China — Commissioning completed in March 2026 — Shanghai EasyReal Machinery Co., Ltd. supplied a Pilot UHT/HTST-DSI Plant for Azelis (Shanghai) in China. This pilot-scale system is mainly used for various fluid food trials, process testing, and formulation development.
The system is equipped with a Pilot Tubular Sterilizer, Direct Steam Injection/Infusion Module, Inline Homogenizer, Aseptic Filling Cabinet, and related utility modules. It provides a practical and flexible pilot platform for product development, thermal process evaluation, homogenization testing, and aseptic sample preparation.
For a company involved in ingredient application, formulation support, and product development, a pilot UHT/HTST-DSI plant is highly valuable. It helps bridge the gap between laboratory concept work and industrial production by offering more realistic pilot-scale processing conditions.
In fluid food R&D, thermal processing is a key step. Different process routes can create very different product results. The same formula may behave one way under tubular indirect heating and another way under direct steam heating.
A pilot UHT/HTST-DSI plant allows the customer to evaluate:
• product response to different heat treatment methods
• thermal impact on flavor and color
• physical stability after processing
• process suitability for different formulations
• sample quality for further evaluation
• scale-up feasibility
For a technical center or innovation-oriented customer, this is not just equipment for producing samples. It is also a process development platform that supports better technical judgment and faster product optimization.
Customer: Azelis (Shanghai)
Country: China
Project type: Pilot UHT/HTST-DSI Plant
Main purpose: fluid food experimentation and formulation development
Main modules:
• Pilot Tubular Sterilizer
• Direct Steam Injection/Infusion Module
• Inline Homogenizer
• Aseptic Filling Cabinet
• Utilities
Commissioning completed: March 2026
This project was designed for pilot testing where process flexibility, repeatability, and realistic thermal simulation are all important.
This pilot plant is mainly used for a wide range of fluid food experiments and formula development. It supports pilot-scale work for products that require controlled heating, homogenization, aseptic handling, and flexible process route comparison.
Compared with simple lab heating tests, a pilot UHT/HTST-DSI system can provide much more useful technical data. It allows the customer to study how formulations behave under continuous processing conditions and helps improve the reliability of R&D decisions.
This makes the system suitable for:
• formulation development
• pilot sample preparation
• thermal process comparison
• product stability testing
• process route validation
• scale-up study
For fluid foods, product performance often changes after real thermal treatment. Viscosity, flavor, color, stability, and texture may all respond differently during pilot-scale processing. That is why a pilot system is far more practical than bench-scale heating alone.
The Pilot Tubular Sterilizer is one of the core modules of this project. It supports pilot-scale continuous thermal treatment and provides a production-oriented test route for fluid foods.
Tubular sterilization is widely used in liquid food processing because it reflects industrial thermal logic more closely than simple batch heating. In pilot R&D, it helps the customer evaluate:
• heating performance
• product behavior during continuous flow
• flavor retention
• viscosity changes
• thermal stability
• storage performance
A pilot tubular sterilizer gives the customer a strong basis for technical comparison and helps reduce uncertainty before moving toward commercial production.
A major feature of this project is the Direct Steam Injection/Infusion Module. This module provides a more advanced and flexible thermal treatment route for pilot trials.
Compared with indirect heating, direct steam injection or infusion can offer:
• very rapid heating
• short product exposure time at target temperature
• different effects on flavor and color
• more flexible process comparison
• broader formulation testing possibilities
For some fluid foods, DSI or steam infusion can produce different sensory and physical results compared with conventional tubular heating. That makes this module especially useful for R&D work, where multiple thermal routes may need to be compared.
By integrating DSI or infusion capability into one pilot platform, the customer can test more product concepts and optimize processing strategy more efficiently.
The system also includes an Inline Homogenizer, which can achieve both upstream inline homogenization and aseptic downstream inline homogenization.
This gives the customer more flexibility in pilot process design. Different formulations may require different homogenization positions depending on product characteristics and development goals.
The inline homogenizer helps the customer evaluate:
• product uniformity
• particle refinement
• texture adjustment
• mouthfeel
• physical stability
• emulsion quality
For fluid foods with dispersed ingredients, fat systems, or suspended solids, homogenization can strongly influence final performance. A flexible pilot homogenization setup is therefore very useful in formulation development.
The Aseptic Filling Cabinet supports controlled and hygienic sample filling after thermal treatment. This is a critical step in pilot R&D because sample quality affects the reliability of later evaluation.
The aseptic filling cabinet can support:
• pilot sample preparation
• storage testing
• formula comparison
• internal product review
• shelf life observation
When the filling environment is properly controlled, the resulting samples are more representative of the tested process. This improves the value of pilot trials and supports more accurate decision-making during R&D.
The project also includes the required utility modules for stable pilot-scale operation. Utilities are essential because they support controlled process conditions and repeatable testing results.
A pilot system should work as one coordinated platform instead of separate isolated machines. In this project, the tubular sterilization unit, DSI/infusion module, homogenization section, aseptic filling cabinet, and utilities are integrated into one practical pilot solution.
This allows the customer to perform:
• controlled thermal trials
• flexible process route comparison
• repeatable sample preparation
• better pilot-scale evaluation
That system-level integration is especially important for innovation projects involving multiple fluid food categories.
For Azelis (Shanghai), this project provides a flexible and process-oriented pilot platform for fluid food application development and formula testing.
The system helps the customer:
• test different fluid food formulations under realistic pilot conditions
• compare tubular and DSI thermal treatment routes
• evaluate homogenization before or after sterilization
• prepare aseptic pilot samples
• improve formulation efficiency
• support future scale-up with more reliable process data
Because the plant supports multiple processing paths, it gives the customer more room for product exploration and technical comparison.
One of the key advantages of this project is its broad application potential. The system is designed for various fluid foods, not only one narrow product type.
A pilot UHT/HTST-DSI plant like this can support trials involving:
• beverages
• dairy-related fluid products
• plant-based liquid foods
• functional liquid formulations
• ingredient-based fluid systems
• other heat-treated food applications
This makes the project a long-term R&D asset that can support different development tasks over time.
EasyReal has experience in both pilot-scale processing systems and industrial thermal processing equipment. This is especially important for customers who need pilot systems that reflect real production logic while still offering flexibility for research.
This project combines the process functions that matter most in pilot fluid food development:
• tubular thermal treatment
• direct steam injection or infusion testing
• flexible inline homogenization
• aseptic sample filling
• stable utility support
That combination makes the system suitable for formulation development, process comparison, technical validation, and scale-up preparation.
Post time: Apr-16-2026
