Homogenization: the secret to longer life

Milk shelf life is critical for dairy producers and retailers. One key way to ensure maximum shelf life – and keep
milk looking and tasting its best for longer – is effective homogenization.

The homogenization process emulsifies fat globules suspended in the milk so the packaged product keeps its
taste, stability and texture for longer.

The more effective the homogenization process, longer the milk will remain stable and keep its commercial
value.

UHT milk faces a range of limiting factors when it comes to shelf life. As a natural product, it is subject to
biological processes such as sedimentation and fat separation.

Also, enzymes in the milk can cause age gelation, coagulation and – sometimes – a bitter taste.

Overcoming such obstacles is a top priority for milk producers. Aseptically packaged UHT milk has a typical
shelf life of around three months, though is typically consumed well in advance of the best before date.

But quality demands differ between markets. In China, retailers are increasingly demanding imported milk
with a shelf life of up to 12 months that can withstand long transport distances and temperature extremes
while in transit.

This presents a business opportunity for dairy producers and highlights the importance of effective
homogenization.

“We are seeing that China wants to import liquid milk from Europe – and then the question of long shelf life
becomes very relevant,” explains Nicole Uvenbeck, Line Product Manager at Tetra Pak.

The longer the shelf life, the smaller the fat globules in the milk need to be. And the smaller the fat globules,
the higher the required pressure and energy input from the homogenizer.

“The longer the shelf life you want, the higher the pressure you need to homogenize at,” Uvenbeck says.

“If the milk is to be shipped by container, say to China, then you really do have to consider how much it will
need to be homogenized.”

Tetra Pak produces highly efficient homogenizers capable of operating at lower pressures than competitor
machines.

“You can achieve the same product quality at a lower pressure with our homogenizers,” Uvenbeck says.

“So if a customer wants to extend the shelf life of their milk, for instance if seeking to export to China, I would
really suggest they contact Tetra Pak!”
9 ways homogenization improves beverage quality
Juices, nectars and RNGS (rice, nuts, grain and soya) beverages are all homogenized, but for different reasons.
Some are emulsions – which entail one set of benefits – and some are suspensions, and are therefore
improved in a different way. And some are actually a suspension and an emulsion at the same time. Here are 9
ways homogenization improves the quality of beverages.

Juices and nectars:

1. Less sedimentation and separation. You could argue that one of the main reasons for homogenization is to
make the big particles small and the small particles even smaller. The main benefit from that is less
sedimentation and separation.
2. Bioavailability. Studies on tomatoes and carrots have shown that homogenization will increase the disruption
of their cellular particles. Plant cells are in the size range of around 500µm, and the gap in the homogenizer is
around 100µm, so when they pass through the gap, they rupture. When rupturing, they release intracellular
matter into the juice. The result is higher bioavailability of the nutrients lycopene (red colour pigment) and
beta-carotene (orange-red colour pigment and a form of Vitamin A).
3. Higher viscosity. Some fruits and vegetables – like oranges and tomatoes – contain the natural stabilizer
pectin. When homogenized, the plant cells rupture and release the pectin into the juice, which increases its
viscosity and stability.
4. Improved flavour. Many flavours are contained in the plant cells, meaning that they, too, can be released and
made useful – this is especially true in vegetable juices.
5. Improved colour. Colour is basically a visual perception of bouncing light. Smaller particles scatter light
differently than larger ones. Therefore a homogenized beverage appears to be more colourful than an
unhomogenized one.
6. Better Brix. The sugar content in juices is measured in degrees Brix. Homogenization can help a low-Brix
product “become” a high-Brix product by increasing the number of intermolecular bondings between
particles. In effect, this will increase the producer’s profit margin since less raw material can be used to
achieve the same result.

Rice, nuts, grains and soy:

7+8. Double benefit – emulsion and suspension. The case with oat-based beverages is that often you want
the product to resemble bovine milk in flavour and mouth feel. To achieve a desired fat content, you usually
add 1.5% rapeseed oil to the beverage, essentially making the product into an emulsion between fat and
water. At the same time, oat-based beverages naturally have many large particles in them, making them a
suspension at the same time – and that makes the point of homogenization two-fold. Homogenization both
increases the viscosity, giving a smoother product, and stabilizes the emulsion.

9. Less chalkiness. Larger particles in RNGS beverages cause so-called chalkiness – a dry, grainy sensation in the
mouth. But by decreasing the number of particles that are larger than 150µm, homogenization improves
mouth feel.
Reduce your pressure – reduce your energy costs
CUSTOMER CASE By lowering the pressure in its homogenizer, a major dairy was able to reduce energy
consumption and environmental impact, and get longer service intervals.

The challenge

At one of the world’s largest butter factories, optimization of its energy use was already built into its
operations. But when energy consumption at the plant was mapped, it found further potential to reduce the
amount of energy its homogenizer consumed.

Pressure in the homogenizer is directly related to energy consumption, and if the homogenizer could be run
at lower pressure, considerable amounts of energy could be saved.

The solution

The factory collaborated with Tetra Pak to validate the performance of the Tetra Pak Homogenizer
homogenizing device, the HD EnergyIQ. Requirements for strict hygiene, product quality, food safety and
noise were also of utmost importance to the plants owners.

The pioneering design of the HD EnergyIQ makes it possible to lower the pressure substantially compared to
the standard device HD100. The starting pressure of 150 bar was lowered to 120 bar. The estimated annual
savings at the current capacity – 17,500 litres per hour – would be 68 700 KWh. Furthermore, energy
savings with HD EnergyIQ increase with higher capacity.

The flexible pressure and capacity of the HD EnergyIQ device are also of great importance to the plant as
they make it possible to adjust the device to variable production capacities.

The result

With HD EnergyIQ the pressure was reduced (compared to when running HD100), while product quality was
maintained. The plant can now achieve the highest possible efficiency at the lowest possible homogenizing
pressure – without compromising quality or food safety. Lower energy consumption also reduces the
environmental impact of the dairy, and the lower noise levels were an added benefit for the working
environment.

Key equipment:

 HD EnergyIQ homogenizing device

Key performance criteria:

 Reduction of homogenization pressure

 Lower homogenization pressure with retained milk quality
 Increased run time between service intervals
Why two-stage homogenization is best for tomato
products
Almost all dairy producers use a two-step method to homogenize milk, but not all tomato ketchup or tomato paste
producers do the same. That means they are missing out on the benefits: up to 20% increase in the lifetime of critical
parts of the homogenizers. The savings in spare parts make the investment in a second homogenizer worthwhile in
the long run.

GFG

Tomato processors sometimes complain that the wear and tear on the homogenizer means they frequently
have to change the working parts. Even though homogenizers are made of some of the toughest steels
available, tomatoes are highly abrasive. Known to grow best on sandy soils, tomatoes contain silica, and the
tiny fibres can be as hard as shards of glass.

When the pressure drops inside the homogenizer from about 200 bar to 1 bar in a split second, cavities are
formed in the tomato pulp. Cavitation (implosion of the cavities) is what degrades the tomato fibres to a
paste, but it also causes wear and tear on the surface of the homogenizer.

However, there is a way of controlling cavitation by using a second homogenization step. The second
homogenizer creates a steady back pressure on the first step of homogenization. The theory goes that the
cavitation takes place in the bulk of the liquid, away from the walls, instead of next to the walls, as happens
in one-step homogenization. This reduces wear.

“Our experience from a large number of installations at tomato processing plants has shown that the
accumulated wear will be substantially lower than in a one-stage homogenizer, giving up to 20% longer
lifetime of the spare parts,” says Jenny Jonsson, Application Specialist at Tetra Pak Processing Systems.

She also tips producers about a trick to use: “When the parts in the first homogenizing step are showing
signs of wear and need changing, you can take them out and install them in the second homogenizer step
where they go on working for a long period before needing replacement. In this way, you can develop a very
efficient maintenance programme that saves you money.”
The secret to large homogenizer cost savings
Interested in cutting the size of your homogenizer investment by more than half while slashing your running
costs by nearly three-quarters? Tetra Pak shows you how.

CONSIDERING the savings it generates, it is surprising that partial homogenization is not more widely used.
Because you only put about one fifth of the product flow through the homogenizer – with the rest bypassing
it – you can invest in a smaller and less expensive machine. And the savings don’t end there: partial
homogenization also allows you to drastically reduce your operating costs.

“Partial homogenization is not something that is often talked about or widely used, but it does offer huge
savings,” says Nicole Uvenbeck Line Product Manager, Tetra Pak.

In full-stream homogenization – which is the common approach to homogenizing milk – the product is
standardized before homogenization and the entire flow passes through the homogenizer.

In partial homogenization, a maximum cream fat content of 18% is recommended. This results in a flow
through the homogenizer of about one fifth of the full-stream flow. The skim milk simply bypasses the
homogenizer. The skim milk flow and the 18% fat flow are then mixed together to the desired final fat
content, and the same end product is achieved as with full-stream homogenization.
As an example, instead of 20,000 litres of milk going through the homogenizer, with partial homogenization
only about 4,000 litres is homogenized. What does this mean in financial terms? “You can buy a much
smaller model of homogenizer, so investment costs are lower – in this case around 55% lower,” says
Uvenbeck.

In terms of running costs, the reduced demand for electricity, cleaning in place and water means that partial
homogenization can bring down these costs by a massive 70%, compared with full-stream homogenization.

“Some suppliers might not be comfortable with only homogenizing the cream part, or wouldn’t even dare to
think that it would work,” says Uvenbeck. “But we have a lot of experience with partial homogenization and
know that it does work. There are lots of dairies out there that could really save a lot of money by selecting
partial homogenization.”

How they compare: full-stream homogenization versus partial homogenization

Tetra Pak Homogenizer

Tetra Pak Homogenizer 200
300 (full-stream
(partial homogenization)
homogenization)
Power needed 80kW 13kW
Cleaning in place 33kW 6kW
Flow through
20,000 litres/hour 3,890 litres/hour
homogenizer

Specification: Tetra Pak Homogenizer 300 and Tetra Pak Homogenizer 200.

 Capacity: 20,000 l/h for full-stream homogenization and 4,000 l/hr for partial
 End product: milk with 3.5% fat content
 Pressure related to chilled milk, one-week shelf life.
 Running time: 12 h/day
 300 days/year
 2h CIP/day

Partial homogenization is mainly applied to pasteurized market milk.

COST SAVINGS:

55% in investment cost

73% in annual running costs.