Thermal Processing of

Food & Aseptic conditions

Rate of Microbial Inactivation
 When a suspension of microorganisms is heated at constant
temperature, the decrease in number of viable organisms follows
a first-order reaction.
Let N = number of viable organisms.
MICROBIOLOGICAL INACTIVATION
& ASEPTIC CONDITIONS

 Sterilization
Sterilization is a high-temperature heat treatment designed to
inactivate heat-resistant spores to produce a shelf-stable product
when stored at ambient temperature.
 Pasteurization
Mild heat treatments designed to inactivate vegetative cells of
microorganisms is called pasteurization.
Pasteurized foods will be shelf stable if they are high acid (pH 4.6)
but they would require refrigeration and are perishable if the P h is >
4.6.
Methods of Pasteurization

 Low-temperature long-time (LTLT)/Batch pasteurization

Milk --- heated to a minimum of 62.7°C and held at this
temperature for minimum 30 min. It is then cooled as rapidly as
possible to 4°C
 LTLT pasteurizer of three types

 Water – jacketed vat

 Water–spray type
 Coil-vat type
High-Temperature Short-
Time (HTST) Pasteurization
 First developed ---- A.P.V. Co. in the United Kingdom in
1922
 Modern method of pasteurizing milk -- invariably used
where large volumes of milk .
 HTST pasteurizer gives a continuous flow of milk - heated
to 72°C/15s followed by promptly cooled to 5°C or below.
High Pressure Pasteurization

 High-pressure processes have the advantage of inactivating

microorganisms with minimal exposure of the food product to
heat
 The units of pressure used in high-pressure processing are usually
expressed in megapascals (MPa). Some reports expresses the
pressure in Bars.
 High-pressure sterilization is considered by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration as a nonconventional process, therefore
careful scrutiny and proof of safety must be provided before the
process can be approved for commercial use.
High Pressure Pasteurization

 Minimum pressure for inactivating microorganisms by HHP is

300 MPa.
 Processes at 50◦C will take less time than those at ambient
temperature
 Staphylococcus aureus in milk will require 12.5 minutes at
50◦C and 500 MPa
 8 log reduction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Orange juice will require 7.8 minutes at 500 MPa and 37◦C
apple juice will require 2.3 minutes at 40◦C and 450 MPa.
High-Pressure Sterilization

 high pressure is inadequate to inactivate spores, it is necessary

to raise the temperature during the high-pressure treatment to
above 121.1◦C.
 Temperature rise on subjecting water to High Hydrostatic
Pressure(HHP) range from 2.8◦C to 4.4◦C/100 Mpa pressure.
Refrigeration

 Cooling is a fundamental operation in food processing and preservation.

 The second law of thermodynamics mandates that heat will flow only in
the direction of decreasing temperature.
 In a system that must be maintained at a temperature below ambient, heat
must be made to flow in the opposite direction.
 A refrigeration system may be considered as a pump that conveys heat
from a region of low temperature to another region that is at a high
temperature
Refrigeration

 Throttling device - will produce cold liquid. Inlet refrigerant is

high pressure liquid-causes destruction to the flow which causes
pressure drop(8 to 0.6 bar). Due to drop in pressure, boiling point
will come down and the liquid starts evaporating. (45ºC to -
20ºC). Then it is passed through the evaporator.
 Compressor – Low pressure vapour into high pressure liquid.
Temp (-2oºC to 90ºC)
 Condenser – another heat exchanging device liberate heat to the
surrounding – vapour to liquid – back to its original state – high
pressure liquid.
Heat Incursion

 Opening doors allow entry of warm outside air and expulsion of

cold air.
 The rate of heat incursion is dependent upon the size of the
door and the temperature difference between the inside and
outside of the door.
 Data on rate of heat transfer through doors of refrigerated rooms
have been determined empirically. The equation for rate of heat
loss calculated from data published in Food Engineering
Magazine [Food Eng. 41(11):91, 1969] for values of T between
40◦F and 120◦F (22.2◦C and 66.7◦C) is
Problem
Evaporation

 Evaporation is employed for bulk and weight reduction for fluids.

 extensively in the dairy industry to concentrate milk, the fruit
juice industry to produce fruit juice concentrates, manufacture
of jams, jellies
Evaporation – Vapour chamber

 Vapour chamber is usually the largest and most visible part of the evaporator.
Its main function is to allow separation of vapor from liquid and prevent
carry-over of solids by the vapor. It is also a reservoir for the product.
 The temperature inside an evaporator is determined by the absolute pressure in
the vapor chamber. The vapor temperature is the temperature of saturated
steam at the absolute pressure inside the chamber.
 When the liquid is a dilute solution, vapor and liquid temperatures will be the
same. However, concentrated solutions exhibit a boiling point rise resulting
in a higher boiling temperature than that of pure water.
 Thus vapors leaving the liquid will be superheated steam at the same
temperature as the boiling liquid. Depending on the extent of heat loss to the
surroundings around the vapor chamber, the vapor may be saturated at the
absolute pressure within the vapor chamber, or superheated steam at the
boiling temperature of the liquid
Evaporation - Condenser

 Two general types of condensers are used. A surface condenser is used

when the vapors need to be recovered. This type of condenser is actually a
heat exchanger cooled by refrigerant or by cooling water.
 The other type of condenser is one where cooling water mixes directly with
the condensate. This condenser may be a barometric condenser where
vapors enter a water spray chamber on top of a tall column.
 The column full of water is called a barometric leg and the pressure of water
in the column balances the atmospheric pressure to seal the system and
maintain a vacuum. The temperature of the condensate-water mixture should
be in the order of 5◦F (2.78◦C) below the temperature of the vapor in the
vapor chamber to allow continuous vapor flow into the condenser.
 The height of the barometric leg must be sufficient to provide sufficient
positive head at the base to allow the condensate and cooling water mixture
to flow continuously out of the condenser at the same rate they enter.
Falling Film Evaporator
Improving the Economy of
Evaporators
 Poor evaporator economy results from wasting heat present in the vapors.
Some of the techniques used to reclaim heat from the vapors include use of
multiple effects such that vapors from the first effect are used to heat the
succeeding effects, use of vapors to preheat the feed, and vapor
recompress
 Vapor Recompression
Recompression involves increasing the pressure of the vapor to increase its
condensing temperature above the boiling point of the liquid in the evaporator.
Compression of saturated steam would result in superheated steam at high
pressure.
 Steam economy can also be improved by using multiple evaporation stages
and using the vapors from one effect to heat the succeeding effects.
Thank you!