JPH09272515A - Container sterilization apparatus and container sterilization method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: [PROBLEMS] To provide a container sterilization device and a container sterilization method, in which a steam sterilization method and a hydrogen peroxide sterilization method can be selectively used depending on contents to be filled in an aseptic filling system. Kind Code: A1 A steam generator used for sterilizing a container for aseptic packaging, comprising a steam generation tank, a spray nozzle for blowing water or warm water into the steam generation tank, and steam for blowing the water or warm water. The vaporizing heater 3 that becomes vaporized, and the sterilizing nozzle 15 that sprays vaporized water or hot water onto the container
And are installed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sterilizing device for a container for aseptic filling of fruit juice, acidic drinks such as drinks, and alcoholic drinks such as sake and wine, and a sterilizing method for the container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Normally, sterilization of a packaging container in an aseptic filling system is performed by immersing the packaging container in a hydrogen peroxide solution or a peracetic acid type bactericide when it is used for neutral foods such as milk drinks, coffee drinks and tea drinks. Alternatively, a sterilizing method such as spraying a sterilizing agent of this kind on the packaging container is often used. On the other hand, in the case of acid foods such as fruit juice and drinks with low pH, and alcoholic beverages such as sake and wine, the heat-killing method using steam may be used because the harmful bacteria may have relatively low heat resistance. Often.

[0003]

However, when a sterilizer using a chemical such as hydrogen peroxide is used, the sterilizing chamber for sterilizing the container is blown with aseptic air to prevent mixing of outside air, and a positive pressure is applied to the inside of the chamber. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures such as keeping it in the room and preventing outside air from entering. As a result, there is a problem that the drug in the chamber flows to the outside and the drug concentration in the environmental atmosphere of the filling chamber rises, affecting the worker. Also, in the case of acidic foods and alcoholic beverages, steam sterilization can be used, but in this case, if steam that is usually created intensively is used, iron content and chemicals used for boilers may be mixed. Therefore, when it is used for sterilizing a container, it is not preferable in terms of food hygiene. However, it is effective if it is possible to vaporize and use sterile water that is chemically and microbially pure as much as possible.

Further, the aseptic filling system usually uses the hydrogen peroxide sterilization method when designed and manufactured for neutral foods. Similarly, the hydrogen peroxide sterilization method is also used when filling acidic foods and alcohols, but as described above, steam sterilization is sufficient in these cases, and hydrogen peroxide having a problem such as a leak in the working environment can be used. Needless to use. Therefore, it is effective to mount a sterilization device that properly uses both sterilization methods depending on the contents to be filled.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems A first invention of the present invention is:
A steam generator used for sterilization of aseptic packaging containers,
A steam generation tank, a spray nozzle that blows water or warm water into the steam generation tank, a vaporization heater that vaporizes the blown water or hot water, and a sterilization nozzle that sprays the vaporized water or hot water to the container, It is a container sterilizer characterized by being installed.

A second aspect of the present invention is a method of sterilizing a container, which comprises blowing steam from the steam generation tank into the container and then removing the steam by aseptic hot air.

A third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the water blown into the steam generation tank is sterile water, the spray nozzle is a two-fluid nozzle, and the air supplied to the spray nozzle is sterile air. It is a container sterilizer.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a container sterilizing apparatus in which the surface of the heater is corrugated.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is a container sterilizing apparatus characterized in that the water or hot water sprayed from the spray nozzle is an intermittent spray.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is a container sterilizing apparatus characterized in that a temperature sensor is attached to the steam generating apparatus.

A seventh invention of the present invention is a container sterilizer characterized by being usable as a gasifier for hydrogen peroxide water by using hydrogen peroxide water instead of water.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the present invention, a sterilizer having the following structure is used. That is,
The sterilizer is sterile water, preferably ion-exchanged distilled water,
Alternatively, a vaporization tank consisting of a vapor generation tank for vaporizing hydrogen peroxide water, a spray nozzle for spraying sterile water or hydrogen peroxide water onto the vapor generation tank, and a sterilization nozzle for spraying vaporized vapor or hydrogen peroxide gas onto a container And so on. If steam is produced by spraying sterile water, it must be sprayed with a sufficient amount of steam to have a thermal effect on the container to be sterilized. Therefore, it is necessary to attach a heater having a high vaporizing ability. Therefore, a large vaporization area is set and the temperature of the vaporization surface is set to a high temperature. Also, aseptic water to be supplied needs to be increased in quantity, so that several to several tens of spray nozzles must be attached.

On the other hand, when the hydrogen peroxide solution is vaporized, the decomposition rate of the hydrogen peroxide solution varies depending on the surface temperature of vaporization. Therefore, if the temperature is too high, the hydrogen peroxide concentration decreases and the sterilizing effect decreases. Therefore, the vaporized surface temperature must be moderate. Therefore, it is necessary to control the vaporization surface temperature to be lower than that in the case of vaporizing sterile water and vaporize it. Further, the amount of vaporization is smaller than that in the case of vaporizing aseptic water, and an appropriate amount of vaporization must be provided to facilitate removal after sterilization. Therefore, the spray nozzle for spraying hydrogen peroxide solution onto the surface of the vaporization heater does not use all the spray nozzles for vaporizing sterile water, but uses only one or a few spray nozzles. In this way, a sterilization device is configured to sterilize the container by spraying steam or vaporized hydrogen peroxide gas prepared from sterile water onto the container through the sterilization nozzle.

When this sterilization device is installed in an aseptic filling system, either vapor or vaporized hydrogen peroxide gas can be used together depending on the type of contents. When used to generate steam, it is possible to use steam with less impurities than the steam supplied through the centralized pipe that is normally used, and it is effective when impurities affect the contents. Also, when filling the contents that do not need to use the hydrogen peroxide sterilization method depending on the contents,
By using the steam sterilization method, there is no leakage to the environment that occurs when the hydrogen peroxide sterilization method is used.

[0015]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below more specifically. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an example of the sterilizing apparatus of the present invention. The sterilizer is a steam generation tank 1, a spray nozzle 7 for spraying sterile water or hydrogen peroxide solution, and a sterilization nozzle 1 for spraying vaporized vapor or hydrogen peroxide gas onto a container.
5 mag.

The steam generation tank 1 includes a spray nozzle 7 for supplying sterile water or hydrogen peroxide solution to the steam generation tank 1, a vaporization heater 3 for vaporizing the supplied sterile water or hydrogen peroxide solution, and a steam generator for aseptic operation. Aseptic hot air supply line 6 for supplying hot air and container 2 for vaporized gas
It is composed of a sterilizing nozzle 15 and the like to be sprayed onto.

Water or hydrogen peroxide solution 10 is supplied to a tank 12. The tank 12 is a pressurized tank, and liquid is fed from the tank to the spray nozzle by supplying compressed air from a compressed air supply line 14. 1
3 is a safety valve. The water supplied to this tank is preferably ion-exchanged distilled water containing few impurities. A heating heater 11 for heating water or hydrogen peroxide solution 10 is installed in the tank 12, and the water or hydrogen peroxide solution heated by the heating heater 11 is sterilized by a sterilization filter 9
Sterile water or hydrogen peroxide solution is sprayed into the steam generation tank from the spray nozzle 7 via the valve 8 via the valve 8. The sterilization filter 9 may be used only for water, and may be a detached line for hydrogen peroxide water.

A vaporization heater 3 as a heating medium and aseptic hot air heated by a heater 5 via a sterilizing air filter 4 from a blower 19 are supplied to the steam generating tank 1 through a supply line 6. As a result, the sterile hot water or hydrogen peroxide solution sprayed in the steam generation tank is completely vaporized in the apparatus. The vaporized aseptic warm water or hydrogen peroxide water 16 is blown in a gaseous state into the container 2 to be sterilized through the sterilizing nozzle 15 while being pushed out by hot air.

A temperature sensor 1 is provided at the tip of the sterilization nozzle 15.
7 is provided, and the structure is such that the temperature of the gas at the time of sterilization is constantly measured to monitor whether a sufficient sterilization temperature condition is satisfied. Although only three spray nozzles 7 are shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to increase the number more than this. When vaporizing aseptic water, it is desirable to use all spray nozzles 7 and raise the temperature of the vaporization heater 3 as much as possible. It is effective that the temperature sprayed on the container 2 is 150 ° C. or higher as measured by the temperature sensor 17. However, there is heat damage to the container to be sterilized, and the conditions will be finally set in consideration of the heat resistance of the container used. Further, when aseptic water is vaporized, aseptic hot air supplied to the steam generation tank is also preferably as hot as possible, and the temperature sensor 18 controls the temperature in consideration of heat damage to the container. Further, when spraying from the spray nozzle 7, continuous spraying is sufficient if the vaporizing ability of the heating medium is sufficient, but intermittent spraying is an effective method when the temperature drops.

When this apparatus is used for vaporizing hydrogen peroxide water, if all spray nozzles are used, more gas than necessary is generated, so it is effective to use limited spray nozzles. Further, in the case of hydrogen peroxide water, the decomposition rate of hydrogen peroxide concentration changes depending on the vaporization conditions, so the temperature of the heating medium is in the range of 100 to 200 ° C., preferably 120 to 200 ° C.
Evaporation in the range of 160 ° C. can be vaporized under the condition that the decomposition rate is the smallest, and it also works effectively as a bactericidal effect. It is effective that the surface of the vaporization heater 3 serving as a heating medium has a large vaporization area, and it is desirable to make the surface wavy. After aseptic steam or hydrogen peroxide gas is sprayed into the container with this sterilizer, aseptic hot air is blown into the container in the next step to further enhance the sterilizing effect. This sterile hot air removes the steam drip or hydrogen peroxide solution that may remain in the container.

[0021]

When the container sterilizing apparatus and the container sterilizing method of the present invention are used, different sterilizing methods of steam sterilizing method and hydrogen peroxide sterilizing method can be used together in the same aseptic filling system. When manufacturing and filling acidic foods such as fruit juice, the steam sterilization method can be used, and labor saving can be achieved such that the residual inspection of hydrogen peroxide can be omitted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a sterilizer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Steam generation tank 2 ... Container 3 ... Vaporization heater 4 ... Disinfection air filter 5 ... Heating heater 6 ... Supply line 7 ... Spray nozzle 8 ... Valve 9 ... Disinfection filter 10 ... Water or hydrogen peroxide water 11 Heater 12 Steam generation tank 13 Safety valve 14 Compressed air supply line 15 Sterilizing nozzle 16 Sterilized vaporized water or hydrogen peroxide 17 Temperature sensor 18 ... Temperature sensor 19 ... Blower

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A steam generator used for sterilizing a container for aseptic packaging, comprising a steam generating tank, a spray nozzle for blowing water or warm water into the steam generating tank, and steaming the blown water or warm water. A container sterilizer, comprising a vaporization heater and a sterilization nozzle for spraying vaporized water or hot water to the container. 2. A method for sterilizing a container, which comprises blowing steam from the steam generation tank into the container and then removing the steam by aseptic hot air. 3. The container according to claim 1, wherein the water blown into the steam generation tank is sterile water, the spray nozzle is a two-fluid nozzle, and the air supplied to the spray nozzle is sterile air. Sterilizer. 4. The container sterilizer according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the surface of the vaporization heater is corrugated. 5. The water or hot water sprayed from the spray nozzle is an intermittent spray.
The container sterilizer according to 3 or 4. 6. The container sterilizer according to claim 1, 3, 4 or 5, wherein a temperature sensor is attached to the steam generator. 7. The container according to claim 1, 3, 4, 5, or 6, which can be used in a gasifier of hydrogen peroxide water by using hydrogen peroxide water instead of water. Sterilizer.