Ensuring the safety and quality of

milk - High Temperature Short Time

Pasteurization
Michelle Orner

October 18, 2010

Audience and Scope
The purpose of this article is to inform Food Science or Dairy Science
students on the high temperature short time (HTST) pasteurization process
of milk. These students will have had some previous experience with
processing equipment and milk but not specifically related to pasteurization.
This article should prepare the students for hands on experience with small
scale pasteurization systems.

Introduction
Milk pasteurization is a manufacturing process in which all particles in milk
are heated to a minimum required temperature for a minimum required time
followed by rapid cooling, utilizing properly designed and operated
equipment. The purpose of pasteurization is to reduce the levels of
vegetative pathogenic microorganisms to safe levels to protect the
consumer. Pasteurization is also beneficial in that it increase the quality of
milk over its shelf life, as well as extends the milks shelf life.

Figure 1: HTST Pasteurization system. Image courtesy of the Internet

Encyclopedia of Science

HTST Pasteurization System

There are 11 major steps that milk must go through to complete the HTST
pasteurization process. In the order which they occur, they are: Constant
level holding tank, booster pump, regenerator, timing pump, homogenizer,
heater, holding tube, flow diversion device, regenerator, cooler, and vacuum
breaker. Figure 2 shows a diagram of this process.

Figure 2: Diagram of a basic HTST pasteurization system. The solid lines indicate
raw milk and the dashed lines indicate pasteurized milk. Diagram is courtesy of
the University of Guelph.

Constant Level Holding Tank

The constant level holding tank is where the pasteurization process begins.
The raw milk in the holding tank is required by law to be at 45°F, have a
bacterial count of less than 300,000 CFU/ml if comingled, test negative for
antibiotics, and have a somatic cell count of less than 750,000/ml. The outlet
valve on the holding tank must be the lowest point to eliminate dead space.

Booster Pump
The booster pump increases the efficiency of pasteurization by allowing for
better heating by increasing pressure. Since the pressure is being increased,
a pressure monitor is required. This is to ensure the pressure of the raw milk
does not exceed the pressure of the pasteurized milk. A pressure imbalance
would result in raw milk leaking into the pasteurized milk, causing
contamination. The booster pump will only run if the system is running at the
required temperature and if the timing pump is running.

Raw Regenerator
The raw regenerator heats the raw milk using a plate heat exchanger. The
raw milk enters the regenerator at 45°F and exits at 125°F. The heating
source in the plate heat exchanger is the pasteurized milk. While passing
through the regenerator, the raw milk must be at a slightly higher pressure
than the pasteurized milk. Figure 3 shows the flow of milk through the plate
heat exchanger. The blue arrows indicate the flow of raw milk and the red
arrows indicate the flow of pasteurized milk. The regenerator is a useful way
to partially heat the raw milk because it recovers heat put into the system to
pasteurize the milk.

Figure 3: Diagram of a plate heat exchanger. Photo courtesy of the WCR Group.

Timing Pump
The timing pump, in conjunction with the holding tube length, governs how
fast the milk goes through the holding tube. Smaller scale HTST
pasteurization systems do not have a timing pumping because a
homogenizer can be designed to control flow through the holding tube.

Homogenizer
The homogenizer creates a permanent emulsion of milk fat in serum. This is
accomplished by high pressure breaking the fat globules into extremely
small particles. These microscopic particles are so small that their density is
overcome by the viscosity of the fluid phase of milk. Figure 4 below is shows
an example of how the fat globules are crushed during homogenization. The
milk must be heated in the regenerator prior to homogenization so the fat
globules are liquid and easier to divide. The homogenizer is capable of
pushing and pulling milk through the HTST system if booster and timing
pumps are not present.

Figure 4: Fat globules are crushed into smaller particles during pasteurization.
Diagram courtesy of Des Mech.

Heater
The heater heats the milk from 125°F to the required HTST temperature of
161°F. A plate heat exchanger is used to heat the milk with heat from hot
water. The water in the heater is heated by steam. In figure 3, the red arrows
would be the hot water flow and the blue arrows are the raw milk flow.

Holding Tube
The length of the holding tube is important to ensure the required holding
time of 15 s. The milk has not undergone the proper heat treatment until it
has remained at 161°F for 15 s in the holding tube. There is an indicating
and recording thermometer at the end of the holding tube to verify the
proper conditions have been achieved.

Flow Diversion Device

The flow diversion device is critical in the pasteurization system. If the
indicating thermometer (STLR on figure 2) shows the milk was not properly
heated to 161°F for 15 s, the flow diversion device diverts the flow to the
divert line. The divert line takes the milk back to the constant level holding
tank to be pasteurized properly. Any milk that make it past the divert line
when the flow diversion device is in divert flow goes through the leak-
detection line and is discarded.
The flow diversion device goes to forward flow once the time and
temperature combination detected by the STLR is within the pasteurization
parameters. Once the device is in forward flow, the pasteurized milk follows
the dashed line if Figure 1 from the flow diversion device.

Pasteurized Regenerator
The pasteurized regenerator works the same way as the raw regenerator
only the raw milk acts as a cooling medium this time. The red arrows on the
plate heat exchanger diagram in Figure 3 are still the pasteurized milk and
the blue arrows are the raw milk. The pasteurized milk enters the
regenerator at 161°F and exits at 120°F after being cooled by the raw milk.
The pasteurized milk must remain under higher pressure than the raw milk
to prevent contamination.

Cooler
The cooler consists of a plate heat exchanger with glycol or sweet water as
the coolant. Sweet water is just ice water. In Figure 3 of the plate heat
exchange, the pasteurized milk is represented by the red arrows. The blue
arrows represent the glycol or sweet water. Sweet water is more commonly
used because glycol tends to make to milk too cold and freeze up the plate
heat exchanger. The pasteurized milk enters the cooler at 120°F and exits at
35°F.

Vacuum Breaker
The main purpose of the vacuum breaker is to prevent backflow of the
pasteurized milk. The vacuum breaker must be positioned at least 12 inches
above the highest point in the pasteurization system. The vacuum breaker is
the last point in the HTST system. After passing through the vacuum breaker
the milk is sent to cold storage or directly to processing.

Conclusion
The HTST pasteurization of milk is completed by heating milk to 161°F for
15s and then immediately cooling to 41°F or less. The final product must be
held at 45°F or less and has an increased quality over its shelf life. The milk
must have a bacterial count of less than 20,000 CFU/ml and a coliform count
of less than 10 CFU/ml. The milk must also be free of antibiotics and contain
less than 350 mg phosphate/L. These parameters ensure the safety and
quality of milk to its consumers. After reading this document you should
have a good understanding on the workings of a HTST pasteurization system.
You should now be prepared for a hands on experience in a small scale
facility.

References:

Walstra, Pieter, et. al. Dairy Science and Technology 2nd Ed. Taylor & Francis Group, New
York. 2006. Pp. 421-430.

Roberts, Robert. Pasteurization Notes. Pennsylvania State University. FDSC 414. 2010.

The Internet Encyclopedia of Science.

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/P/pasteurization.html.

The University of Guelph. Dairy Science and Technology.

http://www.foodscience.uoguelph.ca/deicon/basic.

Werner Solken. Explore the World of Piping: Plate Heat Exchangers. 2010.

Des mech. Physical Methods of Cell Disruption – Homogenizer. http://www.desmech.com/?

p=28.