01 / Product state
Define hot-break or cold-break context, formulation, Brix, density, inlet temperature and whether dilution or evaporation occurs upstream.
Application guide / tomato paste
Tube-in-tube sterilizer design for tomato paste.
Tomato paste is often a strong reason to evaluate a tubular path, but the product name does not size the exchanger. Concentration, temperature, shear history and formulation change flow behaviour; the proposed pump, tube geometry, thermal duty and aseptic boundary must therefore be assessed together.
Direct answer
Is a tube-in-tube sterilizer suitable for tomato paste?
It can be a candidate when a pumpable paste needs an indirect, defined product passage, but suitability is conditional. The project must demonstrate manageable pressure drop, adequate heat transfer, the required minimum thermal treatment, acceptable quality change, a practical run length and effective cleaning for the exact paste.
Brix is not a rheology model. Record the analytical method and soluble-solids value, then add viscosity or flow-curve data at relevant temperatures and shear conditions. Published tomato-paste studies likewise use measured, temperature-dependent properties rather than a product label as the design input.
Design basis
Six inputs that control the tomato-paste duty
02 / Rheology
Provide the test method, temperature range, shear range and fitted flow behaviour. A single cold viscosity can misstate pump and pressure-drop duty.
03 / Thermal basis
State inlet, scheduled process where applicable, holding requirement and outlet condition. Preserve the process authority's assumptions and limits.
04 / Hydraulic path
Match pump type, tube passage, nominal and maximum permitted flow, pressure rating and downstream backpressure.
05 / Fouling and run length
Define the required campaign duration, evidence for heat-transfer decline or pressure rise, and the trigger for cleaning.
06 / Aseptic interface
Close diversion, cooling, sterile-zone pressure, tank or bag-filler connection, controls and package assumptions as one boundary.
Process path
Review heating, holding, cooling and filling on one basis
- 01Condition and meter feed
Confirm product state and control the flow variable used by the thermal-process basis.
- 02Heat without inventing a coefficient
Use measured properties and a project model or representative trial to establish area, utility duty and pressure drop.
- 03Protect the hold
Link holding geometry to the maximum permitted flow and fastest product path, not only the nominal average.
- 04Cool to the filler condition
Define outlet temperature, backpressure and the sterile transfer interface before fixing equipment scope.
Evidence before promise
Use representative paste when uncertainty changes the configuration.
A trial plan should record formulation, age, inlet condition, flow, temperatures, pressure, run duration and the agreed before/after quality measurements. A water test cannot establish paste fouling, texture or real pressure drop.
- Representative production formulation
- Rheology at relevant conditions
- Pressure and temperature trend
- Run-length and cleaning endpoint
- Colour, flavour or texture criteria
Research basis
Project-specific properties, not borrowed limits
These papers support the need to measure viscous-food and tomato-paste properties. They do not validate a Site34 design or supply a universal operating envelope.
Peer-reviewed studies
- Process simulation of a tube-in-tube heat exchanger for viscous foodOpen study of viscosity, temperature distribution and pressure-drop behaviour in one defined system.
- Shell-and-tube CFD study using measured tomato-paste propertiesSupports the method of using measured product properties in a defined model; it is not a tube-in-tube equipment study.
- Pressure losses calculation in continuous heat exchangers for tomato pasteSupports accounting for temperature-dependent rheology in tube-in-tube hydraulic assessment.
Tomato-paste review
Bring the paste data, the process basis and the filler interface.
The first review should return a list of confirmed inputs, unresolved tests and a matched supply boundary—not an unsupported capacity promise.
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