The role of compressed air and nitrogen
In food and beverage production, compressed air and nitrogen serve critical functions across different stages in food production, ensuring product excellence and safety. Let’s take a look at the numerous ways in which compressed air and nitrogen are involved in food and beverage manufacturing.
Automation: Compressed air is the invisible force behind the smooth operation of valves and actuators in automated lines for filling, packaging, and bottling. The use of oil-free compressed air in these applications is vital, as it prevents automation components from jamming. Ensuring the reliability of these systems is not just a matter of operational efficiency; it's about safeguarding the end product's integrity and, most importantly, consumer safety.
Transportation: Imagine the journey of powdered milk or cocoa powder from their storage silos to the production lines. Compressed air is the driving force that pushes these ingredients along pipes. However, the choice of air source is critical. Oil-free air is the preferred option, as it prevents any risk of oil contamination. This guarantees that the ingredients maintain their purity, untainted by oil, throughout the process.
Cleaning: Cleanliness and hygiene are non-negotiable in the Food & Beverage industry. Compressed air is enlisted for cleaning bottles, packaging, and molding before filling. However, the quality of the compressed air used in this process is paramount. Contaminants in the form of oil can have disastrous consequences, leading to the contamination of food containers, alterations in flavor and odor, and posing health hazards. The choice of oil-free air is a fundamental step in maintaining the industry's rigorous hygiene standards.Aeration: Air blowing is an essential process in the production of various food ingredients. For instance, in commercial yeast production, a continuous supply of oil-free low-pressure air is used to deliver oxygen to the yeast in fermentation vessels. The absence of even tiny oil traces is crucial in ensuring the desired bacterial activity, the quality of the product, and preventing contamination.
Fermentation: In the fermentation process that yields food ingredients like citric acid, wine, yogurt, and more, compressed air takes on a crucial role. It supplies oxygen to bacteria during fermentation. Even minuscule oil traces can disrupt bacterial activity, leading to substandard products and potential contamination of the end-product. The demand for oil-free air is evident in these critical applications.
Food Storage and Packaging: Nitrogen, an inert gas, plays a significant role in the storage and packaging of various foods and beverages. It is used to purge oxygen from packages, such as bags of roasted coffee. This step is vital in preventing oxidation, which can compromise product quality and flavor during storage and transit. Nitrogen also finds its place in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), creating an inert atmosphere within food packages, extending the shelf life of products.
Cooling: When baked goods emerge from ovens, compressed air is used to cool them down. However, any contamination in the air can spoil the end-product, leading to rejections and production losses. Therefore, maintaining the quality and purity of the air used in cooling processes is essential to ensuring the product's excellence.
PET Blowing: PET blowing is a critical process that involves the use of high-pressure air to create PET bottles. The process involves creating a uniform preform, which is comparable to a chemistry tube shape, which is then blown by high-pressure air to create the final form of a PET bottle as we know it. This process is widely used in the food and beverage industry to produce bottles for our favorite drinks.
Traditionally, companies sourced the required nitrogen for their production processes from external suppliers, delivered in bulky containers that required storage space. Yet, there is a better alternative. On-site nitrogen generation brings a wide array of benefits.
Cost efficiency: On-site nitrogen generation yields substantial cost savings in the long run. Although there's an initial investment, the cost per unit of gas produced is significantly lower, allowing for quick cost recovery.
Customized purity: Tailor the purity of the generated nitrogen to suit your specific requirements. While supplied cylinders offer ultra-pure nitrogen, many food and beverage applications don't require such high purity, optimizing resource utilization. Gas quality and gas purity are not the same – the former is about the presence of contaminants, such as moisture, oil, and particles, whereas the latter is about the concentration of a gas. In food and beverage production, a high nitrogen quality is crucial, but a high nitrogen purity is not always required.
Streamlined operations: Eliminate the logistics effort of managing bulky nitrogen cylinders. On-site generation eliminates the need to order cylinders, coordinate deliveries, and allocate storage space, simplifying operational logistics.
Enhanced safety: Prioritize workplace safety with on-site nitrogen generation. Unlike heavy, pressurized gas cylinders that pose workplace hazards, generating nitrogen on-site is significantly safer, minimizing potential risks.
Continuous supply: Maintain a steady nitrogen supply. Generating your gas on-site guarantees a consistent availability, crucial for the uninterrupted operations of the food and beverage industry, especially during heightened demand.
Environmental impact: Lower your transportation emissions. On-site generation eliminates the requirement for transporting bulky gas cylinders, contributing to a more environmentally friendly production process.
