HRS Heat Exchangers is changing the way fruit juice concentrate is stored and processed with its new HRS I Series. It offers options to de-pack and crush (the IC Series) and melt (IM Series) frozen fruit juice (sometimes known as re-melting), making it ready for storage or further processing.
While fruit juice concentrate is often delivered in bulk containers, juice to produce high quality not-from-concentrate (NFC) is usually supplied in frozen form to maintain quality and freshness. This frozen, unconcentrated juice is commonly supplied in lined 200-litre drums. While the drums themselves are convenient and easy to handle, the frozen concentrate requires breaking up and warming before it can be processed further and packaged.
The IC Series features a roller conveyor, which feeds individual drums into a tipper, emptying them into the crusher. Here, a specially designed spiked roller crushes the solid ice into an icy slush, which is then transferred to the IM Series re-melting device.
Meanwhile, the IM Series is based on the tubular heat exchanger technology, which HRS is known for. In 90 seconds, it raises the temperature of the juice from frozen to around four degrees Celsius. Then the cold liquid juice can be pumped to a holding tank or go into the next process step.
Capable of handling up to 60 drums (12,000 litres) per hour, the HRS I Series can handle up to 60 drums (12,000 litres per hour) and uses a number of existing HRS heat exchanger technologies, such as the HRS DTA Double Tube and HRS MI Multitube heat exchangers. Together with an ice crusher to re-melt both large and small chunks of ice, the series can provide optimal rates of heat transfer and energy efficiency.
Once remelted, HRS can supply holding tanks of any required size, from 2,500 to 50,000 litre, tailor-made to each client’s specifications.
