Tubular Sterilizer
- Capacity: 0.5–30 t/h, according to production requirements
- Sterilization temperature: 95–140℃
- Holding time: 4–30 seconds, adjusted according to the product
Tubular sterilizers are used for continuous heat treatment of liquid foods that need a longer shelf life, including milk, juice, dairy drinks, tea beverages, plant-based drinks, and thicker products such as ice cream mix. Inside the heat exchanger, the product flows through tubes while the heating or cooling medium circulates separately around them, so heat passes through the tube walls without direct contact. The tubular design also gives thicker products and liquids with fibers or small particles enough space to flow through the sterilizer more easily.
Tubular sterilizers consist of a tubular heat exchanger, balance tank, sanitary centrifugal pump, hot-water system, support frame, and control unit. The sterilizing process includes a homogenization preheating section, a homogenizer, second heating and holding sections, heat recovery, and cooling. The first heating section and first holding section are optional and depend on the process requirements.
Balance tank → homogenization preheating → homogenization → first heating section (optional) → first holding section (optional) → second heating and holding → heat recovery → cooling → filling machine
- Preheating and Heating: The product first passes through the preheating section and receives heat from sterilized products leaving the UHT stage. The two streams stay separate, so only heat is transferred. The incoming product then moves to the main heating section and reaches about 135–140℃ for UHT treatment.
- Holding: Once the product reaches the UHT temperature, it passes through the holding tube and remains at that temperature for the required time (4 to 30 seconds) to complete the sterilization
- Cooling: After holding, the sterilized product gives part of its heat to the cold incoming products entering the sterilizer, then moves through the cooling section until it reaches the adequate temperature to proceed with filling.
Widely used for UHT treatment of milk, juice, formulated dairy products, probiotic drinks, tea beverages, and plant-based drinks. Tubular sterilizers can also handle thicker liquid foods such as ice cream mix, margarine, milk foam bases, fructooligosaccharide (oligofructose) syrup, and erythritol solutions.
- All parts that come into contact with the product are made from SUS316L stainless steel, while the inner surfaces of the pipes are mirror polished for easier cleaning.
- Sterilization temperature can be controlled with an accuracy of up to ±0.5℃.
- The control unit can monitor and record temperature, flow, treatment time, differential pressure, back pressure, CIP (cleaning in place), and SIP (sterilizing in place); differential-pressure control between the product and utility sides is available as an option.
- Equipped with corrugated tubes to create more movement in the liquid as it flows through the heat exchanger, which increases contact with the tube surface and improves heat transfer.
