
welded along the edge. The strip then passes through a bath of 17% w/v hydrogen-
peroxide solution containing a small amount of wetting agent. The excess peroxide is
squeezed off by rubber rollers, the strip is formed into a vertical tube, and the rein-
forced longitudinal seam is thermally welded. The tube is then heated to over 200°C
to evaporate any traces of hydrogen peroxide. Milk enters the tube through a stainless
steel sterile filling pipe and the tube is sealed transversally by two jaws at right angles
to each other, which heat-seal the package under about 2 tons of pressure. The pack-
ages are then shaped and formed and packed into bigger cartons or crates.
Advantages of tetrahedral cartons35 are
1. Low levels of spoilage have been reported.

2. There is very little or no air present in the filled cartons.
3. These cartons need less laminate material per volume (tetrahedral — 0.07 mVi,
TetraBrik® — 0.09 mVI, and Pillowpack — 0.12 mVi).
¥
A ROLL OF PAPER F FILLING PIPE
B HYDROGEN-PEROXIDE BATH G SEALING JAWS FOR TRANSVERSE SEAMS

C SEALING JAW FOR LONGITUDINAL SEAM H CUTTING JAWS
D HEATER FOR INSIDE OF THE PAPER TUBE J ELEVATOR
E STERILE ATMOSPHERE K AUTOMATIC CRATER
FIGURE 26. Diagram of the TetraPak® aseptic filling system. (Adapted from Ashton, T. R., in
Monograph on UHTMilk, International Dairy Federation, Brussels, 1972,100.)
Disadvantages are
1. The shape presents problems of handling and therefore public resistance.
2. They cannot be stacked easily.
3. The largest size of filling is only 1 I.
4. They are prone to mishandling by school children.
The TetraPak Company has been gradually replacing the tetrahedral cartons with the
more acceptable TetraBrik® cartons.
b. TetraBrik® (Rectangular Types)

. The TetraBrik® container was developed by the TetraPak Company to provide easy
stacking and handling of the larger cartons. Two designs are available. Each one pro-
duces cartons of fixed dimensions with the height of the carton being determined by
the desired capacity. A range of more than 11 capacities can be handled. A separate
machine, however, is needed for each capacity. The average output is 3600 cartons per
hour. Carton materials are basically similar to the ones used for the tetrahedral car-
tons. The two types are from the outside to inside:
1. Duplex consisting of polyethylene/Kraft composite paper (external face white,

internal face brown)/polyethylene lined
A ROLL OF PAPER
B FORMING THE TUBE
C FILLING
0 CROSS SEAMS
c FINAL FORMING
G STERILE BATH
H AIR KNIVES
J STERILE CHAMBER
K AIR UNIT
FIGURE 27. Diagram of the TetraBrik aseptic filling system. (Adapted from Ashton, T. R., in
Monograph on UHTmilk, International Dairy Federation, Brussels, 1972, 100.)
2. Aluminum duplex laminate consisting of polyethylene/Kraft composite paper

(external face white, internal face brown)/polyethylene/aluminum foil/polyeth-
ylene lined
Type 1 is intended for products requiring a shelf life of 4 to 5 weeks. Type 2 is intended
for products requiring a shelf life of 4 to 5 months.
The basic forming and filling scheme is similar to the one for tetrahedral cartons
and is as shown in Figure 27. The laminate is supplied in a roll. It is sterilized after it
leaves the roll and immediately before it enters a sterile chamber which encloses the
tube and carton forming and filling units. A bath of 17% w/v of hydrogen peroxide
solution at 80°C, with a contact time of 8 to 9 sec, sterilizes the paper. This bath also
acts as a bacterial seal to isolate the sterile filling zone from the atmosphere. The
remaining hydrogen peroxide on the paper is removed by the action of narrow jets of
filtered air. These hot air "knives" are directed on either side of the paper feed. The
sterile filling chamber is supplied with air which has been sterilized by heating and
filtration. Milk enters the tube from a sterile stainless steel filler and the tube is sealed
transversally. Since the thermal welding is done "through" the milk, no air space is
left in the carton. Filled cartons can be automatically packaged into crates or collated
for shrink wrapping.36 Advantages of TetraBrik® cartons are
1. The carton shape provides easy stacking and handling.

2. The absence of air helps maintain quality of the milk for a long time.
3. Air "knives" are more efficient at removing traces of hydrogen peroxide.
Disadvantages are
1. Scissors are needed to cut open the carton.

2. Sealing "through" milk may add to the undesirable flavor of the milk.
3. Laminate material with aluminum foil is not recyclable and may cause environ-
mental problems.
4. Since there is no air in the carton, care has to be taken not to spill milk while
pouring it out.
c. Zupak® Cartons (Zupak GmbH, Germany)

The Zupak machine has been undergoing commercial trials for some time now.28-30
Two types of machines are available. One is the type that handles cartons of 1 or 0.5
1. Th other type handles 0.5- or 0.25-i cartons. A machine can be changed to process
either of the two sizes in less than 10 min. The output rate is rather slow, about 1500
cartons per hour. The laminate used is very similar to the one used for TetraBrik®
cartons, and the filling method is also very similar. However, the sterilization of the
laminate is by cold hydrogen peroxide followed by evaporation with hot sterile air.
Apparently, the Zupak Company has not caught up with the other carton types as yet.
d. Selfpack Cartons (Selfpack GmbH, Austria)

Selfpack cartons have been in commercial use for some time now, particularly in
Northern Italy. Cartons of 1.0, 0.5, 0.25, and 0.2 I can be packaged from a separate
machine. The laminate used is similar to the one used for TetraBrik®, and the filling
method is also very similar. The laminate is sterilized with cold hydrogen peroxide,
followed by evaporation in a current of sterilized air at 356°F (180°C). Not much is
known about the bacteriological performance of these cartons.
e. PurePak® Cartons (Ex-Cell-O Corporation, Michigan, U.S.)

PurePak® cartons dominate the North American market for packaging pasteurized
milk. However, their entry into the UHT business is quite recent. In 1968, Ex-Cell-O
Corporation introduced its PurePak® NLL machine for the aseptic packaging of
milk. Several of these machines and the more recent model RLL are in commercial
operation worldwide. Cartons sizes of 1, 0.5, and 0.25 i, 1 and 0.33 U.S. qt, and 1
and Vi U.S. pt are available. The average filling rate is 2700 cartons per hour.
A 5-ply laminate carton material is used for the preformed blanks consisting of
polyethylene/paper/polyethylene-2/aIuminum foil/polyethylene. Polyethylene-2 is
said to be a copolymer and may be used in combination with other materials to im-
prove foil/paper adhesion.30
Unlike the TetraPak cartons system, the PurePak® system does not form the car-
tons from the roll on the machine. Instead, the cartons used are delivered as preformed
blanks. These blanks are then stacked in the magazine feed of the machine. The blanks
are first automatically shaped to form a "sleeve" after which the base is heat sealed.
After filling, the top of the carton is folded to gabled form and heat sealed, away from
the milk.37
The preformed blanks in sealed paperboard boxes are sterilized by ethylene oxide
gas before delivery to the user. During the carton-forming stage in the filling machine,
the bottom-sealed, open-mouthed carton is sprayed with 35% hydrogen peroxide fog.
The hydrogen peroxide is then evaporated with hot air at a temperature of around
February 1981 191
450°F (232°C), followed by aseptic filling and heat sealing in a filtered sterile air sec-
tion.
Advantages of the PurePak® cartons are
1. The heat sealing of the carton is not "through" the milk but "on top" of it.
2. The gabled top provides better pouring of the milk and can be tucked back in
for storing unused product in the refrigerator.
3. The presence of air in the carton avoids spillage while pouring.
Disadvantages are
1. The filling rate of the machine is quite slow.

2. Separate gasing of the preformed cartons adds to the total expense.
3. Ecological problems may result due to the presence of aluminum foil.
4. The gabled top, if not pressed, presents stacking problems.

5. Air in the container may slightly affect the quality of the long-life milk.
/. The Combibloc-FillercF5000 Aseptic System (PKL Papier, GmbH, Germany)

The Combibloc system developed by the Jagenberg group is basically very similar
to the others described above. It perhaps represents an intermediate between the
TetraBrik® and the PurePak® systems. Brick-shaped cartons are used, but these are
preformed as the PurePak® system. The outstanding features of the system are the
speed of packaging — 5100 packages per hour — and the ability to alternate between
1- and 0.5-1 cartons in a matter of minutes.
3. Plastic Containers
While for carton packaging gas and light impermeability can be achieved quite easily
by adding a layer of aluminum foil to the laminate, most plastics have a problem of
permeability of both gases and light. The problems can, however, be overcome by
pigmenting the plastic film (to avoid light) and using composite layers (to overcome
gas and vapor permeability). The composite layers provide comparable protection to
an aluminum foil sandwich. Such films are available and are being used on the Pre-
pak® machines in France. These composites are obtained by coextrusion of different
plastics such as:
1. Coextrusion of black and white polyethylene with polyvinylidene chloride

(PVDC)
2. Coextrusion of black and white polyethylene with PVDC and polypropylene
3. Coextrusion of black and white polyethylene with PVDC and aluminum foil
There are basically three groups of plastic materials which are preferably used for
packaging mass produced dairy products."-3S
1. Polystyrene, which can be "standard" type or "impact resistance" type depend-

ing upon the demands on the package. Polystyrene is the most widely used ma-
terial for making cups for yogurt, cream, cottage cheese, etc. and has good ther-
moforming properties.
2. Polyethylene of high and low density is used for bottles and pouches.
3. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is also used for cups for butter, cheese, etc.
To date, the plastic containers which have been developed for UHT milk and dairy
products are of three main types. These are (1) films or laminates in sachet or pouch
forms (2) bottle or tube-type semirigid blow-moulded containers; and (3) semirigid
containers of the form/fill or preformed (thermoformed) type.
a. Sachets or Pouches
These are made from plastics film or laminates. They are "cushion" shaped when
filled and can come in sizes ranging from 1 I to 10 gal. Due to lack of rigidity, the
smaller pouches are placed in jugs for pouring and the bigger ones are placed in fiber-
bound boxes. There are four basic types of machines which produce the pouches. One
type is Prepac (Prepac, Villejuif, France). Commercial trials have been run for pack-
ages with 2-ply plain polyethylene film for products with a shelf life of 15 days maxi-
mum.
A second type is Thimonnier, developed by Thimonnier et Cie, Lyon, France. The
Thiomonnier machine was announced in 1967 and the first commercial plant operated
in 1968. The problems of light and oxygen permeability have been overcome by the
application of an aluminum foil lining. The company has developed two types of asep-
tic filling and sealing systems: a simple sachet type and a free-standing type. Both have
been in commercial use for packaging UHT milk. Only one type of machine capable
of handling 1-1 sachets has been reported to be in commercial use, though others are
being developed. The output rate is reported to be 4000 sachets per hour.
The laminate used is made of an aluminum lining sandwiched between two layers
of polyethylene. A roll of laminate is sufficient for making 32,000 sachets. The plastic
laminate is formed into a tubular shape and heat sealed longitudinally. After heat
sealing the bottom, the sachet is filled aseptically with the milk. After filling, the sachet
is formed by heat sealing the top edges. This heat seal is then guillotined to detach it
from the rest of the tube. Thus, forming, bottom sealing, filling, and top sealing take
place intermittently.
The sachet machine is placed in a sterile environment which is under a positive pres-
sure. The laminate from the roll is first immersed for 15 sec in a bath of ethanol.
Excess ethanol is squeezed off between rollers and the laminate is then subjected to
UV radiation. After another exposure to UV, the sachets are filled, sealed, and guil-
lotined. Finally, the filled containers are passed through a bath of 1% formalin solu-
tion which serves as an exit air-lock from the enclosed area. Recovery and re-use of
the ethanol used as the initial sterilant is an attractive feature of this system.
The free-standing type machine was developed in 1968 and is intended to replace
the simple sachet type. The basic difference is that here the sachets have a gusset sealed
into one of the shorter edges to form a base to enable it to be free standing. The output
rate however is quite slow — 1240 sachets per hour for a 0.5-i sachet. The packaging
unit has two rolls, one for the laminate and the other for the gusset. The slow output
rate is presumably due to the separate processing of these two rolls for sterile packag-
ing. The basic treatment and filling mechanisms are the same as those for the simple
sachet type.
Advantages of the sachet type are
1. Sachets are very light and easy to handle.

2. The filling rates can be quite high.
3. Ethanol recycling lowers the expense of operation.
Disadvantages are
1. Scissors are needed to cut the sachets.

2. Potential ecological problems exist due to presence of aluminum foil.
February 1981 193
b. Plastic Bottles or Tubes

The only aseptic system known to be in use for UHT milk is Bottle Pack® developed
by Rommelag in Switzerland.30 Granulated polyethylene is fed to the machine under
pressure and a hot melt emerges in a tube form. This is then blow-moulded into a
bottle form, filled in situ, heat sealed, and discharged. The Bottle Pack® type 4010 is
fully aseptic. Single or multicavity moulds (one to six) can be fitted into the machine.
The speed of output is reported to be 1000 I per cavity per hour. Sizes of bottles range
from 280 mi to 14.5 i.
A collapsible plastic screw-capped tube of the type used for toothpaste, containing
UHT-treated cream has been known to be marketed in Switzerland. As yet, no progress
has been made to package UHT milk in these containers developed by the American
Can Corporation.
c. Form/Fill or Thermoformed Packages

Machines of this type have been in commercial usage for filling UHT milk. The
containers are made from a mixture of plastics (e.g., polystyrene/PVC/polystyrene)
which is heated to over 140°C and then formed and pressed into rectangular or round
shapes by means of plug-type formers.-" Multiplug formers and multihead fillers are
generally used, after which the containers are sealed with plastic coated aluminum foil.
Hydrogen peroxide is used as the sterilant, and output rates are in the region of 500 x
0.5-i containers per hour.
Another successful system that has been used commercially is the TFA 240 (and
500), a fully automatic system developed and marketed by Hofliger & Karg, the Bosch
Group of Germany. Only 0.5 i packages can be handled by this system.
Advantages of using plastics materials for UHT milk are
1. The packs are light and hence easily transported.

2. Output rates can be very high.
3. Raw material is usually granulated, resulting in ease of operation.
4. Several different varieties of plastic are available.
5. Many plastics are reusable.
6. Composite plastics have a very low gas transmission rate.
Disadvantages are
1. Increasing the cost of hydrocarbons increases the plastics cost.

2. Some plastics have been known to react with milk.31
3. There is always a problem of disposal of the plastic bottles.
4. Metal Cans
Metal cans were the first containers to be aseptically filled. Jones Nielson developed
an aseptic canning process for milk in Denmark before 1921. However, not much
progress had been made until the development of the Martin system by the John Dole
Co. of California in the 1940s. Here the cans are sterilized in a tunnel at atmospheric
pressure by steam at about 200°C, superheated with gas flames. After this, the cans
are precooled by steam condensate before being filled and finally seamed under aseptic
conditions. Size ranges from 130 ml to 22.7 I are available. Output rates are about
5000 I/hr.
In spite of their advantages, metal cans have been phasing out slowly from a number
of food industries. The reasons are chiefly environmental and safety related.
B. Discussion
It is quite clear that the TetraPak Company is, at the present time, by far the leading
supplier of packaging for UHT milk, with PurePak® as a distant second. Thus, as of
mid-1976, TetraPak had over 540 machines for TetraBrik® production and 470 asep-
tic tetrahedron machines in operation worldwide.21 Some of these, however, have been
used for orange juice and other dairy products besides milk. PurePak® has gradually
stepped up its campaign but is nowhere near its own market in pastuerized milk. The
NLL machine has been gaining acceptance in some quarters.
Both TetraPak and PurePak® processing units have achieved excellent results as
far as maintenance of shelflife and aseptic filling are concerned. Spoilage rates have
been low. Generally, public reaction has been favorable, particularly in Europe where
the overall market has been on the rise. TetraBrik® also initially enjoyed a favorable
market in Quebec (with the Laiterie Cite product Grand Pre). However, this has been
reported to be gradually declining due to unfavorable competition from pasteurized
milk.21-31
In spite of the advantages, both types of cartons suffer from certain notable disad-
vantages. Packing material with aluminum foil is about 1.5 to 2 times more expensive
than ordinary packaging used for pasteurized milk. Aluminum foil is difficult to dis-
pose of and presents an environmental hazard. This fact cannot be taken lightly in
view of the strong positions taken by governments today on environmental issues. The
output rates, though acceptable, are quite slow and more capital investment would be
needed to install more machines — about $200,000 for a TetraPak machine and about
$135,000 for a PurePak® machine (NLL). As mentioned before, TetraBrik® requires
scissors to open the carton and a correct amount of pressure has to be applied to avoid
spillage. Moreover, sealing a carton "through" a column of milk at an elevated tem-
perature might add to the "cooked" flavor of the UHT milk. Though PurePak cartons
do not present these difficulties, the problems of gassing the preformed blanks with
ethylene oxide and the transportation costs involved add to the total expense. Thus,
Canada Dairies in Burgessville, Ontario import blanks from the U.S. which have to
be first gassed in Toronto (Griffiths) before being transported to Burgessville.
The use of plastics for UHT packaging is a fairly new concept. The distinct advan-
tages are the lightness in weight and the faster output rates obtainable. The sachets
used in France seem very attractive propositions, particularly in view of the tremen-
dous success of the plastic pouches in Ontario. However, the problem of disposal
would be a disadvantage. Cost estimates for the sachets are not available as yet, but
they could be quite favorable. Application of the thermoform process, already in use
for UHT creams and milk, is also worth investigating.38-3' Varieties of plastics are
available and output rates can be very high. The Bosch group at present makes only
up to a 0.5-1 size plastic cup. However, with plastics, a major drawback would be the
rapidly rising cost of hydrocarbons. Most of the plastics do not provide an efficient
oxygen barrier. However, the coextruded plastics with PVDC present a promising
packaging material.
VIII. QUALITY FACTORS
Safety and consistency are the two absolute components of quality. Often in the
attempts to differentiate or create uniqueness for a product, a particular area of con-
sistency is promoted as most desirable and identified as a quality factor.
The confusion over the designation of selected attributes, e.g., golden yellow, sharp,
and zesty, as being quality factors rather than the consistency itself, is unfortunate.
There are indeed as many perceptions of quality as there are marketing managers and
promotional campaigns. This section, while acknowledging the importance of market-
February 1981 195
ing specific concepts and characteristics, will confine itself to the true quality parame-
ters of safety and consistency of UHT milk.
The adherence to recommended operating procedures for any of the processes or
equipment reviewed will ensure freedom from pathogenic organisms and toxic sub-
stances. Since this is the first criterion for any acceptable food processing system, the
design aspects have thoroughly incorporated the necessary features to ensure product
safety. The most widely used aseptic packaging system in the world, TetraPak, has
been working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for over 3 years to obtain
approval for the necessary permits to package aseptic UHT milk in TetraBrik® con-
tainers for the U.S. market. It is understood that the process has been going through
the final stages of approval.
Of more immediate interest are the concerns with consistency of product parameters
in milk subjected to UHT treatment. The two important criteria for consideration are
(1) the similarity of UHT milk to the characteristics of the current 14-day shelf life
coded pasteurized product and (2) the changes that take place in UHT during its ex-
tended (90 to 180 day) shelf life. Although the factors influencing the two criteria
overlap, the process itself is the major determining factor on the first consideration,
while the character of the raw milk is of prominent importance in the second.
Many of the factors contributing to the deterioration of stored UHT milk may be
controlled by an effective raw milk selection program. Ashton and Romney40 recom-
mended that in terms of freshness and bacteriological standards, the raw milk for UHT
processing should be of the most stringent specifications. Protein degradation during
storage as evidence by gellation, coagulation, and sedimentation have been attributed
to heat-resistant proteinases of psychrotrophic bacteria.41 However, it is conceivable
that other factors besides proteinases are involved in age gellation. Although in most
of the investigations reported, psychrotrophic counts of 10' colony-forming units are
necessary to effect significant changes in the milk proteins, Adams et al.42 showed that
K-casein degradation was detectable in milks with counts of psychotrophs less than
104 c.f.u./ml. Current research efforts being directed at the production and inactiva-
tion mechanisms of psychrotroph proteinase will result in methods for minimizing
these problems in raw milk. Until rapid (within hours) methods for estimating the
bacterial, particularly psychrotroph, content of milk samples and rapid sensitive psy-
chrotroph enzyme assay methods are available, the single control procedure for this
problem is storage of raw milk at 4°C.
The selection of high-quality raw milk, coupled with the recent realizations that from
the point of view of spore destruction UHT treatment can be unnecessarily severe, will
have the greatest impact in the 1980s on the expansion of UHT milk in the North
American market place. Burton et al.4 investigated the destruction of spores in capil-
lary tubes and UHT treatment by direct heating system, and concluded that data ob-
tained in the laboratory should not be extrapolated to UHT plants because under cer-
tain conditions spores contained in capillary tubes are found to be more heat resistant
than spores subjected to plant sterilization. Reduced time or temperature would have
a significant impact on the flavor character, denaturation, and deposition of the milk
proteins. The high heat treatment of the UHT process alters organoleptic parameters
other than flavor. In a private research study43 with 100 women in the Toronto area
during March 1976, 32% of the tasters indicated that the 2% milk subjected to UHT
processing was too creamy, rich, or thick compared to regular HTST processed 2%
milk. They reported it was more like homogenized milk and they had become used to
the less rich, more watery consistency of 2% milk. It is interesting to note that when
2% milk was introduced as a new product into the market place in 1952, it was neces-
sary to add up to 3% milk solids to satisfy the consumer's demand for the equivalent
smooth rich body of the standard 3.5% fat milk in the market place. Perhaps the
acceptance of two changes to a consistency standard in one generation is too much to

expect. Sensory evaluation of UHT milk based on either difference or preference test-
ing indicates the product is inferior to regularly pasteurized milk.21
Our own research characterizes this difference as a combination of cooked flavor
and heavier mouth feel." Any possible reduction in the severity of the heat treatment
necessary to ensure an absence of spores in the finished product would most likely
have favorable benefits.
Proteins are, to a certain extent, denatured during UHT processing.44 This is partic-
ularly the case with whey proteins. The direct heating process causes less denaturation
(60 to 70%) while the indirect process denatures about 75 to 80% of proteins. /3-Lac-
toglobulin is more affected than o-lactalbumin. However, this denaturation does not
necessarily affect the nutritive value of the processed milk.
No significant changes have been found in the nutritional quality of lipids, minerals,
and carbohydrates. Concerning vitamins, the stable water- and fat-soluble vitamins
are little affected by either direct or indirect UHT processing. The fat-soluble vitamins
A, D, E, and /?-carotene and the water-soluble vitamins of the B-complex, thiamine,

riboflavin, panthothenic acid, biotin, nicotinic acid, B6, and B,2, are little affected.
Concerning stability of nutrients during storage and after processing, there are three
factors that have an influence: temperature, light, and oxygen content. High storage
temperatures increase the rate of chemical reactions within the milk product. As a
consequence, sedimentation and gelatin proceeds more rapidly at higher storage tem-
peratures. This, in fact, shortens the potential storage life of the product, but may not
directly reflect on the nutritional value of the product itself.
If the product is exposed to sunlight, flavor changes and loss of vitamins are evident.
This is the case for both pasteurized and UHT-treated milk. Proper packaging and
handling of the final product can completely eliminate this problem.
Oxygen in milk may have an effect on flavor. Both direct and indirect methods
produce a similar quality product with the difference that the direct method produces
a lower oxygen processed milk. Dissolved oxygen promotes the oxidation of ascorbic
acid to dehydroascorbic acid. It was also found that the stability of folic acid is in-
creased when oxygen is removed from milk. The rate of destruction of both ascorbic
and folic acids seems to depend upon dissolved oxygen concentration in milk.
Dissolved oxygen has also an effect on milk flavors. It was suggested that the initial
oxygen content does not really matter in the final flavor, unless the product is used in
the first 5 days after processing. On the other hand, presence of oxygen, as already
mentioned, may be required to react with the sulfhydryl groups (SH) to avoid the
"cabbagy" taste that is associated with UHT milk. A rapid decrease in the SH content
is observed within the first 10 days after processing. This suggests a correlation between
the oxygen content and the decrease in the SH groups.
The specific cooked flavor character can be minimized by selection of the direct
heating processes discussed earlier. The improved flavor is a result of the reduced con-
tact with burned-on deposits associated with the indirect method. The flash cooling of
the direct process is also effective in reducing the oxygen content of the milk, this
being the most important criterion for flavor improvement. Zadow,45 working with
direct processing found that O2 level significantly affected the keeping qualities of
UHT milk. A residual level of 3.5 ppm was felt to be optimum. Products with higher
levels developed oxidized flavors upon storage at room temperature for 90 days; prod-
ucts with lower levels exhibited poor flavor performance with a dominant cooked fla-
vor for the first 2 weeks.
IX. CONCLUSIONS AND SUMMARY
All aspects having an impact on the future of UHT milk from energy to flavor have
February 1981 197
been reviewed and critically discussed. When dealing with such a basic commodity as
fluid milk, the practicality of each alternative is the single dominating factor in the
decision making process. The traditional distribution of milk for centuries involved
direct distribution from the farmer producers. Only during the last 60 years of the
history of the industry has the system changed to direct distribution from the proces-
sor. As late as 1952, 80% of all fluid milk in Canada was sold on a direct distribution
basis to the housewives' door — what system could be more convenient? During the
1960s and 1970s, a delivery man's wages have risen to $6.50 an hour and gasoline to
$1.00 a gallon, and 47% of all families now have two wage earners, with no one at
home to transfer the milk from the back porch to the refrigerator. In such an environ-
ment, direct to the door delivery is not practical.
Similar questions dominate the 1980s. Can the North American dairy industry con-
tinue to distribute 140 million lb of milk each day through a system that has the energy
requirement and costs associated with 5°C?
Section VI has dealt extensively with the energy requirements of the HTST and UHT
systems. This section in particular highlights the challenge confronting equipment and
process designers. The large imbalance in heating and cooling loads for the UHT proc-
ess can and will be offset by improving the 55% heat recovery efficiency of the process.
In this review, seven direct and five indirect UHT processing systems have been
presented. The high heat transfer rates favor the direct heating sysems for production
of beverage milk. The influence of thermal shock and the reduced heat resistance of
bacterial spores when subjected to direct heating UHT systems are further incentives
to select the direct over the indirect system.
There is a significant reduction in the energy requirements of the indirect system
over the direct. This has an impact on the important marketing component price. Par-
ticularly for milk that will be used primarily in baking, on cereal, in tea and coffee,
or for flavored dairy drinks, the attribute of price might prove more important than
flavor.
Prudent use of resources will also dominate the future of the eventual package for
milk. At the present time, the choice of packaging system is obvious. A 1-i PurePak®
container for packaging HTST milk weighs 34 g and costs 3.7^. A TetraBrik® unit
weighs 27 g and costs 9.4^. A printed flexible film pouch weighs 8 g and costs 6c1. The
production output per man hour of each of these units is comparable.
A satisfactory aseptic-packaging system requires the combination of a sterile con-
tainer, sterile filling environment and, finally, sealing in a sterile manner, as described
earlier. Eighteen different packaging systems that are on the market today have been
reviewed, but no recommendations have been attempted. Both the North American
consumer and processor have reacted coolly to any of the UHT packaging systems
currently available. In order to satisfy these concerns, improvements in critical areas
of filling speeds, resealing of container, and lower cost packaging material are essen-
tial. The proven acceptability of the plastic pouch system in the Canadian market for
HTST packaging for short shelf life, and the availability of larger packaging sizes
beyond the 1-1 capacity for both UHT and HTST packaging certainly make this system
appear very attractive.
The development of UHT milk in the North American market depends on the posi-
tion of the product in the market place. There is no argument that for a segment of
the population the unique stability factors of UHT milk are an attractive and worth-
while extra cost benefit. This product will meet a need much in the same manner that
there remains a segment of the population (approximately 7%) that value the home
service direct to their door delivery of milk.
For the majority of the population in North America, the presence of UHT milk or
extended shelf life milk does not convey any meaningful benefits. Under such condi-
tions they cannot be expected to rationalize paying more for this product. Since, in
fact, all the product benefits of UHT milk accrue to the processor, in order to realize
these benefits on a significant market share scale, the price to the consumer cannot
bear any increase. The detailed study in this review points out that at the present time
the increased packaging and processing costs for UHT milk do not make this situation
possible and as a result, UHT milk is a specialty item.
The performance characteristics of fluid milk in North America over the past 100
years are part of the proud history of the dairy industry. The suggestion that this
quality (consistency) can or should be improved must not be given or received lightly.
There are indeed significant benefits to be obtained in production scheduling, plant
efficiencies, distribution, and refrigeration costs by extending the shelf life of fluid
milk beyond its current limits of approximately 16 days of 7CC.
The large capital costs of a UHT processing unit and the necessary economies of
scale of extensive production runs cannot justify a single specialty item. The potential
for a family of specialty items such as three or four flavored milk drinks, a few spe-
cialty dairy-based dessert toppings, and creams certainly does have exciting possibili-
ties.
It may appear that the UHT processing technology has been waiting in the wings
for its starring role for a long period of time (it has actually only been 20 years). The
velocity of change within our industry with all its facets and immensity of size appears
to have many similarities to that old pot of water on the stove. While we are watching
it from such a close perspective, very little change appears to be taking place. The
UHT developments must be watched very carefully by managers and industries that
seek to have a future in the dairy business, particularly those aspects that have been
highlighted in this review.
REFERENCES
1. Hall. W. H. and Trout, G. M., Milk Pasteurization, AVI Publishing, Westport, Conn., 1968.
2. IDF, Monograph on UHT Milk, International Dairy Federation, Brussels, 1972.
3. Burton, H., The direct-heating process for the ultra-high-temperature sterilization of milk, IFST
Proc., 10(3), 130, 1977.
4. Burton, H., An introduction to ultra-high-temperature processing and plant, J. Soc. Dairy Technol.,
30(3), 135, 1977.
5. Alfa-Laval UHT treatment, Brochure No. PB60457E Reg. 41213, 7310, Chicago.
6. Burton, H., Use of Alfa-Laval equipment for production of sterile milk. Am. Dairy Rev., 9, 32,
1967.
7. Aseptic Processing Catalogue and Technical Digest, Cherry Burrell Corp., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1971.
8. Burton, H., The uperisation process for the production of sterile milk. Am. Dairy Rev., 9, 32, 1967.
9. Burton, H., Processing sterile milk with plants by Laguilharre, Palarisator and Thermovac, Am.
Dairy Rev., 10, 40, 1967.
10. Slater, L. E., Falling film sterilizer comes of age, Food Eng., 12, 88, 1973.
11. Burton, H., The Stork Sterideal process for sterile milk production, Am. Dairy Rev., 8, 38, 1967.
12. Burton, H., The APV Ultramatic process for sterile milk production. Am. Dairy Rev., 7, 46, 1967.
13. Ridgway, J. D., Commercial operation of UHT plant utilizing an aseptic carton filler, Am. Dairy
Rev., 52, 1967.
14. Burton, H., Ahlborn and Sordi UHT plants for processing sterile milk, Am. Dairy Rev., 12, 28,
1967.
15. Burton, H., Components achieve flexibility in sterile milk processing. Am. Dairy Rev., 11, 30, 1967.
16. Neitzke, A., Marketing aspects — economic aspects, in Monograph on UHT Milk, International
Dairy Federation, Brussels, 1972, 135.
17. Ashton, T. P., Ultra-high-temperature treatment of milk and milk products. World Anim. Rev., 23,
37, 1977.
February 1981 199
18. Hedrick, T. I., Advances in sterilization and aseptic packaging, Am. Dairy Rev., 5, 45, 1967.
19. APV UHT Systems: Comparative Advantages and Costs, APV Company Ltd., Crawley, West Sus-
sex.
20. Neitzke, A., Milk Sterilization, Food and Agriculture Organzation, New York, 1965, chap. 14.
21. Report on UHT Milk, Ontario Milk Marketing Board Task Force, Toronto, 1976.
22. Temperature and Precipitation Normals 1941-1970, Atmospheric Environmental Service Depart-
ment of the Environment, Ottawa, 1971.
23. Farrall, A. W., Engineering for Dairy and Food Products, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1963.
24. Harper, J. C , Elements of Food Engineering, AVI Publishing, Westport, Conn., 1976.
25. Faber, O. and Kell, J. R., Heating and Air Conditioning of Buildings, The Architectural Press,
London, 1966.
26. The Energy Cost of Fluid Milk, Corpus Research, Inc., Toronto, Ontario, 1976.
27. Hedrick, T. I., UHT equipment. Dairy and Ice Cream Field, 34, Nov. 1970.
28. Burton, H., Aseptic packaging, in Proc. Ultra High Temperature Processing of Dairy Products,
Agricultural Institute, Republic of Ireland, Society of Dairy Technology, London, 1970, 17.
29. Lisiecki, R. E., Aseptic Packaging, PurePak Laboratories Publication, Ex-cell-O Corp., Detroit,
1968.
30. Ashton, T. R., Aseptic packaging of UHT milk, in Monograph on UHT Milk, International Dairy
Federation, Brussels, 1972, 100.
31. Arnott, D., Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, personal commu-
nication, 1980.
32. Hoare, P. A., J. Soc. Dairy Technol., 20(1), 29, 1967.
33. Lampert, L. M., Modern Dairy Products, 3rd ed., Chemical Publishing, New York, 1975.
34. Farrall, A. W., Food Engineering System, Vol. 1, AVI Publishing, Westport, Conn., 1976, chap.
22.
35. Oswin, C. R., Plastic Films and Packaging, Applied Science, London, 1975, 157.
36. TetraPak Company Publication No. 45, AB TetraPak, Lund, Sweden, 1976.
37. PurePak (XLO), Instruction Manual and Parts Catalogue for NLL, Ex-Cell-O Corp., Detroit, 1976.
38. Aseptic packaging by thermoforming, Hoflinger and Karg, Bosch Group Publications, Frankfurt,
1976.
39. Famham, S.E., A Guideto Thermoformed Plastic Packaging, Cahners Books, Boston, 1972.
40. Ashton, T. R. and Romney, A. J. D. Factors Affecting the Keeping Quality of Heat-Treated Milk,
International Dairy Federation, Brussels, 1979, V-76.
41. Lau, B. A., Review of the progress of dairy science. Enzymes of psychrotrophic bacteria and their
effects on milk and milk products, J. Dairy Res., 46, 573, 1979.
42. Adams, D. M., Barach, J. T., and Speck, M. L. Effects of psychrotrophic bacteria from raw milk
on milk proteins and stability of milk proteins for UHT treatment, J. Dairy Sci., 59(5), 823, 1976.
43. Consumer Survey of the Acceptance of Sterile Milk, conducted for Silverwood Dairies Ltd., Goldfarb
Consultants, Toronto, 1976.
44. Porter, J. W. G. and Thomson, S. Y., The nutritive value of UHT milk, in Monograph on UHT
Milk, International Dairy Foundation, Brussels, 1972, 56.
45. Zadow, J. G., The influence of oxygen on taste of UHT milk, 18th Int. Dairy Congress, A. 4.1.,
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of whole milk after UHT processing, J. Dairy Res., 42, 285, 1975.

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Auckland Library]

On: 09 April 2015, At: 15:14

C R C Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

UHT milk: Production, quality, and economics

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10408398109527302

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

UHT MILK: PRODUCTION, QUALITY, AND ECONOMICS

Authors: Nairn Kosaric

1. Lower initial cost due to elimination of holding tanks.

II. ULTRAHIGH TEMPERATURE PROCESSING OF MILK

Q,1o0 VALUES ASSUMED

100 110 130 150 135 140 145 150 °C

1 FLOAT HOPPER 7 FLOW DIVERSION VALVE

FIGURE 3. Vacutherm instant sterilizer (VT1S ALFA-LAVAL). (Adapted from Alfa-Laval,

milk is heated to the sterilization temperature of 140°C (285°F) in a fraction of a

1. The raw milk is preheated by regeneration to 70°C (158°F).

FIGURE 7. Schematic diagram of the Thermovac process. (Adapted from Burton,

FIGURE 9. The DA-SI sterilizer.

7. The Da-Si Sterilizer10

B. Indirect UHT Processes

3. The Ahlborn Process'4

24 « c 6fnin 20SK 32 sec

50 100 150 200

FIGURE 15. Temperature profile of the Ahlborn process.

4. The Sordi Sterilizer"

CENTRIFUGAL POSITIVE HIGH-PRESSURE ASEPTIC

III. ENERGY REQUIREMENTS AND ECONOMICS IN DIRECT AND

111 111 || x 1.2

111 ills •:-:X:X:'

Ultra PM Ultra PA Ultra TM Ultra TA UP.

FIGURE 18. Relative capital costs. (Adapted from APV

UHT Systems: Comparative Advantages and Costs. APV

IV. COMPARISON WITH THE HTST PROCESS

1. Cost of packaging. Ambient temperature storage requires a package which is

warehousing costs, trucking, and in-store displays. However, distribution costs

VI. MATERIAL AND HEAT BALANCES FOR FLUID-MILK

As shown in previous sections of this review, little information is available on energy

INTERMEDIATE STORAGE DAIRY CASE RETAIL

2. Stationary Storage Subject to Ambient Temperatures

Q = UA(T O -T;) (2)

COOLING REGENERATION PASTEURIZATION

COOLING WATER O U T - * - * HOT WATER OUT

COOLING WATER IN HOT WATER IN

COOLING WATER OUT-*

INTERIOR LAYERS OF EXTERIOR

-*X * - -*X » >*X *- • • • •

DIRECTION OF HEAT TRANSFER

FIGURE 23. Heat transfer through a wall.

Generally, the thermal conductivity of construction and finishing materials is higher

Secondly, roof surface temperatures increase as a result of solar radiation, which

1. Warehouse roof: T, = 20.0°F

hj = 0.38 (T, - T,)% (10)

coefficients, and cooling load is identical to that described in Section VI.A.2. At 15

0.023 G °-"C _ , " 3 K ' ' 3

4. Retail Store Refrigeration

C. Results for the Sample System

(UHT-Pasteurizer) (million BTU/day)

-X - -X » >X *- • • • •