System and structure for heating or sterilizing a liquid stream

A food product sterilizer comprising:

• a food product source;
• and
• a single stage regenerative heat exchanger configured to receive a flow of from the food product source, the single stage regenerative heat exchanger configured to carry out sterilization of the food product, the regenerative heat exchanger including:
• an input channel configured to receive a flow of food product to be sterilized;
• an output channel fluidly coupled to the input channel, the output channel being adjacent the input channel, the output channel and the input channel configured to transfer heat between the two channels, the input channel and the output channel being separated by a first thin wall, the first thin wall having a thickness less than 0.1 millimeters, the input channel and output channel sharing the first thin wall, and the regenerative heat exchanger having multiple pairs of the input channels and the output channels that are configured to direct the flow of the same food product, the multiple pairs configured in a row, each of the pairs sharing a second thin wall with an adjacent pair of the multiple pairs;
• and
• an integrated heating section of only one portion of the input channel or the output channel of each of the multiple pairs, the heating section configured to heat the flow of food product, the heating section including an electric heater and a thermally conductive material between the heater and the channel, wherein the input and output channels each have a hydraulic diameter that is less than 1 millimeter.