A couple of points that could make a difference:
Ever wondered how this thing you use to cool down your hot wort actually works? It is basically lots of very thin stainless steel plates very close to each other where flows alternatively hot wort and cooling liquid.
The heat from the wort is transferred to the cold liquid which exits de exchanger hot while the wort is cooled down.
Ok, so what could go wrong?
It is important to know that what makes each liquid flow through one plate or the other, is the gasket that seals each plate. Depending on what side the gasket is put on, the liquid either fills in the space between the plates or continues through the distribution passage.
Now, thinking about pressure and flowrate of both liquids: if there is a big difference between the two, it can bend the plates and lead to leakage or damage.
So this means that if one gasket starts leaking, it can make the exchanger leak but it can also possibly contaminate your wort with utility fluid.
A damaged plate can also foul the flow channel over it and create dead zones where the cleaning product won’t be efficient, leading to dirt accumulation and potential bacterial contamination.
Plate heat exchangers manufacturers always come up with new designs to minimise those risks, but a simple flow rate and pressure control should be put in place.
Pressures of both fluids should be kept within 20% of each other and their flowrates within 15%. This can be done by adjusting pumping power and the utility fluid inlet and/or outlet temperatures.
Maintaining the pressure of the product stream slightly higher than the utility fluid will ensure that in case of leakage, the wort will contaminate the utility fluid and not the other way around.
Plate heat exchangers have far more to say than we might think, and many adjustments/considerations could bring process and quality improvements.
댓글