COMPRESSED AIR KEEP IT CLEAN By Mark Whitmore, general manager of BOGE Compressors A
s contamination-related product recalls continue to take large bites out of the food and drink sector’s profits, BOGE Compressors offers some advice on ensuring clean air.
According to the consultancy BDO, the food and beverage industry has a turnover of £97.3 billion and accounts for 19 per cent of the UK’s total manufacturing. Unfortunately, that level of productivity is not always reflected in company profitability, due to costs generated by contaminated products. These include the expense of recalling and disposal, as well as damage to the company’s reputation, loss of sales and sometimes costly compensation claims. One key threat to food and drink products is contact with contaminated compressed air. Systems powered by compressed air serve many vital functions in this industry’s manufacturing and processing, including handling, cooling, freezing, labelling, cutting, peeling, bottle filling and packaging. Contaminants in compressed air can affect a product’s taste, appearance, colour and shelf life, compromise its hygiene and make it unfit for consumption. In such a tightly controlled and legislated sector, where health of consumers and employees is paramount, this is an extremely serious issue.
BEST PRACTICE
Measures to avoid contamination of compressed air should be included in food and beverage companies’ Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans. Specific guidance agreed by the British Compressed Air Society (BCAS) and British Retail Consortium (BRC) is given in the publication ‘BCAS Food Grade Compressed Air Best Practice Guideline 102’. Their voluntary code of practice contains recommendations on what type of equipment can be used and how it should be installed, maintained and audited.
CONTAMINANT SOURCES The contaminants of concern here come from three main sources: the atmosphere, the compressor and the pipework through which compressed air is received and distributed. They fall into three forms which interact with each other:
• Solid – including dust and microbes pulled in
from the atmosphere, and particles loosened from system components by abrasion or corrosion • Liquid – including atmospheric water drawn into the system, or condensing from vapour within
42 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
it, as well as compressor lubricants and coolants • Gaseous – including vaporised water, lubricant and coolant
CONTAMINATION WITH OIL
free compressed air, complying with ISO 8573-1, without the need for an oil-free compressor. This is a more affordable approach than buying and operating oil-free compressors or conventional treatment systems. In addition, it provides a reliably pure compressed air supply regardless of the intake air quality, and it avoids the need for disposal of contaminated condensate.
COMPLETING THE SYSTEM Additional treatment methods include a combination of some or all of the following: • Water separators – removing bulk quantities of condensed water and liquid oil
Most industrial screw compressors are lubricated and cooled by oil. BOGE, which offers a wide choice of both oil-flooded and oil-free compressors, stresses that systems using either type can deliver oil-free compressed air. It is important to recognise that vaporised oil from burning of fuels is present in the air we breathe – along with other hydrocarbons such as those released by paints and solvents. Their concentration in the ambient air may be very low, but when that air is taken into the system and compressed they become more concentrated. The same is true for atmospheric water vapour and anything else the air holds. In short, even an oil-free compressor needs purification systems to remove contaminants – including oil – from the compressed air it produces.
BOGE manufactures a variety of oil converters, branded as ‘bluekat’, which turn the oil and hydro- carbons in compressed air into carbon dioxide and water. They can be used to produce Class O oil-
• Coalescing filters – extracting water or oil which has formed an aerosol of small droplets • Drying systems – reducing air humidity by use of refrigeration, pressure-over-generation, membrane or adsorption (desiccant) dryers • Dust removal filters – capturing dry particulates and other solid materials • Sterile air filters – ensuring absolute removal any remaining particles and microbes • Routine maintenance – cleaning and sterilising all piping between the sterile filter and the application
While consumer and employee health must be the top priority for food and drink companies, the financial repercussions of contamination give an added incentive to use compressed air with care. Contaminants not only affect people and products but damage vital machinery. With the right advice, compressed air systems can be specified to run economically, effectively, cleanly and profitably.
BOGE Compressors
www.uk.boge.com
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