A new arrangement of blades in scraped surface heat exchangers for food pastes

► A new blades arrangement for scraped surface heat exchangers (A-SSHE) is presented. ► Experiments on an industrial A-SSHE used to heat hazelnut paste are reported. ► CFD simulations allow a reliable description of experiments. ► A-SSHE shows higher thermal efficiency than an equivalent conventional SSHE unit. ► The high thermal efficiency of A-SSHE is associated to backmixing phenomena.