Journal of Food Engineering 51 (2002) 13±19

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Computer-aided design and performance evaluation of an indirect

type helical tube ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk sterilizer
a,b
P.K. Sahoo , Md.I.A. Ansari a, A.K. Datta a,*

a
Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721 302, India
b
Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Department of Food Technology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia,
West Bengal 741 252, India
Received 28 July 2000; accepted 8 January 2001

Abstract
A laboratory model indirect type helical tube ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk sterilizer was designed and tested. The helical
triple tube heat exchanger modeling and simulation was carried out for heating milk from 90°C to 150°C in the annulus of the triple
tube using steam in the innermost and outermost tubes. The holding section was designed based on an Arrhenius model to reduce
B. stearothermophilus microorganisms in the milk by 8 log cycles at a sterilization temperature of 150°C with a residence time of 2.64
s. The helical double tube cooling section modeling and simulation was carried out to cool milk from 150°C to 90°C by using tap
water. The lengths of heating, holding and cooling sections were found to be 2.28, 1.0 and 2.08 m, respectively. The set-up was tested
for UHT processing of milk at the ¯ow rate of 135 l/h. The microbial e€ectiveness of the process was tested separately with in-
oculated samples of B. subtilis and B. stearothermophilus microorganisms and found to be e€ective during processing as well as
during storage of the UHT processed milk for two months. The quality attributes (i.e. color and viscosity) of the UHT processed
milk were also tested during the processing and storage periods. Overall there was no marked change in quality attributes for which
the processed milk can be considered unacceptable. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: UHT; Sterilizer; Milk; Heat exchanger; Design

1. Introduction A triple concentric tube heat exchanger is an im-

Ultra high temperature (UHT) sterilization of milk is
a process in which milk is heated to a temperature of
135±150°C in a continuous ¯ow in a heat exchanger and
held at that temperature for a few seconds to produce a
satisfactory level of commercial sterility with an ac-
ceptable amount of change in the product. The sterilized
milk is not completely free of all microorganisms. It is
free of sporulating, toxicogenic and pathogenic micro-
organisms to a level so that it remains safe for con-
sumption for several weeks at room temperature (Pien,
1955). The product after sterilization in bulk will be
aseptically ®lled into suitable sterile container and can
be stored up to 2±3 months under non-refrigerated
condition. It appears to be the best method for the In-
dian subcontinent due to lack of sucient refrigeration
facilities in many parts of the country.
proved version of the double pipe heat exchanger. The
main improvements include a large area per unit length
available for heat transfer and better overall heat
transfer coecients due to higher ¯uid velocities in the
annular regions (Zuritz, 1990). Milk ¯ows in the annular
region and steam ¯ows in the outer and central tube.
The problem with a straight triple tube heat exchanger is
that it occupies a large ¯oor space. If it can be coiled it
will be compact and short. Using a helical con®guration
will impart more turbulence to the process ¯uid so that
the heat transfer coecient will be increased and fouling
will be minimized. The objectives of this work are: (1) to
design a helical tube UHT sterilizer for processing of
milk, (2) to study the microbial quality of the UHT
processed milk and (3) to study the physical and or-
ganoleptic quality of the UHT processed milk.

2. Design considerations

*
Corresponding author. Fax: +91-3222-82244. A UHT sterilizer consists of three sections, namely a
E-mail address: akd@agfe.iitkgp.ernet.in (A.K. Datta). heating section, a holding section and a cooling section.
0260-8774/01/$ - see front matter Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 0 - 8 7 7 4 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 3 0 - 9
14 P.K. Sahoo et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 51 (2002) 13±19

Nomenclature z z-value (°C)

D di€erence
A heat transfer area (m2 ) k latent heat of condensation (kJ/kg)
C speci®c heat (kJ/kg K) l dynamic coecient of viscosity (kg/m s)
D tube diameter (m) q density (kg/m3 )
Dc coil diameter (m) s mass ¯ow rate of condensate per unit perimeter
D150 decimal reduction time at temperature of 150°C (s)
D121 decimal reduction time at reference temperature of Subscripts
121°C (s) b bulk or average between two heat transfer surface
Ea activation energy (J/mol) c condensate ®lm
g acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s2 ) h heating
h ®lm heat transfer coecient (W/m2 K) eq equivalent
k thermal conductivity (W/m K) i inside
L length of tube (m) m milk
m_ mass ¯ow rate (kg/s) max maximum
N dimensionless number o outside
R gas constant (8.314 J/K mol) s steam
SV sterilizing value ss stainless steel
T absolute temperature (K) w water
tp holding time of process ¯uid (s) lm log mean
U overall heat transfer coecient (W/m2 K) Re Reynolds
v velocity (m/s) Rec critical Reynolds
V_ volume ¯ow rate (m3 /s) Pr Prandtl
0
Wle whiteness index cooling section
Yle yellowness index 1 tube of smallest diameter
X;Y;Z color scales (dimensionless) 2 tube of intermediate diameter

The heating section is a helical coiled triple tube. Milk  0:25

kc3 q2c gk
¯ows in the annular portion of the triple tube and the hc2 ˆ 0:725 : …4†
heating medium (i.e. steam) ¯ows in the innermost tube lc Do2 …Ts To2wall †
and also in outermost annulus. Milk enters the heating Both Eqs. (3) and (4) are obtained on the assumption
section at 90°C and exits at 150°C. The holding section that the ¯ow of the condensate is laminar, i.e.
is a straight single tube for holding the process ¯uid 2sc =lc < 1:2  103 and kc , qc and lc are estimated at ®lm
(milk) at 150°C for a speci®c period of time to reduce the temperature.
target microorganism, B. stearothermophilus which has a
Tf 1 ˆ Ts 0:75…Ts Ti1wall †; …5†
D121 of 181 s and a z-value of 9.43°C (Burton, 1988), by
8 log cycles. The cooling section is a helical coiled Tf 2 ˆ Ts 0:75…Ts To2wall †: …6†
double tube in which the milk is cooled from 150°C to Based on the principle of heat ¯ux equivalence, the wall
90°C. Milk ¯ows in the inner tube and cooling water temperature can be shown as
¯ows in the annular section of the tubes.
Ts Ti1wall Ti1wall Tbm
ˆ ; …7†
…1=hc1 Di1 † ln …Do1 =Di1 † ‡ 1
2.1. Heating section design 2kss hm Do1

Ts To2wall To2wall Tbm

ˆ : …8†
The overall heat transfer coecients are obtained …1=hc2 Do2 † ln …Do2 =Di2 † ‡ 1
2kss hm Di2
from the following equations based on conduction and
convection in cylindrical coordinates: The critical Reynolds number for turbulent ¯ow in he-
  1 lical tube is obtained from Hart, Ellenberger, and
1 Do1 ln …Do1 =Di1 † Do1 Hamersma (1988)
Uo1 ˆ ‡ ‡ ; …1†
hm 2kss hc1 Di1  0:5 !
  1 Deq
1 Di2 ln …Do2 =Di2 † Di2 NRec ˆ 2100 1 ‡ 12 : …9†
Ui2 ˆ ‡ ‡ : …2† Dc
hm 2kss hc2 Do2
The milk side heat transfer coecient for turbulent ¯ow
The condensate heat transfer coecients can be ob- inside a tube can be estimated by the following expres-
tained from the following equations (Kern, 1984): sion (Geankoplis, 1997):
 0:25    0:14
kc3 q2c gk km 0:8 0:33 lb
hc1 ˆ 0:5754 ; …3† hm ˆ 0:027NRe NPr : …10†
lc Di1 …Ts Ti1wall † Deq lwall
 P.K. Sahoo et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 51 (2002) 13±19 15

Since milk ¯ows in the annular region of the tubes, the The length of the holding tube can be obtained from
above equation can be modi®ed, replacing …lb =lwall †0:14 L ˆ tp vmax : …18†
by …Di2 =Do1 †0:53 (Zuritz, 1990).
The heat transfer coecient for the helical tube heat
exchanger is obtained by multiplying …1 ‡ 3:5‰Deq =Dc Š† 2.3. Cooling section design
with heat transfer coecient of straight tube heat ex-
changer (Chopey & Hicks, 1984). So the ®nal expression The overall heat transfer coecient can be obtained
to evaluate the milk side heat transfer coecient for from
turbulent ¯ow in the annular region of the helical triple  0  1
Di1 D0i1 ln…D0o1 =D0i1 † 1
tube is given by Ui1 ˆ ‡ ‡ : …19†
D0o1 hw 2kss hm
   0:53   
km 0:8 0:33 Di2 Deq Water and milk side heat transfer coecients are esti-
hm ˆ 0:027NRe NPr 1 ‡ 3:5 :
Deq Do1 Dc mated by the following equations:
!  0 0:53 " #!
…11† D0eq
kw 0:8 0:33 Di2
hw ˆ 0:027NRe NPr 1 ‡ 3:5 ;
The equation is valid for NRe P NRec (Since the critical D0eq D0o1 D0c
Reynolds number indicates the onset of turbulence) and
…20†
0:7 < NPr < 700 (Geankoplis, 1997).    0:14   0 
The heat exchanger length can be calculated from the km 0:8 0:33 lb D
hm ˆ 0:027NRe NPr 1 ‡ 3:5 i10 :
heat balance equation, which is given below D0i1 lwall Dc
m_ m Cm DTm ˆ …Uo1 Ao1 ‡ Ui2 Ai2 †DTlm …21†

ˆ …Uo1 pDo1 ‡ Ui2 pDi2 †LDTlm : …12† By employing the heat ¯ux equivalence concept, the wall
temperature can be estimated as follows:
…Tbm Ti1wall † Ti1wall Tbw
2.2. Holding section design ˆ ; …22†
0
…1=hm Di1 † ln … D0o1 =D0i1 † 1
2kss
‡ hw D 0
o1
The average velocity of milk through the holding tube
Tbw To1wall To1wall Tbm
can be obtained from ˆ : …23†
0
…1=hw Do1 † ln …D0o1 =D0i1 † 1
‡
V_ 2kss hm D0
i1
vˆ : …13†
A The length of the cooling section can be obtained from
The maximum velocity of milk can be obtained from the heat balance equation as follows:
v m_ m Cm DTm ˆ m_ w Cw DTw ; …24†
vmax ˆ …14†
‰0:0336…log NRe † ‡ 0:662Š ˆ Ui1 Ai1 DTlm ˆ Ui1 pD0i1 LDTlm : …25†
(For NRe > 2100) (Toledo, 1991).
D150 is estimated from the Arrhenius equation.
   3. Materials and methods
Ea 1 1
D150 ˆ D121 exp ; …15†
R T T0 An isometric view of the sterilizer set-up is shown in
where T ˆ …150 ‡ 273† K, T0 ˆ …121 ‡ 273† K Fig. 5. The sterilizer is made of 316 grade stainless steel.
It consists of a heating section, a holding section and a
Ea ln…10† T T0
ˆ : …16† cooling section. The dimensions of tubes of all sections
R z are given in Fig. 3. The porting and the instrument ar-
Ea =R is calculated within the temperature range 373±398 rangements at inlet and outlet of each section are shown
K (Burton, 1988). in Fig. 4. The heating and holding section of the steril-
D121 ˆ 181 s; izer was well insulated with high-class insulating mate-
rial to avoid heat loss during the experiment. A steam-
z ˆ 9:43°C: jacketed pan was attached to a centrifugal pump to
The holding time of process ¯uid (milk) in holding tube pump milk from the pan to the heating section of the
can be estimated as follows. sterilizer. Five thermocouples were connected at the inlet
and outlet of the heating section, the outlet of the
tp ˆ …SV†  …D150 †: …17†
holding section, the outlet of the cooling section and in
For the target microorganism, B. stearothermophilus the steam condensate to record observations during the
(most heat resistive spore forming bacteria), the steril- experiment. A digital temperature indicator was used to
izing value (SV) is 8 (Burton, 1988). indicate temperature. Two Bourdon tube pressure
16 P.K. Sahoo et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 51 (2002) 13±19
gauges were ®xed at the inlet and outlet of the heating
section and one at the end of the cooling section to re-
cord pressures at di€erent time intervals during the ex-
periment. A VASPA electrode steam boiler was used to
supply steam as the heating medium to the heating
section of the sterilizer. The working pressure range of
such a boiler is 0±10 bar and the electric supply is 3-
phase, 440 V and 50 Hz. A nozzle was ®tted with a
discharge tube for easy packaging (Figs. 3±5).
The testing was carried out in the constant wall
temperature helical triple tube UHT sterilizer with raw
clari®ed whole milk collected from the local market.
Prior to the experiment, the sterilizer as well as the
steam-jacketed pan was cleaned using cold and hot
water with a surface active agent. All connections were
checked for leakage. The equipment was sterilized by
using hot water at 150°C. Then the trial was initiated
using milk by regulating the ¯ow control valve. A ball-
type ¯ow control valve is located at the end of cooling
section to regulate the pressure in the sterilizer so that
the process ¯uid does not boil at the sterilization tem-
perature. The pressure, which is maintained in the
sterilizer due to regulation of ¯ow control valve, is called
back pressure. Di€erent observations of milk ¯ow rate,
temperature and back pressure were recorded at di€er-
ent settings of ¯ow control valve. That setting of the
Fig. 1. Flowchart showing the computer simulation for heating sec-
tion.
¯ow control valve was used for a ®nal experiment where
the desired sterilization temperature of milk was at-
tained. Glass bottles and caps were sterilized in an au-
toclave at 15 psi pressure for 15 min for packaging the
milk. Prior to sterilization, the milk was preheated in a
steam-jacketed pan to 93°C to minimize the fouling
problem in the heat exchanger and the developed cul-
tures of B. stearothermophilus and B. subtilis were in-
oculated separately at two batches and at the same time
a boiled milk sample was taken for milk quality study.
Preheated milk was pumped to the heating section of
the sterilizer for ®nal heating to the sterilization tem-
perature using steam at 160°C. Heating was followed by
holding in the holding section at the sterilization tem-
perature to attain perfect sterility. Then the sterilized
milk was cooled to 90°C in the cooling section using tap
water and aseptically packed into glass bottles using two
spirit lamps at the nozzle tip and then capped using a
capping machine. Packed milk was cooled to room
Fig. 2. Flowchart showing the computer simulation for cooling section.
 P.K. Sahoo et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 51 (2002) 13±19
Fig. 3. Dimensions of pipes of heating, holding, and cooling sections.
Fig. 4. Porting and measuring devices arrangement.
17
temperature and stored for quality study at regular in-
tervals throughout the storage periods. At the end of a
run, boiler and pump were turned o€ and the sterilizer
was cleaned by the CIP process using 2% nitric acid and
2% sodium hydroxide solution.
For performance testing, bacterial colony count was
carried out by the plate count method (Indian Stan-
dards, 1962) on fresh, inoculated and sterilized milk
samples. Colony count was also done for sterilized milk
samples stored in bottles at 15-day intervals for two
months to ®nd the surviving residual bacteria during the
storage period at room temperature. A dilution tech-
nique was followed to ease in counting the colonies. The
plating was done in sterile conditions and then incu-
bated in an incubation chamber maintained at 37°C for
a period of 24±48 h. The colony count was done using a
magnifying glass for ease in counting.
The color of milk changes during sterilization as well
as during the storage period. A Hunter lab colorimeter
was used to measure the whiteness as well as the yel-
lowness index of milk. The whiteness index measures the
degree of whiteness of a product, which can be repre-
sented by the expression (Laboratory Manual, 1994)
Wle ˆ 3:388Z 3Y : …26†
The yellowness index measures the degree of yellowness
of a product from degradable chemical reactions oc-
curring during processing and storage. It can be repre-
sented by the following expression (Laboratory Manual,
1994):
 
0:847Z
Yle ˆ 100 1 : …27†
Y
The yellowness index and the whiteness index of raw
whole milk, boiled milk and sterilized milk samples were
measured. This step was repeated for measuring the
18 P.K. Sahoo et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 51 (2002) 13±19

`onset of turbulence' is estimated to be 5082 (for

Fig. 5. Isometric view of the helical tube UHT milk sterilizer.
color index for the UHT processed milk throughout
storage at 15-day intervals.
The viscosity of the UHT processed milk changes
during the storage period. To estimate the shelf life of
the UHT processed milk, viscosity was measured at
regular intervals of 15 days for two months using a
Brook®eld Dial Viscometer.
4. Results and discussion
With available dimensions of tubes as shown in Fig.
3, computer simulation was done for the heating section
as shown in Fig. 1 and that of the cooling section in
Fig. 2. The length of the heating section was found to be
2.28 m and that of the cooling section 2.08 m. By using
an Arrhenius model, the length of the holding tube was
found to be 1.0 m.
Table 1 shows the observations of milk ¯ow rates,
temperatures, Reynolds numbers and back pressures
recorded at di€erent settings of the ¯ow control valve.
Based on Eq. (9), the critical Reynolds number (NRec ) for
Deq ˆ 4:2 mm and Dc ˆ 0:3 m). At the milk ¯ow rate of
111.0 l/h, the sterilization temperature of 145°C is at-
tained at the outlet of helical triple tube heat exchanger
with Reynolds number 4293. Since the Reynolds num-
ber is less than the critical Reynolds number, the ¯ow is
not turbulent and such ¯ow rate was not selected for the
®nal experiment. At a back pressure of 5.1 bar and ¯ow
rate of 135 l/h, the sterilization temperature of milk at
the outlet of helical triple tube heat exchanger is attained
at 142°C with Reynolds number 5159 that indicates the
¯ow is turbulent. At back pressures of 4.8 and 5.0 bar, it
is clearly re¯ected that the ¯ow is turbulent with the
desired sterilization temperature (i.e. 135±150°C), but
Reynolds number and ¯ow rates are comparatively high.
So for the small-scale laboratory set-up, the back pres-
sure of 5.1 bar with milk ¯ow rate of 135.0 l/h was se-
lected to carry out the ®nal experiment.
The results of the plate count on raw, inoculated and
sterilized milk samples are given in Table 2. It was found
that the number of residual bacteria in sterilized milk
immediately after processing and throughout storage
period up to two months is zero, which indicates the
e€ectiveness of sterilization of milk.
The yellowness index of raw and boiled milk was
16.32 and 17.15, respectively, while that of the whiteness
index was 22.83 and 20.94, respectively. From Fig. 6, it
is observed that the whiteness index of sterilized milk
decreases slowly during the early period of storage and
decreases sharply after one month of storage. From
Fig. 7, it is clear that the yellowness index of sterilized
milk increases very slowly for ®rst one month of storage
and again increases sharply between 30 and 45 days of

Table 1
Experimental observations in helical triple tube heat exchanger

Back pressure (bar) Flow rate (l/h) Milk inlet temperature (°C) Milk outlet temperature (°C) Reynolds number

4.8 176.0 93.0 138.0 6587

5.0 153.0 93.0 140.0 5791
5.1 135.0 93.0 142.0 5159
5.2 111.0 93.0 145.0 4293

Table 2
Bacterial counts (cell/ml) for various milk samples

Days Raw milk Inoculated milk Sterilized milk

B. stearother B. subtilis B. stearother B. subtilis

mophilus mophilus

0 6  1012 37  108 113  108 0 0

15 ± ± ± 0 0
30 ± ± ± 0 0
45 ± ± ± 0 0
60 ± ± ± 0 0
 P.K. Sahoo et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 51 (2002) 13±19
Fig. 6. Variation of whiteness index of the UHT processed milk with
storage period.
Fig. 7. Variation of yellowness index of the UHT processed milk with
storage period.
storage. After one and half months of storage, the
change was signi®cant. This change may be due to a
browning reaction, which is prevalent during the storage
period. But overall, there was no marked change in
color index during the storage period, which would
render the product to be unaccepted.
The viscosity of raw milk was 3.5 cp, while that of
boiled milk at the temperature of 93°C was 4.2 cp. From
Fig. 8, it is clear that the viscosity slightly increases with
storage period up to two months. It may be due to
protein denaturation of milk at high temperature pro-
cessing. As there was no marked change in viscosity, the
milk was free from gelation and it was completely stable
after two months of storage at room temperature.
19
Fig. 8. Variation of viscosity of the UHT processed milk with storage
period.
Acknowledgements
The Pasteur Engineering Laboratory, Calcutta is
sincerely acknowledged for fabricating the helical tube
UHT milk sterilizer.
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