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Tag Archive: Sanitary Equipment

  1. Frozen custard is a fan favorite, but must be produced properly

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    Frozen custard Frozen custard has specific composition and pasteurization requirements set by the FDA.

    Frozen custard is a sweet treat popular throughout the Midwest. It’s similar to ice cream, but in addition to the cream and the sugar, egg yolk is added to the concoction to create a creamier, richer texture and flavor. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that for a frozen dessert to be considered “frozen custard,” it must contain 1.4 percent egg yolk solidsby weight of the final product.

    That minimum is flexible when bulky flavors are added, but once the percentage of egg yolk solids falls below 1.12, the dessert is no longer considered a frozen custard – though it’s still considered delicious by many consumers!

    Safely making frozen custard

    Of course, like any dairy product or food containing egg, it’s important that frozen custard is pasteurized correctly, using the right sanitary shell and tube heat exchangers, before being distributed among frozen custard shops and sold to consumers.

    The FDA has set different requirements for the pasteurization of ice creams and custards than it has for regular milk. Since frozen custard contains higher fat content, milk solids and more sugar or sweetener, it’s a more viscous solution and must be pasteurized at a higher temperature and longer duration than milk. The presence of egg yolk also requires more robust pasteurization conditions.

    Frozen custard should be pasteurized at 180 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes, according to the Journal of Dairy Science.

    After pasteurization, the mixture ishomogenized in a pressurized environmentof between 2,500 and 3,000 psi, Milk Facts explained. This reduces the size of milk fat globules, ensures all emulsifiers and other additions are evenly distributed and overall contributes to a smoother, creamier product.

    Next, the mixture must age for at least four hours. Aging is done at 40 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent freezing while still keeping it at an acceptably low temperature. After aging, liquid flavors and colors may be added.

    Finally, it’s time to freeze. For most frozen custards, though, this step is completed at the point of sale using machines that take in the liquid pasteurized product, pass it through a freezer that continuously mixes the liquid and dispense the product into a dish or cone.

    Sanitary shell and tube heat exchangers for frozen custard production

    To keep a dairy operation sanitary for continued use, it’s important to understand the specific risks of the products being pasteurized in certain equipment. According to research published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, custard products commonly leave behind Bacillus cereus spores

    spores.

    If B. cereus is included in the final product a consumer could become ill, experiencing vomiting or diarrhea. For this reason, it’s critical that shell and tube heat exchangers are always kept clean to prevent fouling and contamination.

    Standard cleaning-in-place systems were found to be effective in keeping equipment sanitary throughout their life time. The CIP process included a six-minute prerinse; a 10-minute NaOH rinse; a six-minute intermediate rinse; a 10-minute HNO3 rinse; and finally, a concluding rinse for six minutes.

    To learn more about the sanitary shell and tube heat exchanger options available to you, reach out to the friendly engineers at Enerquip

  2. Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Must Meet ASME-BPE Standards

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    In any industry, it’s important to have standards that lay out what consumers expect of the products created by manufacturers and define the processes by which these products can be created. Without standards, consumers may mistakenly purchase a subpar product that does not meet their expectations, leaves them frustrated and damages the manufacturer’s reputation.

    In certain industries, compliance with these standards is absolutely critical. In any market where end users are coming in direct contact with a product or ingesting it – like the food and beverage, dairy or pharmaceutical industries – manufacturers must take every step possible to ensure the final product meets consumer expectations and is safe to consume.

    To ensure that all products are high-quality, there are countless standards that govern many different industries. For example, fabricators of equipment for the dairy industry adhere to 3-A Sanitary Standards, created in the 1920s to ensure that all machinery that came in contact with milk and milk-based products created a sanitary environment.

    Pressing need for pharmaceutical standards

    Where the food, beverage, and dairy industries have excelled in having extensive rules and regulations regarding the environments in which products could be made, the pharmaceutical industry fell short. For many years, there was no 3-A equivalent for biopharma manufacturers that explained what sorts of materials could be used to make equipment or how that equipment needed to be treated or maintained.

    Enerquip Electropolish Finish

    Manufacturers filled the void in their own ways. Some created their own in-house standards to ensure their products would always be consistent. Many turned to the dairy industry’s 3-A standards and applied them to their pharmaceutical operations.

    Though sufficient to keep products sanitary, safe and consistent, the lack of a uniform standard weighed on the industry. After numerous requests, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers collaborated to come up with the ASME-BPE (Bioprocessing equipment) standard.

    The standard was first published in 1997 and updated several times since. With it, pharmaceutical manufacturers are better able to communicate their needs to equipment fabricators, collaborate with other companies and stay in line with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s policies and current good manufacturing practices.

    ASME-BPE related to heat exchangers

    The ASME-BPE standard covers a wide range of topics, but here are ten important parts related to shell and tube heat exchangers:

    1. Material selection: Heat exchangers should be constructed of materials that are compatible with the process fluid and cleaning solutions, and which meet the purity and quality requirements of the biopharmaceutical industry.
    2. Surface finish: The interior surfaces of heat exchangers should have a smooth, uniform finish that is resistant to corrosion and microbial growth.
    3. Welding and joining: The welding and joining techniques used in the construction of heat exchangers should meet the requirements of the ASME-BPE standard, including orbital welding, electropolishing, and passivation.
    4. Design and construction: Heat exchangers should be designed and constructed in accordance with the requirements of the ASME-BPE standard, including dimensional tolerances, material specifications, and surface finish requirements.
    5. Testing and inspection: Heat exchangers should undergo rigorous testing and inspection to ensure that they meet the quality and performance standards required by the biopharmaceutical industry.
    6. Cleanability: Heat exchangers should be designed and constructed to facilitate thorough cleaning and sterilization, with no dead spots or areas that are difficult to access.
    7. Surface finish measurement: The surface finish of heat exchangers should be measured using appropriate techniques, such as profilometry, to ensure that it meets the required standards.
    8. Gasket and seal materials: The gaskets and seals used in heat exchangers should be constructed of materials that are compatible with the process fluid and cleaning solutions, and which meet the purity and quality requirements of the biopharmaceutical industry.
    9. Pressure testing: Heat exchangers should undergo pressure testing to ensure that they can withstand the operating pressures and temperatures required by the biopharmaceutical process.
    10. Documentation: All aspects of the design, construction, and testing of heat exchangers should be fully documented, with detailed records of materials, processes, and inspections maintained for regulatory compliance and quality assurance purposes.

    Understanding your operation’s needs

    Your operation likely comprises multiple systems and units to produce various products, each with its own unique requirements and features.

    Certain sections of the standards will relate more closely to specific parts of your operation. For instance, your high-sensitivity processes require the strictest adherence to the standards since they come into direct contact with the product. Such processes need to be highly cleanable and able to be electropolished. It is important to choose appropriate materials for not only the interior surfaces but also exterior surfaces.

    In contrast, low-sensitivity processes do not come in contact with the product. Rather, they support the systems that do. Therefore, it is important to carefully fabricate low-sensitivity processes to ensure a sanitary environment. However, these processes do not need to be as high-grade as the ones that directly touch the final product, such as tank jacket systems.

    A seat at the ASME-BPE table

    Preferred equipment suppliers like Enerquip proactively participate in the ASME-BPE committee meetings to help shape the standards that apply to shell and tube heat exchangers. If your pharmaceutical manufacturing operations require new or upgraded shell and tube heat exchangers, we invite you to connect today.

    More from the Enerquip blog

     

    Editor’s note: This content was originally published in 2017 but was updated in 2024.

  3. Custom shell and tube heat exchangers help produce quality honey

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    Honey is a shockingly versatile ingredient. Used in dishes ranging from fried chicken to kale chips, honey can be a nice complement to nearly any meal.

    More people are incorporating honey into their diets. According to Bee Culture, a magazine dedicated to all things beekeeping, the U.S. consumed 1.61 pounds of honey per person in 2016. Just six years prior, that number was 1.2 pounds per person.

    American consumers want clean-looking honey

    As more consumers search grocers’ shelves for this golden ingredient, it’s important that honey producers understand what qualities most consumers are looking for. According to the National Honey Board, most shoppers seek out liquid honey that has a bright, clear appearance. Generally speaking, consumers don’t want things like pollen or wax, and especially not bee parts, left suspended in their honey.

    Additionally, they don’t want their honey to crystallize quickly. Though crystallization isn’t an indication of anything wrong with the honey (and all honey will crystallize eventually), the look of solid or discolored honey doesn’t appeal to many U.S. shoppers, NPR reported.

    Filtration and pasteurization produce attractive honey

    Though crystallization will eventually happen to all honey if given the time, the process can be slowed by taking out foreign particles and pollen, and by removing any tiny air bubbles in the product. These goals can be accomplished with two steps: filtration and pasteurization.

    There are many ways to filter honey. According to NPR, Dutch Gold uses dichotomous earth and a series of large filters that remove:

    • Dust.
    • Pollen.
    • Bee wings and other insect parts.
    • The dichotomous earth.

    This is one of the more common filtration methods, and is very effective in producing a clear, unadulterated product.

    “Heating honey to 160 degrees Fahrenheit is enough to pasteurize the honey and ward off crystallization.”

    After that, the honey can be pasteurized. Sanitary shell and tube heat exchangers are an excellent option for this. Honey is very temperature-sensitive and heating it up too much can scorch the product, affecting both taste and color. By using a shell and tube heat exchanger, which will heat up the honey by way of a heat transfer medium such as water, the honey won’t be exposed to as much risk of heat pockets or being heated higher than what the manufacturer wants. Manufacturers can dissipate the heat, thus decreasing risk of localized heat pockets, even more by adding steam bustles to their unit.

    According to John Skinner, of the University of Tennessee’s department of entomology and plant pathology, heating honey too much will lower the quality of the product and cause the loss of many important components. Heating it rapidly and over direct heat are the most detrimental to honey’s many nutritional qualities.

    However, some heat will rid the product of tiny air bubbles, lengthen the time for which the honey will remain liquid, and ultimately create a more beautiful product. Deb Terrill explained in The Daily Journal of Kankakee, Illinois, that heating honey to 160 degrees F is enough to pasteurize the honey and ward off crystallization for a while, but still keeps the healthy compounds intact.

    To learn about what shell and tube heat exchangers can benefit your honey operation, reach out to the knowledgeable engineers at Enerquip.

  4. How to close out sugaring season on a sweet note

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    Warm weather and budding trees are clear signs the maple sugaring season is over. With nights failing to fall below freezing, the sap flow slows down. And, as the leaves begins to bud, they spur a chemical change within the tree, making the sap that continues to seep through the spiles bitter, Michigan State University Extension explained. As such, this is the time of year when maple syrup producers begin to pack up their operations and wind down for the season.

    To make sure your maple syrup operation has another great year next spring, it’s important to perform a few housekeeping tasks before the end of the season.

    1. Inspect all your equipment

    While pure maple syrup is a natural food, with its only ingredient readily available in the trunks of trees, the equipment involved is intrinsic to its production. Spiles and buckets, or a system of tubing, are necessary for collecting the sap; pans and heat sources are needed to remove gallons of excess water; and shell and tube heat exchangers are essential to achieve a desirable consistency and kill off and remove bacteria and bugs.

    At the end of sugaring season, don’t put away any equipment without a thorough inspection. Now is the time to replace any cracked, warped or rusted pieces. That way, you’ll be ready to go when the weather begins to warm up next year.

    2. Review your tappable trees

    The first step in producing high-quality maple syrup is tapping excellent trees. Take a careful walk through your sugar bush to identify any dead, diseased or damaged trees, the University of Massachusetts Extension suggested. Look closely to determine whether any trees are infested with insects. Finally, pay attention to the quality of sap each tree produces. If certain trees are producing smaller amounts of sap, or sap with an off taste, it might be time to retire them. Once you’ve determined which trees are no longer serving your operation, cut them down. Clearing your sugar bush of these trees will make room for young, healthy trees to grow faster.

    3. Keep everything clean

    The maple syrup production process is an incredibly sticky one. Starting with the sap, through the evaporation to the final pasteurization and then bottling, every piece of equipment involved in the process is susceptible to becoming coated with sugar. Additionally, since the product is procured and typically prepared outdoors, there’s always a chance of dirt, debris and bugs getting stuck to equipment. To ensure your equipment stays in top condition, and to set the stage for high-quality syrup next year, it’s important to remove the sticky ooze as well as any insects or debris. Hot water is the key ingredient for much of your cleaning work, since detergents and soaps will leave behind unwanted flavors that will inevitably make their way into next year’s batch. If you do want to use a product to further sanitize equipment, it’s best to refer to the manufacturer for advice, Pennsylvania State University Extension advised. The end of maple syrup season can be bittersweet. Once the sap flow begins to trickle to a stop and the buds come out, you know that you’ve collected all the sap you can this season. Now, you have a summer of selling delicious pure maple syrup ahead of you.

    If you find that at the end of sugaring season, you’re ready for new equipment or have questions about how to care for your shell and tube heat exchangers, reach out to the helpful heat transfer engineers at Enerquip.

  5. Maple syrup producers use shell and tube heat exchangers and membranes to improve production

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    Maple syrup is a beloved topping many people reach for when diving into a plate of pancakes or waffles. Though you’d be hard-pressed to find a person who doesn’t love this sticky-sweet condiment, syrup makers only have a short window of opportunity every year to produce this favorite flavor.

    The fleeting sugaring season

    Sugaring season begins with winter waning into spring, when the days get warm, but the nights still sink below freezing. The daily freeze-thaw cycle is what pushes sweet sap out of the trees from which the syrup is made. As soon as nighttime temperatures rise above freezing and buds begin to grow on the trees, the sap becomes bitter and unusable, thus ending sugaring season as swiftly as it began.

    Typically, sugaring season only lasts a few weeks or months, according to Discover New England. Every year is different, though. If winter should recede early, the season may begin early; if the weather warms up quickly, the season is cut short, Farming Magazine reported.

    “We’re hoping for another good season [in 2017] where we get 3 weeks or a month of good cool sugar weather,” explained Burr Morse of Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks in Montpelier, Vermont, to Farming Magazine. “We had a season back in 2012 where we had a great week of sugaring around the first part of March. Then it turned to summer for 10 days and we lost our sugaring right there. That can happen and it’s nothing anyone can predict.”

    Speeding up the sap production process

    Given the unpredictability of springtime weather, it’s crucial that maple syrup producers make every moment count during sugaring season. Different producers approach this dilemma differently. One Vermont company, The Maple Guild, invented a steam-craft system that allows the company to produce 55 gallons of syrup in just three minutes using indirect heat, as opposed to the industry standard of an hour using direct heat, according to FoodNavigator-USA.

    “Essentially, we pre-boil the syrup before it hits the main evaporators, and we do that with steam that was generated at the bottom evaporator – and we shoot air in to the top evaporator which makes the concentrate float in the steam,” explained Mike Argyelan, the CEO of The Maple Guild.

    Other companies use sanitary shell and tube heat exchangers to both pasteurize the syrup and make it less viscous and easier to bottle. Putting the product through this process also removes any insects or other contaminants that have a way of getting stuck in the sticky sap.

    Another technique is reverse osmosis, a process by which maple sap is concentrated before entering the evaporator where it becomes syrup. A research paper detailing experiments with RO on maple sap conducted at the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center stated that this method can decrease the amount of time syrup spends in the evaporator, increasing both productivity and energy efficiency. Researchers compared the effects of concentrating the sap to 2, 8, 12, 15 and 21.5 percent sugar concentration and found that flavor, color and other characteristics were generally consistent across the board. ONMapleSyrup noted that by using RO, producers can reduce the number of taps needed to manufacture their syrup.

    In addition to saving time and taps, RO also reduces the need for fuel, making the syrup production process more environmentally friendly.

    Saving energy during syrup production

    Since syrup production is consolidated into a several-week-long sprint, condensed operations demand high energy spend. While more syrup producers are utilizing RO technology, there are other ways producers can save energy.

    A large amount of water needs to be removed from sap to make syrup. Because of this, the syrup-making process gives off incredible amounts of steam. The steam released provides a convenient and free heat source that producers are beginning to take advantage of.

    “Syrup manufacturers can capture the heat lost to rising steam.”

    A Forest Service Research Paper explained that by installing a shell and tube heat exchanger syrup manufacturers can capture the heat lost to rising steam and use it to preheat the sap before it reaches the evaporator. Like RO, this process will reduce the amount of time the sap needs to spend in the evaporator before it reaches the desired consistency.

    This mechanism was perfected in 1974 by George Raithby of the University of Waterloo in Ontario. Prior to Raithby’s development, the use of any equipment above the evaporator would compromise the final product because rising steam would condense on the metal surface and drip back into the open pans of syrup. Raithby used a shell and tube heat exchanger with a drip pan installed beneath it to collect the condensate. Inside the tubes, the sap could be heated from a starting temperature of about 40 degrees Fahrenheit to around 190 degrees Fahrenheit before it reaches the evaporator.

    The Forest Service conducted experiments to determine whether using a shell and tube heat exchanger to preheat the product would have any effect on the quality of the final bottle of syrup. The researchers found it did not, but pondered whether utilizing copper tubing instead of stainless steel would leave behind remnants of copper in the syrup. The researchers determined it did not after analyzing the ultimate product, though if producers are concerned about this effect, investing in a stainless steel shell and tube heat exchanger may be a smart move. Not only will it lend to consistent materials being used throughout the process, but it is also highly durable and long lasting.

    Sugaring season, short and sweet though it may be, is an important time of year for maple syrup producers and, whether they realize it or not, breakfast lovers everywhere. If you’re wondering how a new shell and tube heat exchanger or a membrane can improve your operation, reach out to the engineers at Enerquip.

  6. As frozen vegetable market expands, manufacturers must have adequate equipment

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    Vegetables are a staple in any healthy diet. They have key nutrients rarely found in other foods, and taste delicious with almost any meal.

    Fresh produce is delicious, but comes with some flaws. For one, it is seasonal, and when bought outside the natural growing season, vegetables can not only be pricey, but also lacking in flavor and color. Plus, fresh vegetables can expire quickly, giving consumers a limited time to enjoy their purchase.

    The answer to problems like this lies with frozen vegetables. Found in almost any grocery store in America, frozen veggies are not only widely available with a long shelf life, they are also often just as delicious as fresh ones, have the same nutritional value and are commonly more cost-effective.

    Consumers like it cold

    The frozen vegetable industry has grown significantly over the past half-decade. Currently, frozen fruits and vegetables comprise more than one-third of the fruit and vegetable processing industry, according to a report from IBISWorld.

    A number of factors have led to this expansion. For instance, many people have made a conscious effort to eat healthier, but the typical consumer is short on time for cooking. Frozen veggies offer a clear solution to this problem. Additionally, as the world’s middle class continues to grow, more people have access to freezers, allowing them to purchase and store frozen vegetables.

    The processed fruit and vegetable industry as a whole, which includes canned, dried and dehydrated pre-cut foods, pre-made meals and juices, is expected to grow 3 percent annually to $317.1 billion by 2021.

    As the industry continues to expand, and as more consumers show preferences for frozen vegetables, it’s crucial that manufacturers understand how to produce healthy and safe frozen products.

    How vegetables are frozen

    A consumer shopping in the frozen aisle of a typical grocery store may see printed on the side of a package a note boasting that the product inside was frozen just hours after picking. While this is likely true, there’s more to the process than the average consumer might expect.

    How Products Are Made broke down the manufacturing process of peas, a popular frozen vegetable. One of the key steps to the process, after picking and washing but before freezing, is the blanching.

    Blanching is the process of heating up a vegetable but not exactly cooking it. This is necessary for frozen vegetables because it eliminates enzymes and bacteria that could cause problems for consumers.

    PennState Extension explained that blanching also protects the flavor, texture and color of the vegetables. Plus, it shrinks the vegetables and removes air pockets, so more can fit into one bag and they take up less space.

    After blanching, the vegetables need to be cooled before being sorted, inspected and, finally, frozen.

    Turning up the heat

    Blanching requires vegetables to reach a certain temperature for a set period of time in order to inactivate destructive enzymes. According to Food Processing: Principles and Applications, the typical requirements in commercial blanching state that vegetables need to be brought to 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 150 degrees for a warm blanch, according to the Oregon Institute of Technology Geo-heat Center. In both cases, the potato is then cooled to 100 degrees.

    It’s important that frozen vegetable manufacturers know the specific requirements of the foods they are working with. But it’s also crucial that they know what kinds of equipment can help them safely and quickly achieve this state while also being conscious of cost.

    Shell and tube heat exchangers can be used in several capacities in these instances. First, they can be used to warm or cool the heating medium to prepare the food for blanching.

    Second, they can be used for heat recovery. In processes like blanching, heat and energy is given off and lost during the process, but a shell and tube heat exchanger can help capture it and reuse it elsewhere. It can even be used to continue to heat the water needed to blanch the vegetables.

    For information about how shell and tube heat exchangers can improve your vegetable processing operation, talk to the experts at Enerquip. Our team of engineers can work with you to find the perfect solution for your needs.

  7. Honey warming prevents crystallization

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    Honey is a popular sweetener many people often use while baking, in teas and as a topping on toast or ice cream. When thinking of honey, most envision an amber-colored, sticky liquid that is easily, if slowly, poured from a bottle. This is the most popular form and the state in which honey producers strive to keep their product.

    As many people know, honey is a substance created by bees. The bees extract nectar, or sugars, from flowers to transform into honey in their hives. The substance is therefore essentially a sugar mixture, composed primarily of fructose and glucose, according to Serious Eats. These sugars can cause the honey to crystallize over time, making it appear cloudy and thick.

    “The heating element will evenly warm the honey.”

    How quickly honey crystallizes depends on many things, including how it is stored, what type of flowers the bees took nectar from and how the honey was treated before it went to the store’s shelves.

    Keeping out crystals

    To prevent early crystallization of honey, producers of the sugar alternative might choose to process it through a heating and filtering process. The heating will do several things for the honey, Blue Ridge Honey Company explained. First, it will dissolve sugar crystals to prevent quick crystallization. Second, it will make it thinner, so the honey can be finely strained. When it is strained, particles like pollen and bee parts are taken out of the honey. This will prevent crystallization further, because there are fewer particles to which sugar crystals can bind.

    To be effective, honey should be heated to 160 degrees Fahrenheit for a short period of time. A stainless steel shell and tube heat exchanger works well in this capacity. The heating element, such as water, will evenly warm the honey to the desired temperature, preventing pockets. This is essential if the honey is to be evenly treated to prevent early crystallization.

    For information about how shell and tube heat exchangers can benefit your food production business, contact the experts at Enerquip. Their in-house engineers will be able to help you find a cost-effective solution for your company.