Aseptically packaged milk and juice has probably had the biggest impact of any technology in the beverages industry in the last 50 years.

One of the packaging machines of the Tetrapak, the company that started the trend by fabricating an aseptic machine, is pictured below.

This page actually contains an interactive diagram of the filler where you are able to look at key aspects of the machine and its design.

A nice way to view these multi million dollar machines!

This is a short 10 page note from The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service . It summarises the various drying technologies applicable to food drying in a concise manner, supporting this with some cost information.

It then focusses on the potential of drying as a value addition process on the farm before ending with a lot of information and supplier links.

Here is a nice note and flow diagram that guides the user in things they should consider when choosing a packaging system.

Falling Film Evaporators are designed for the production of concentrates from heat sensitive liquids.

The text on the above image from a Wiegand brochure reads:

FALLING FILM EVAPORATORS

Design
Vertical shell-and-tube heat exchanger, with laterally or con- centrically arranged centrifugal separator.

Operation
The liquid to be concentrated is supplied to the top of the heating tubes and distributed in such a way as to flow down the inside of the tube walls as a thin film. The liquid film starts to boil due to the external heating of the tubes and is partially evaporated as a result. The downward flow, caused initially by gravity, is enhanced by the parallel, downward flow of the vapour formed. Residual film liquid and vapour is separated in the lower part of the calandria and in the downstream centrifugal droplet separator. It is essential that the entire film heating surface, es- pecially in the lower regions, be evenly and sufficiently wetted with liquid. Where this is not the case, dry spots will result