GEA TDS Process Technology for the Food Industry

engineering for a better world

GEA Process Engineering

GEA TDS...
is established internationally as a specialist for technically and
economically optimized process technology for the treatment of
food, milk and juice products. 150 years of tradition and experience
in engineering of food and dairy plant are the basis.
GEA TDS delivers the necessary knowhow for the design and manufacture
of hygienic, aseptic and sterile plant
for the production of liquid and pastelike products. With short reaction times
and experts present on site we provide
worldwide customer support for project
construction, maintenance services and,
of course, after-sales programs. Our
experienced and competent teams provide
technical service tailored to your needs.
Your products for the food industry:
Margarine, fats and oils
Tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard
Red sauces, dressings, marinades
Egg products
Soya liquid products
Fruits, jam
Convenience food, soups
Liquid food additions

Bakery products, liquid yeast

Honey
Gelatine
Ice cream

Our processing technology for the food industry:

Complete process lines
Valves and components
Plate heat exchangers
Tubular heat exchangers
UHT plant
Membrane filtration
Homogenization
Separators
Evaporation systems
Deaeration technology
Mixing and weighing
CIP systems
Process automation and integration
Tank farm equipment
Engineering, assembly and service

Process Technology
for the Food Industry
Process lines from a single source for hygiene and efficiency.

Sauce processing plant

UHT plant / deaeration / homogenization

Tubular heat exchanger VARITUBE

Cooling plant

Process Engineering
Whether your project is a new plant or an extension, conversion or
modernization of an existing process plant, GEA TDS engineers, with
their complex know-how, are there to back you up with excellent service.
From isometric drawings to pipe class
specifications, from detailed engineering
to project management, GEA TDS takes
charge of the projects on site, on the
clients premises or in the GEA TDS
technology center. GEA TDS is part of
the Process Engineering sector of the
international GEA Group. This provides
access to a variety of components and
units produced by members in that
group, which thus can be integrated to
create high-quality processing systems.
The use of modern CAE tools for detail
engineering is common throughout the
corporation.

Tank farm

For project planning and engineering the main focus points are:
Preliminary design
Support in approval planning
Preliminary planning and layouts
Selection/dimensioning of process equipment
Preparation of tender documents for process plant

Detailed engineering
Layout planning and detailed coordination/clarification
Design of pipe layout and instrumentation
Arrangement of components
Calculation of material requirements and technical
specifications
Definition of interfaces
Configuration and dimensioning of instrumentation and
control equipment
Technical description of the processes
Quality assurance and quality control
Monitoring of time schedules
Cost control
Supervision of construction and installation work
Commissioning of plant components
Supervision of commissioning
Technical support for production
Process optimization
Documentation

Fruit mixing station

Pasteurizing unit

Concept map

Powder dosing

Liquid ingredients

Mixing module

Fruit crushing and defrost

Herbal & fruit

preparations

Buffer
CIP plant

Mixing module

Cooler
Filling

Heating plant

Homogenization

Central product inflow from the top

via an adjustable cascade valve

Central and gentle product inflow

from the bottom over a cone

Stirring unit

Powder entry

Tubular heat exchanger

Sauce Processing Plant

The ideal solution for the economical production of smooth sauces and
sauces containing particles in the delicatessen industy.
Process steps:
1. Intake of water and paste-like basic
ingredients (tomato puree, mustard,
liquid seasoning) and powdery basic
ingredients (starch, spices, binding
agents)
2. Blending and homogenization
3. Heating the sauces and addition of
pieces of vegetables (peppers, sweet
corn, mushrooms)
4. Buffering the prepared sauces
5. CIP cleaning
The plant is processing batches from
3001,500 l within 2030 min., with
temperatures between 15and90 C.

Plant description:
Insulated stainless steel tanks are filled with a preselected
quantity of water via a recipe management system. When the
specified quantity of water has been supplied, the basic pastelike and powdery ingredients are introduced into the circulating
water stream by a blending table, a self-priming centrifugal
pump and a homogenizing pump. In the homogenizing pump,
the components are finely blended in the shear gap between
rotor and stator, thus preventing agglomeration, lump formation
and cross linking. The homogeneous blend is circulated until the
entire supply of basic ingredients on the blending table has been
introduced into the sauce tank. Homogeneity of the sauce, which
at this stage is still cold, is maintained by agitators. A positivedisplacement pump transfers the tank contents to a VARITUBE M
tubular heat exchanger by GEA TDS.
The tubular heat exchanger type M consists of several inner
tubes surrounded by hot water, which flows in the shell. The
tube bundles are mounted in a floating manner so that the
complete bundles can be removed for inspection purposes. The
modules of the tubular heat exchanger also contain specially
designed flow devices which keep the heat exchanger free from
deposits when processing products containing fibres or particles.
Once the specified heating temperature has been reached and
cold vegetables have been added (optional), the prepared sauce
is automatically kept warm. A push-out program conveys the
prepared sauce to the buffer tanks or the filling system.

Mixing Plant
With GEA TDS mixing plant the mixing of components for the production
of dairy products is made easy, whether they are liquid, paste-like, or
powdery. GEA TDS plans and delivers mixing plant for a variety of processes.
Mixing processes are necessary when:
Dry substances or paste-like media are
to be added to a liquid phase.
Several liquid phases or paste media
are to be blended to form a final
product.
Products are made from different
components in a batch process.
Basic products are varied by adding
ingredients prior to filling.

Some products require these processes to run under ultra-clean

and aseptic conditions. Sometimes additional thermal process
steps are required during the mixing phase. The use of volume
and mass flow meters or weighing systems allows mixing
processes to be semi- or fully automated and recipe-controlled.
By the way, we are supplying mixing plant as ready-to-connect
pre-assembled units.

Basic layout scheme, process tank weighing system

Filling and dosing valves

Motor with variable speed

Jackated shell
Heater/cooler
Steam
Ice water
Scraper agitator

Condensate
Ice water

Decentral weighing
control

Load cells

Product pump

Tank bottom valve

CIP booster pump

BATCH FORMULA mixer

In-line dosing

Powder mixing station

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Compact CIP system

Orbital cleaner

Rotating jet cleaner

Orbital cleaner

Roating spray head

CIP Systems
The diversity of products and processes calls for different methods for
cleaning process plant.
CIP (cleaning in-place) is the commonly
used method for plant cleaning during
the production process where hygiene
is, of course, of paramount importance.
Using a modern CIP system enables
optimum quality assurance and increases
product quality. GEA TDS is always
striving to find the perfect balance of
chemicals, mechanics, temperature and
residence time, with additional focus on
environmental protection and downtimes.
CIP recovery systems
These CIP systems consist of various
tanks for drinking water, cleaning
solution and return water. The system
or tank size is adjusted to the required
cleaning procedures. The systems are
technically equipped and configured
to meet the cleaning objectives defined.
Single-use cleaning system with ECOCIP
The system consists of a detergent tank
for the ready-made cleaning solution, preassembled on a base frame. The cleaning
solution is circulated and heated up to
the operating temperature. Conductivity
measurement and in-line concentrate
metering ensure that the required amount
of detergent is added. The detergent flow
rates are adjusted by the cleaning program.

VARICIP
In the VARICIP automation system, cleaning objectives are
translated into recipes.
The recipes contain target-dependent parameters:
Start-enabling and cleaning-monitoring tasks
Conductivity limit values
Temperature limit values
Turbidity-monitoring tasks
Flow-rate set points
Rinsing interval chains
as well as step-dependent parameters:
Step function as a selection of configured steps
Run and monitoring times
These blocks can be used to configure cleaning sequences freely.
A water blocker considerably reduces the water consumption
during CIP. Trend curves are recorded to document the cleaning
process. An event log in table form is created as a file for quality
management purposes.
Detergent concentrate storage
A CIP station needs detergents. As a certified specialist company
in accordance with 19i WHG (federal water resources law)
GEA TDS is authorized to install concentrate storage tanks
that conform to all legal and environmental requirements. The
company has extensive experience in this field for designing
concentrate draw-off and exhaust-air cleaning and when
calculating caustic, acid and additive metering rates this
also includes the generation of the necessary balance sheets.

Single-use CIP system with ECOCIP

UHT plant, type P

UHT Plant
for Aseptic Product Treatment
Depending on the product to be treated, product quality and required
efficiency, three different types of UHT processes are at your disposal.
UHT plant, type I
This type of product treatment plant
works according to the indirect heating
principle. Its great benefit is very high
production safety. This process technology
has proved successful for many years.
UHT plant enable optimum flow
conditions which produce good deliver
quality and high efficiency, with a heat
recovery rate of up to 90 percent.

UHT plant, type P

In comparison with the indirect UHT plant type I, the UHT
plant type P is widely based on the same process technology
but uses tubular heat exchangers. This makes the indirect heat
transfer circuit between product to be heated and product to
be cooled dispensable. The advantage is that the plant type P
achieves even higher efficiency and improves product quality
without the need of expanding the heat exchange surface.
UHT plant, type D
The direct heating method used in this type of UHT plant
offers a very high product quality. The integral steam injector or
infusion system and a flash cooler provide very short dwelling
times in the temperature intensive zones.

Membrane Filtration
for Liquid Separation
Reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, ultra-filtration and microfiltration
Membrane filtration is specifically used
for mass transfer at low temperatures
and/or ambient temperatures in special
applications.

These methods are used to separate liquid components or to

concentrate solids without thermal or mechanical treatment.
The filtration plant are equipped with membranes made of
organic polymer or ceramics.

Membrane ltration unit

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VARITUBE Tubular Heat Exchangers

The VARITUBE tubular heat exchanger is specifically designed for the
thermal treatment of low- to high-viscosity products as well as products
containing particles, pulp and fibres.
The VARITUBE system is mainly used
in heating, cooling, and aseptic systems.
Application-oriented technology
According to the required production
capacity and the physical properties of
the product, the most appropriate design
can be selected from numerous versions
of our VARITUBE heat exchangers.
Depending on the area of application,
customized designs can also be developed
and installed. Our VARITUBE range
is used for many products that need to
be heated, cooled, pasteurized, and UHT
treated.
Technical concept
The VARITUBE tubular heat exchanger
is a straight-tube heat exchanger with one
or more inner tubes situated in a shell.
The inner tubes can either be straight
or corrugated. Corrugation and the
optimized product/media volume ratio
increase the thermal efficiency of our
heat exchangers.
Their modular design allows for easy
installation and easy extensions or future
modifications.

VARITUBE modules are TV-approved and manufactured

from 1.4404/1.4571 (AISI 316 L/Ti) material. A sanitary
sealing system and product flow paths without dead zones
ensure highest production reliability and product quality. Easy
maintenance and inspection and low service costs are further
features of our heat exchangers.
VARITUBE S Singletube for indirect heat treatment of
products containing pieces. Product recovery is possible using
pigging technology. This is a tubular heat exchanger in which
the product flows in one straight inner tube, while a heatcarrying medium flows around it in an external shell. The inner
tube is mounted in a fixed or floating manner to compensate for
the different thermal expansions caused by high temperature
differences between shell and inner tube.
VARITUBE M Multitube with indirect heat exchange, which
is also suitable for products containing particles of approx.
18 mm diameter. The product flows in several straight inner
tubes while a heat-carrying medium flows around it in a shell.
The inner tube is mounted in a fixed or floating manner to
compensate for the different thermal expansions caused by high
temperature differences between shell and inner tube.
Further characteristics of VARITUBE S and M
Modular design with 2 or 4 modules
Fixed or removable inner bundle
Straight or corrugated inner tubes
Lengths of 3 or 6 m
EHEDG approved and certified

VARITUBE S and M
Straight and corrugated inner tubes

VARITUBE P

VARITUBE HS

VARITUBE SK

VARITUBE E

VARITUBE P used for the direct

product/product heat recovery with
smooth, fibre-containing and viscous
products. In this tubular heat exchanger
the product is guided through several
straight inner tubes surrounded by the
same product, which flows in a countercurrent direction in the shell. The inner
tubes are mounted in a floating manner
and can be removed as a complete bundle
for inspecting the product flow path.
VARITUBE SK a specially designed
flow device that keeps the heat exchanger
free from deposits it processes products
containing fibres with a length of up to
30 mm and to enable an even
distribution of the product to all tubes.
This heat exchanger is available in an
M version (VARITUBE M-SK) and in a
P version (VARITUBE P-SK).

VARITUBE HS Multitube with indirect heat exchange,

suitable mainly for hot water generation and heating of CIP
media for high thermal performance and volume flow rates of
up to 60 m3/h. This tubular heat exchanger features product
guiding in several inner tubes which are bent around 180.
The heat-carrying medium flows in the surrounding shell.
This design allows for compensation of the different thermal
expansions between inner bundle and shell, which could be
caused by high temperature differences.
VARITUBE E Multitube with indirect heat exchange,
suitable mainly for hot water generation and heating of CIP
media for medium thermal outputs and volume flow rates of up
to 165 m3/h.
This tubular heat exchanger guides the product through several
straight inner pipes surrounded by a carrier medium in a shell.
The inner tube is mounted in a floating manner to compensate
for the different thermal expansions caused by high temperature
differences between shell and inner tube.

Functional principle
Flow devices installed on the bottom plate
provide additional, jet-type acceleration
of the product in the reducer at the
connection bend.
The flow breaks at the outside of the
displacement device and generates a
transverse flow directly in front of the
tube bottom plate. The transverse flow
enables that no fibres collect on the tube
bottom plate. Much longer production
cycles are thus achieved and furthermore
the efficiency will be increased.

VARITUBE SK flow simulation

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Plate Heat Exchangers

Our heat exchangers are at the heart of all process plant. Based on
more than 70 years of experience, our heat exchangers meet the highest
demands with regard to performance and hygiene.
Their extremely compact design enables
the plate heat exchangers to fulfill
demanding thermal tasks on a relatively
small floor space. The modular design of
the system allows easy capacity increase
or reduction. Easy access for maintenance
and inspection is also guaranteed. In our
systems we use glue-free seals, a decisive
advantage for fast seal replacement and
shortest downtimes.

VARITHERM, NT and FREEFLOW N These three different

plate types enable us to meet the specific requirements of any
process application. Multiple plate sizes and embossed profiles
provide an ideal combination of efficient heat transfer and
gentle treatment for different types of products with different
viscosities.

Type VARITHERM VARITHERM

plates are used for the thermal treatment
of products with low and high viscosities.
You can choose between three types
of heat exchanger plates with different
embossed profiles:
Plate type H with horizontal chevron
pattern for high thermal efficiency
Plate type V with vertical chevron
pattern for lower pressure drops
Plates type M and P with V-shaped
chevron pattern for highest differential
pressure resistance

Type FREEFLOW N A plate with horizontal washboard

profile. Vertical caterpillar-shaped reinforcing fins channel the
product flow and are continued at the top and bottom as flow
distributors directed towards the inlet or outlet. For products
containing pieces with a diameter of up to 4 mm and operating
pressures of up to 10 bar, the Freeflow N plate is the right
choice.
Further characteristics of GEA TDS plate heat exchangers
Efficient heat transfer, i.e. small heat exchange area and thus
allowing for low investment costs
High degree of heat recovery resulting in low energy costs
Low space requirements due to a compact assembly

Type NT High-performance plates with

optimized wave flow pattern (OptiWave).
A wide range of possible sizes and shapes
result in a perfect, tailor-made design to
fulfill exact operating requirements.

Type H

Type V

Type NT

Type FREEFLOW N

Type M/P

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Homogenization
Homogenization is an important step in processing dairy products,
liquid foods and beverages. It leads to increased physical product
stability, prolonged shelf life, and improved taste, color and consistence.
Homogenized products improve digestibility. Due to homogenization the
amount of product additives can be reduced.
Principle
The product passes the high-pressure
piston pump, is then pressurized and
re-expands in the homogenizing valve.
The associated mechanical energy
fed into the product causes the desired
product properties and leads to long-term
physical stability.
Many products reach optimum quality
after single-stage homogenization.
Those products containing slow-acting
emulsifiers or high-fat products are
homogenized in two stages. Products
with limited emulsifier/fat ratio are
homogenized twice with a lower working
pressure. Often the homogenizing follows
after the heat treatment under aseptic
conditions in order to cut heat-induced
fat-protein aggregates.

NanoValve

NanoValve
This homogenizing valve, patented worldwide, is the result of
many years of experience in the homogenizing technology.
It achieves much finer droplet or particle sizes compared to
standard valves at the same homogenizing pressure. Therefore the
desired quality can be reached with lower energy consumption.
The optimized flow in the valve gap minimizes the wear and
tear of all parts as well as the noise level of the machine. The
NanoValve is also available in aseptic version.
We offer high-quality homogenizing technology for all
applications up to a pressure of 1500 bar and flow rates from
10 l/h to 60,000 l/h in different variants and configurations.

Homogenizer

Demounting work prior to leakage testing

On-site documentation of tasks performed

Assembly and After Sales

GEA TDS, as a matter of course, undertakes the task of assembling entire
plants. A comprehensive range of further services is available throughout
the entire service life of your plant, all designed to achieve maximum
productivity and economic efficiency.
Our After Sales program includes
continuous support service; taking care
of service and maintenance directly after
hand-over of the plant.

Customer support also includes defined maintenance and

individual inspection agreements to ensure fault-free and
reliable operation and to keep your plant running efficiently
for years.

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Process Automation
and Integration
Quality assurance and increased productivity drive the steadily increasing
automation of plant and production processes. The advantages are
obvious: labor and production downtimes are reduced and operator error
is safely ruled out. Plant are upgraded so that all essential parameters
relevant for the production processes are automatically controlled,
monitored and documented.
GEA TDS offers a wide spectrum of
innovative process automation systems
and services that range from providing
electronic process control to integrated,
company-wide network systems with
corresponding MES (Manufacturing
Excecution System). We achieve this
progress for you using proven modules
and technologies and following inter
national standards (e.g. ISA-S88, ISA-S95).
To adapt existing production plant to new
generations of automation systems (e.g.
when replacing the visualization system
or upgrading from S5 to S7) migration
strategies will be developed for you that
allow safe conversion while production
continues to run.
We deliver for the MES level databasebased applications for quality assurance,
increase in productivity, batch tracking,
and verification.

Operation and process visualization

All operator interfaces are designed with logical menu structures
that allow intuitive operation of the plant. The operator is
comprehensively informed at a glance and guided progressively
through the system.
Documentation and process optimization
The supervisory control system allows operators to record
measured values and switch status, thus creating the necessary
transparency for process optimization.
Recording of measured data is supplemented by a databasesupported event log with practice-oriented evaluation features.
This audit trail allows the tracking of individual batches or an
entire production.
Reporting and batch tracking
The process data is transferred online to an SQL database,
extended with powerful evaluation tools:
The report generator can be customized so you can configure
your own application-oriented reports.
Batch tracking in graphical or tabular form helps you to keep
track of your products in accordance with the EU regulation
178/2002. The standardized approach allows you to introduce
a batch tracking system in manageable steps at a known cost.

Automated process plant

Process report with GANT chart

Process visualization

Control center

Batch tracking

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We live our values.

Excellence Passion Integrity Responsibility GEA-versity

Kruppstrasse 3, 48683 Ahaus, Germany

Tel. +49 2561 8602-0
geatds@gea.com, www.gea.com

Am Industriepark 210, 21514 Bchen, Germany

Tel. +49 4155 49-0

08/13

Voss-Strasse 11/13, 31157 Sarstedt, Germany

Tel. +49 5066 990-0

GEA TDS GmbH

434e

GEA Process Engineering

inform-werbeagentur.de

GEA Group is a global engineering company with multi-billion euro sales and operations in more than
50countries. Founded in 1881, the company is one of the largest providers of innovative equipment and
process technology. GEA Group is listed in the STOXX Europe 600 Index.