Chapter 3 Thermal processing
TS. Lê Trung Thiên (PGS)
Email: [email protected]
(The slides in Vietnames taken from the lecture notes of Dr. Hung Nguyen Le)
Download handouts at
DrThienNonglam 1
Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 Thermal process calculation
2
Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 Thermal process calculation
Thermal treatment processes
Common heat treatments
Pasteurization
Sterilization
Blanching
(Cooking)
4
Pasteurization
Temperature range: 63 100 C
Objectives
destroy vegetative cells of common pathogenic
microorganisms to make a safe product
destroy a main part of spoilage microorganisms extend
the shefl-life of the product
Can not destroy spores
The (low acid) product requires chilling storage
Pasteurization
Pasteurization techniques
Batch/LTLT
HTST (use of pumps + heat
exchangers)
6
Blanching
a thermal process used to inactivate enzymes which cause
browning in plant materials to stabilize product color and
quality.
Normally applied as a preparation step before further
processing like canning, freezing, drying
Blanching can destroy some microorganisms and remove
air from plant material tissues
Heating media can be hot water or steam
Blanching
8
Commercial sterilization
Temperature range: > 100 C
Objective
Destroy both vegetative and spores of microorganisms to
to achieve a shelf-stable food product
The processed product does not require chilling storage
Disadvantages: higher reduction of nutritional and sensorial
quality
Commercial sterilization
Batch/still retorts
10
11
Commercial sterilization
Batch agitation retorts
12
Commercial sterilization
Continuous rotary retorts
(Courtesy of GMA) 13
Pressure compensation during the
cooling step
14
Commercial sterilization
(Continuous) Hydrostatic retorts
15
Commercial sterilization
(Continuous) Hydrostatic retorts
16
Commercial sterilization
Aseptic Processing Systems
The product is thermally processed prior to filling into a
container.
The systems consists of (1) sterilization of the container
(packaging material), (2) sterilization of the cap, (3) filing of the
commercially sterilized product and (3) sealing of the container
in the aseptic in an aseptic environment.
These systems are limited to products that can be pumped
through a heat exchanger for both heating and cooling.
These techniques belong to HTST treatments (e.g. UHT) which
are carried out at ultra-high temperatures (e.g., 138-148 C) for
a very short time (2 15 seconds) and that they retain better
nutritional and sensorial quality of the product.
17
Commercial sterilization
Tubular heat exchangers
Heat exchangers
Plate heat exchanger
Scraped surface heat exchangers
18
18
Commercial sterilization
E.g., Indirect UHT of milk
19
Review questions
(watch the video lecture or attend the offline class)
20
Review questions
(watch the video lecture or attend the offline class)
21
Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 Thermal process calculation
22
Decimal reduction time
During heat treatment at a certain elevated temperature,
the population of a microbe will decrease in a pattern as
shown in the Figure
23
Decimal reduction time
description of the microbial curve:
where k is the rate constant and n is the order of the
model. For heat treatment, it is generally confirmed that n
is 1 (a first-order kinetic model)
24
Decimal reduction time
25
Decimal reduction time
When survivor curve data are presented on semilog
coordinates, a straight line is obtained
The slope of the straight line is the first-order rate constant
( k ), and is inversely related to the decimal reduction
time, D .
26
Decimal reduction time
27
D = 1/k 28
Decimal reduction time
29
30
31
Decimal reduction time
Example: The following data were obtained from a thermal
resistance experiment conducted on a spore suspension at
112°C:
Determine the D value of the microorganism.
32
Decimal reduction time
Solution: On a semilog graph paper, plot the number of survivors
as a function of time (Fig. E5.1 ). From the straight line obtained,
determine the time for a one-log cycle reduction in the population
of spores, which gives the D value as 4.1 minutes.
Alternatively, using a spreadsheet by first taking the natural
logarithm of the number of survivors and entering the data in a
linear regression model. The D value of 4.1 minutes is obtained.
33
34
Effect of temperatures (z value)
The thermal resistance constant (z) is defined as the
increase in temperature necessary to cause a 90%
reduction in the decimal reduction time D.
The D values for different temperatures are plotted on
semilog coordinates, and the temperature increase for a
one log-cycle change in D values is the z value, as shown in
Figure 5.11 .
35
Effect of temperatures (z value)
z can be expressed by the following equation:
Example: The decimal reduction times D for a spore
suspension were measured at several temperatures, as
follows:
Determine the thermal resistance constant z for the spores.
36
Effect of temperatures (z value)
Solution: Using semilog graph paper, the D values are plotted
versus temperature ( Fig. E5.3 ).
Based on the obtained straight-line curve, a temperature
increase of 11°C is required for a one-log cycle reduction in
the D value z = 11°C.
Alternately, z can be estimated using a linear regression
program to analyze the relationship between the logarithm
of D values versus temperature. The z value is 11.1°C.
37
Effect of temperatures (z value)
38
Thermal death time curve
39
Thermal death time (F value)
The thermal death time F is the total time required to
accomplish a stated reduction in a population of vegetative
cells or spores at a certain treatment temperature.
F can be expressed as a multiple of D values
For example, a 99.99% reduction in microbial population
would be equivalent to four logcycle reductions or F = 4 D.
FzT is the thermal death time for a temperature T and a
thermal resistance constant z. The thermal death time F
121 in the Celsius temperature scale is used as reference,
10
simply written as F 0, represents the time for a given
reduction in population of a microbial spore with a z value
of 10°C (or 18°F) at 121°C (or 250°F).
42
43
Spoilage probability
The spoilage probability is used to estimate the number of
spoiled containers within a total batch of processed
product.
From Equation (5.3), with N representing the desired final
microbial population for a thermal death time of F
Then, if r is the number of containers exposed to the
reservation process, and N 0 is the initial population of
spoilage microorganisms in each container, the total
microbial load at the beginning of the process is rN 0, and
44
Spoilage probability
Process goal: to achieve a probability of one survivor from
the microbial population for all containers rocessed,
Then
The ratio on the left side of Equation (5.18) represents the
total number of containers processed ( r) and resulting in
one container with spoilage. 45
Spoilage probability
Example: Estimate the spoilage probability of a 50-minute
process at 113°C when D113 = 4 minutes and the initial
microbial population is 10 4 per container.
Solution
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
Canning vs. UHT
55
56
57
General method
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
Review questions
(watch the video lecture or attend the offline class)
65
References
R. Paul Singh, Dennis R. Heldman. Introduction to Food
Engineering, Fourth Edition,, Academic Press 2008
Lecture notes of Dr. Hung Le Nguyen (previous lecturer of
this course at FST-NLU)
Fellows P.J. FOOD PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY- Principles
and Practice, 2nd edition, Woodhead 2000.
Download handouts at
DrThienNonglam 66
