Food & Beverage
Seen as a safe and reliable source of power, modern food facilities rely on compressed air in their manufacturing processes. Often considered as the fourth utility, compressed air is present in all areas of food and beverage manufacture and process. Oil free compressors can be used in direct contact with product, or oil lubricated compressors can be used in packaging processes or to operate production machinery such as filling machines, pumps or the generation of other gases.
Packaging
Compressed air can be used to generate vacuum used in the packaging process, air is also used in conveying systems to move food and ingredients.
PET Bottle Blowing
High pressure oil free compressed air is fed into the bottle blower machine molds where preforms are heated and the plastic is stretched to form the bottle.
- Cheese
- Tomato
- Radish
Product Handling
Air hoists and cylinders are used to move products, at very high speeds able to keep up with modern production practices.
Food Filling Machines
Food filling machines use compressed air to fill products such as cakes, pies, and liquid products.
Fluid Pumps
Compressed air is generated to operate pumps such as diaphragm pumps to move liquid products in the production and filling process.
Nitrogen Generator
CompAir offers a cost-effective, reliable, and safe solution for medium to large nitrogen requirements.
Read More . . .
Air Knives
Compressed air is used as a clean medium for cutting products. It is also used for peeling products such as fruit and onions.
Quality of Compressed Air in Food
In Food manufacturing units, generally following compressed air powered pneumatic machines are used :
- Pneumatic Control and Actuators
- Labeling Machine
- Packing Machines
- Pelleting Machine
- Weighing Equipment
- Conveying machine
Applications
- Air tight Packing
- Spraying
- Cleaning Trays
- Filling equipment for drink
- Cleaning
- Bulk Packing
- Bottling
- Packing Can
- Coating
Problems
A major problem in compressed air systems is the presence of water, dust particles, oil (oils particles are introduced by lubricated air compressors) and solid contaminants which can adversely affect air quality.
If the contaminated compressed air will be used through pneumatic tools and machines then there will be following problems :
- Malfunctioning of pneumatic tools and machines
- Sluggish and inconsistent operation of valves and cylinder
- Corrosion in pipe lines, cylinder and other components
- Increase in downtime
- Increase in maintenance cost of pneumatic machines / tools / controls.
- Freezing in exposed lines during cold weather.
Moisture in compressed air also leads to problems like :
- Containers requires reliable clean-out and evacuation to meet stringent quality standards.
- Moisture and dust particles in air tight packs may spoil food.
- Presence of moisture and dust particles during spraying leads to unhygienic food.
- Presence of moisture and dust particles in baked food trays may spoil food.
Majority of the food products are highly hygroscopic and tend to suffer physical, enzymatic, microbiological and biochemical deterioration after coming in contact with moisture laden compressed air.
Compressed Air Quality for Food
Remove water, dust particles, oil (oils particles are introduced by lubricated air compressors) and solid contaminants from compressed air. Read More . . .
The CompAir Solution
CompAir offers wide range of Refrigeration Dryer and Adsorption Dryers which removed water / moisture from compressed air.
CompAir Refrigeration Dryers
This Dryer operates on the method of cooling the air to near freezing point to remove the moisture and reheating it to approximately 10°C below the incoming compressed air temperature at nominal conditions. Read more . . .
CompAir Adsorption Dryer
The Dryers is based on the principle of Heatless regeneration and the physical properties of ther Desiccant to adsorb and desorb the water vapour, It uses pressure swing principle / purge air to regenerate the desiccant bed. Read more . . .
CompAir Filters
CompAir also offers Pre Filters and Oil Filters which removes dust particles, oil particles and other types of solid contaminated present in dry air. Read more . . .