»
»
Food & Beverage
The HRS R Series uses a rotary scraping action, making it ideal for cooling by-products such as poultry viscera. Image courtesy of HRS Heat Exchangers.
About the author
After beginning his career as an engineer in the food and dairy industries, Matt has worked in Heat Exchanger sales for twenty years, joining HRS in 2013. Today as Global Business Development Director, he is responsible for overseeing and developing the HRS Group’ s strategies for business development and marketing. sufficiently. The same phenomenon can also occur in reverse when heating a chilled product.
Scraped surface heat exchangers To overcome this, an annular space heat exchanger( such as the HRS AS 3 Series) where the service fluid passes down the centre and around the product at the same time, may be considered instead of a double tube heat exchanger( like the HRS DTA Series). However, the AS Series is not suitable for products containing particles or pieces. This means that scraped surface heat exchangers are often the most suitable option when handling meat products. It is important to choose a heat exchanger that combines gentle handling of the product with thorough mixing( to prevent the phenomenon described above). Heat exchangers for meat and meat co-products also need to be robust enough to withstand heavy duty use, which is why HRS Heat Exchangers developed the RHD Series of rotary scraped surface heat exchangers with an adapted internal scraper configuration and heavy-duty gearbox to withstand the higher torque required to keep such products moving, particularly at very low temperatures.
The HRS RHD Series has an adapted internal scraper configuration and heavy-duty gearbox. Image courtesy of HRS Heat Exchangers.
The high velocity scrapers of the RHD Series and R Series help increase heat transfer, resulting in a heat exchanger with a smaller surface area, lower working pressures, smaller footprint, and lower capex compared with other designs. The scraper bar and helical screw within the tube of the R Series can also be configured( depending on installation type) to run in reverse, effectively emptying the heat exchanger tubes of product without damaging it or changing its characteristics, helping to minimise product losses from cleaning-in-place( CIP), product change overs, etc.
Conclusion In other situations, and for other meat products, a reciprocating scraped surface heat exchanger, such as the HRS Unicus Series, may be more suitable. The Unicus Series is ideal for a wide range of difficult meat products and meat waste streams and is available with a wide range of scraper types, providing even more choice for applications from cooling to sterilizing and everything in between. The HRS Unicus Series is particularly useful for handling viscous food products where texture and consistency are important attributes. For example, some meat mixtures may shear or break apart.
References
1. OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2025- 2034 at https:// www. oecd. org / en / publications / 2025 / 07 / oecd-fao-agriculturaloutlook-2025-2034 _ 3eb15914 / full-report / meat _ 5462e384. html
2. https:// www. tancanfood. com / global-meatproduction-and-consumption-trends
3. https:// www. statista. com / statistics / 274522 / global-per-capita-consumption-of-meat /
24 Heat Exchanger World May 2026 www. heat-exchanger-world. com