ABSTRACT
Aseptic processing and packaging technology lends itself to multimodal optimization by fine-tuning each of the steps required for the transformation of agricultural materials to consumer use of the products. This large-scale transformation can be optimized in several fronts such as supply chain, quality of products, processing cost, sustainability of processing and packaging, transportation, storage, and distribution. Aseptically processed and packaged products have improved quality characteristics over conventionally canned products, which permit the use of different paradigms and factory-wide optimization strategies. Strategies for product, process, packaging, and cost optimizations are explored based on current knowledge and industrial experience. Optimization of product quality starts at product development, and must include all stages of production: ingredient selection, transport, storage, handling, process, quality assurance, operator training, etc. Process can be optimized by maximizing the use of resources for heating and cooling, runtime length can be optimized my minimizing fouling and scaling, as well as the cleaning and sanitation cycles. Cost and sustainability optimization are a result of the previous two but include runtime length and cleaning optimization for the use of fewer resources. Finally, flow with large particulates is explored, as the next frontier for multimodal optimization in aseptic processing and packaging.
