Ensuring milk, yoghurt, cheese and other produce are at the correct temperature is critical in the dairy industry in order to minimize waste. Milk chillers work to eliminate excess heat at important milestones throughout its production, such as the pasteurization process.
It is a heat treatment process that removes dangerous bacteria, allowing the produce to be stored for much longer periods. To do so, the milk must be heated to up to 212 Fahrenheit to stop the bacteria from duplicating. It then requires fast cooling in order to stop the produce from being damaged.
Integral to this process are dairy chillers, as they are able to bring the temperature of the milk down enough to preserve it as it is transported to be bottled.
To do so, the milk must be heated to up to 212 Fahrenheit to stop the bacteria from duplicating. Pixabay
Temperature plays an important role in creating dairy produce that is safe for human consumption. During the process, milk is passed through a range of cold and hot temperatures in order to kill off dangerous pathogens, as well as to preserve proteins and nutrients.
There are two different pasteurization methods that are utilized in the global dairy industry. These are:
A dairy chiller is vital in the controlling of heat. If the milk gets too hot it is spoilt. This is the same for cheese also. However, if it does not get enough heat it prevents the pasteurization process from working optimally.
To help with this there are a number of solutions available within the dairy industry – which you can learn more about here: https://northslopechillers.com/process-cooling/dairy/. These include storage tanks with jackets and process chillers. Within the dairy industry, coolant is required to draw the heat from out of the milk in order to drop the temperature to the necessary level.
It then requires fast cooling in order to stop the produce from being damaged. Pixabay
When inspecting the type of chillers that can be used for dairy produce there are two main categories. These are:
As stated, vapor compression chillers are the most common types used within the dairy industry and are placed into two sub category type. These are:
Despite the stated differences, the two types of chillers are actually made up of the same components, which include an expansion valve, an evaporator, a compressor, and a condenser. The mechanics of the two chiller types are also extremely similar.
The compressor starts the refrigeration cycle and begins so by pushing the refrigerant through to the condenser. During this process the low temperature and low pressure refrigerant is compressed and changed into a high temperature and high pressure gas. Whilst in the condenser air or water flows over the coils to remove any heat from the refrigerant. The refrigerant condenses at this point as it loses heat and turns into a liquid form. After leaving the condenser, the refrigerant goes through the expansion valve where it is restricted. Once through the valve, the refrigerant goes into the evaporator where it then begins to evaporate back into a gas state. During this process it gets super cold and absorbs a large amount of heat. This heat is removed from the fluid and transferred in to the refrigerant. This will then enter the compressor and the entire cycle starts over again.
The types of compressors the chiller can utilize are subcategorized as the following:
An effective and robust dairy chiller solution is easy and simple to install, and will work to save time, lower operational costs, save energy and water, and most importantly improve the quality of the product.