HTST pasteuriser Troubleshooting

Symptoms: Divert valve kicks product back to balance tank, throughput collapses, restarts burn time and product. Likely causes: Hot water or steam supply unstable; Fouled plates reducing heat transfer; Flow rate instability. Fixes: Fix the heating loop first: verify steam pressure, hot water set point stability and control valve behaviour. Shorten run time between cleans for the recipe or improve CIP; trend the temperature approach to spot fouling early. Check the timing pump, homogeniser coordination and level control in the balance tank. Prevention: Trend holding-tube temperature margin, heating loop PM, CIP effectiveness verification.

Symptoms: Pressure drop climbs across the plate pack, temperature approach widens through the run, runs end early for cleaning. Likely causes: Protein or mineral fouling faster than planned; CIP not restoring the plates; Plate gaskets aging. Fixes: Review product preheat and regeneration temperatures; small profile changes slow deposit formation. Verify chemical strength, temperature and flow in CIP; inspect plates periodically instead of trusting cycle completion. Replace gaskets on schedule; leaking gaskets disturb flow distribution and hot spots foul faster. Prevention: Run-length and pressure-drop trending, periodic plate inspection, gasket replacement intervals.

Symptoms: Steam and chilled water consumption rise for the same throughput, product enters heating colder than design. Likely causes: Regeneration section fouled; Flow imbalance between passes; Instrument drift hiding the loss. Fixes: Include regen sections in cleaning verification, not just the heating section. Check for blocked channels and verify differential pressures against commissioning data. Calibrate the temperature sensors around the regen section so efficiency numbers are real. Prevention: Energy per litre trending, commissioning-baseline comparisons, sensor calibration cadence.