Milk Processing

Dairy Heat Exchangers for Milk Processing

In milk processing, precise heat transfer is essential to eliminate pathogens, preserve nutritional value, and achieve desired product consistency. Dairy heat exchangers, including plate-and-frame, shell-and-tube, and tube-in-tube designs, deliver efficient heating to 72°C for HTST pasteurization or 135°C for UHT, followed by rapid cooling to 4°C, ensuring compliance with FDA, PMO, and 3-A standards while minimizing fouling from milk proteins and fats.

• Raw Milk Pre-Heating: Heat exchangers warm incoming milk from 4°C to 40–50°C using regenerative sections, recovering heat from pasteurized milk to boost energy efficiency by up to 95% in large-scale processing.

• Pasteurization (HTST): Plate heat exchangers achieve 72°C for 15 seconds, killing Listeria and Salmonella while retaining 99% of vitamins, supporting daily output of 100,000+ liters in fluid milk plants.

• Cooling After Pasteurization: Integrated cooling sections drop milk to 4°C in seconds using chilled water or glycol loops, preventing bacterial regrowth and extending shelf life to 21 days.

• UHT Sterilization: Tubular heat exchangers handle 135–150°C for 2–5 seconds, enabling aseptic packaging for ambient-stable milk with 6-month shelf life without refrigeration.

• Evaporation for Condensed Milk: Multi-effect falling film evaporators concentrate milk to 40–50% solids at low temperatures (50–70°C), preserving flavor and reducing energy use by 70%.