Pasteurization is one of the great advances in food preservation in history, developed in the 1870s. Pasteurization is the process of heating any food or beverage, such as beer, milk or water, to a specific temperature for a specific period of time in order to destroy microorganisms that could cause disease or damage to the product. Due the high production speeds required today, many plants use tunnel pasteurization machines. This type of equipment offers continuous, rather than batch pasteurization, to reduce time and energy consumption.

Tunnel Pasteurization is used frequently in breweries. The bottles or cans are moved through a chamber. Hundreds of bottles travel through different temperature stages, and it is very common for some of these bottles to open or break. The liquid spilled is mixed with the hot water; this contaminated water is now a culture broth for bacteria or other microorganisms. These produce odor and affects the flavor in the beer. To prevent bacterial growth, the breweries have to add chemicals to sanitize the water stream. Many of those chemicals are aggressive in high concentrations so it is necessary to control the dosing at a level specific to each stage of the pasteurizer.

Peracetic Acid and Chlorine Dioxide are the chemicals commonly used in this application. In either case, Walchem can provide a reliable control solution. Our INT-6 measures the ORP and the PAA/ClO2 in ppm, and controls the chemical dosage required to maintain the proper values. The processing plant personnel are impressed by the accuracy of our sensors and the traceability they get through our USB Integrated data logging.