Dairy products are an inseparable part of the Indian staple diet. Thanks to Verghese Kurien, and the successful ‘operation flood’, India is one of the largest producers of milk and milk products in the world.

Producing milk products from milk can be a daunting task due to its short shelf life. Milk gets bad easily and it needs to be pasteurized and the by-products need to be separated from it at the right time in the right manner. This process is made possible by Skid Mounted Process. Skid mounted process module is mainly central to all dairy processes as it helps to process quality milk and dairy products.

There are two different types of structures that facilitate these skid mounted process:

1. Plate pack pasteurizer type skid mounted module:
In this mechanized arrangement, a pasteurizer and homogenizer are connected to each other for continuous operation. The importance of a pasteurizer and homogenizer in the dairy sector simply cannot be stressed enough whether it’s a small scale plant or a large scale plant. They are not just useful in improving the quality of milk and milk products but also for giving them the desired shelf life.    
2. Tubular type skid mounted process module:
The structure of this is such that all the tubes of the machine are corrugated in Lathe machine to obtain the turbulence flow of the product. It is widely used in pulp based juice applications.

Skid Mounted Module includes Four stages –

1. In the first stage, the product is pre heated from 4°C- 45°C by using hot water.At 45 degrees, cream separation takes place.Also, the unnecessary bacteria are inactivated.
 
2. In the second stage, the product is heated at an even higher temperature, from 45°C-72°C. Later, it goes into high pressure homogenizer for homogenization. For homogenization, the temperature of the milk should be above 70°C. Here the homogenisation is completed.
 
3. In the third stage, the product goes back to the pasteurizer and is heated to 80°C.
 
4. In the fourth and the final stage, the temperate of the product is brought down instantly from 80°C to 4°C and cooled by using chilled water. When the product is completely pasteurized, it is sent to the packing section.

Skid Mounted Process Module Components:

• FLOAT BALANCE TANK

– SS304 tank which is used as a feed tank for the product to pass into Plate pack (PHE) or Tubes (THE)
– It gives the necessary spray ball arrangement for CIP.

 
• S. CENTRIFUGAL TRANSFER PUMP:

– Centrifugal pump is used to transfer the product from one tank to another.
– It is made with open impeller design which makes cleaning of the impeller easier.

 
• FLOW CONTROLLER (MECHANICAL):

– It is a micro valve which is used to control the flow of the product manually.

 
• PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER (PHE) or TUBULAR HEAT EXCHANGER(THE):

– Plate Heat Exchanger consists of fixed plates, pressure plates and necessary intermediate plates that provide 90% of the regeneration efficiency. They are mostly used for less viscous products like milk, carbonated soft drinks etc.
– Tubular Heat exchanger (THE) is used instead of PHE where products are little viscous like Fresh Juice, etc. It is made with a shell and tube arrangement having shell MOC SS304 and inside tubes MOC SS316 from where the product passes. Both shell and tubes are corrugated to have maximum transfer of heat.

 
• AUTO FLOW DIVERSION VALVE:

– Whenever the temperature of the product goes below the temperature of the pasteurizer, the auto flow diversion valve will activate and will transfer the product back into the balance tank.

 
• HOLDING SECTION: (IN TUBES)

– In this section, the product is held in order to kill the bacteria and improve the shelf of the product.
– The length and capacity of the holding tubes depend on the capacity of the pasteurizer.

 
• DUPLEX FILTER

– It is a cylindrical filter used to remove all the foreign particles in the product.

 
• STEAM MIX BATTERY:

– It consists of single section PHE, steam control valve and steal hot water pump control valve.
– In this section, steam comes to one side of PHE through steam boilers and water comes through the other side of PHE from hot water pumps. This makes the temperature of the water hot enough to go into the plate pack to do the necessary operations.

 
• CONTROL PANEL (AUTO):

– Control panel will be made of SS. It comes with a data log for temperature indication, on/off switch for control supply, solenoid valve for flow diversion valve.
– All necessary electrical cabling that are needed to operate pasteurizer.

 

Advantages of Skid Mounted Module:

1. It comes with interconnecting pipes and fittings.
2. It has a skid fabricated out of SS 304 square tubes.
3. Necessary ‘Ball feet’ arrangement is provided for the skid so that all the components are placed properly.
4. Just one skilled laborer is enough to operate it due to its compact design as everything comes under the same skid.
5. Necessary utility connections are given for the boilers, cooling tower and chiller systems with their respective plug valves.
6. Necessary CIP connection is also given in the Balance Tank for cleaning purposes.

Skid Mounted Module Applications:

1. It is used in milk applications.
2. It is used in juice applications.
3. It is also used in other diary applications like Curd, Ice creams, etc.

GOMA Engineering, Mumbai, manufactures both plate pack pasteurizers as well as Skid Mounted Module. These plants are easy to operate, have compact design, require less maintenance and are built with superior technology and material. They are useful in processing milk products like yogurt, curd, ice creams, coconut milk, fruit purees and concentrations etc. We also provide all the assistance needed to set up the plants in a hassle-free manner.

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