Cleaning UHT dairy processing equipment can be tricky. While fouling after conventional pasteurization at lower temperatures is soft and easy to remove, fouling after UHT treatment is hard and brittle. It also adheres more firmly to heating surfaces, making it harder to remove. Consequently, a UHT line must be stopped and cleaned once a day to prevent the fouling to grow so thick that it hampers heat treatment. By optimizing the cleaning in place, it is possible to save time and increase production time, while at the same time saving water, energy and chemicals.

In this presentation we will go through the present knowledge of dairy fouling and cleaning with special focus on the data from a recently finalized research project performed at Lund University, which has clarified the parameters that are most important to optimize the cleaning.