ENGINEERING AND CHEMICAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH FOULING AND CLEANINGIN MILK PROCESSING

The problem of fouling from food fluids is very severe, leading to the need for rapid and effective cleaning. Fouling of the process plant h appens as a result of complex processes that occur when a fluid is hea ted: protein and minerals are both deposited on the surface. This revi ew describes research into both the engineering and the chemical facto rs that lead to deposition. Fouling can be modeled by using data for t he thermal behavior of beta-lactoglobulin, coupled with models for the flows and temperatures of the process plant. The rate of cleaning dep ends on both the deposit present and the type of chemical treatment us ed. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1997.