Abstract
Plate heat exchangers (PHEs) are energy-efficient and reliable equipment for heat processing which are used in a broad scope of duties in food and beverage processing because of their efficiency, heat recovery, compactness, easy maintenance, low capital costs, easy capacity adjustment, and flexibility. PHEs are composed of a pack of corrugated plates that form a series of channels for fluid flow. The plate surface corrugation plays a key role on heat transfer, cleaning, and fouling of PHEs. Plate surfaces may have different pattern designs such as chevron or herringbone, washboard, zigzag, wavy, asterisk, protrusions, and depressions, and so on. It has been proven that the chevron pattern has better performance for heat treatment of fluid foods. PHEs can be classified into four groups of gasketed, brazed, welded, and semiwelded based on their sealing system; gasketed systems are the most widely used PHEs in the food industry. Fouling of heat-sensitive food components on plate surfaces is an unsolved problem in PHEs which reduces their heat-transfer coefficient and causes cross contamination. However, strategies such as modification of the plate surface or heating media are effective in reducing fouling and improving the heat-transfer rate.
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