COMPRESSED AIR
By Mark White, compressed air treatment applications manager, Parker Hannifin REDUCING CONTAMINATION IN THE FOOD AND
BEVERAGE MANUFACTURING PROCESS T
he problem with risk-based food and beverage safety management systems is that most users of compressed air, including production managers and quality managers, are often unaware of the many potential hazards (contaminants) present in compressed air, the source of those hazards, and most importantly, the problems those hazards can present to consumer safety. A tour of any modern food and beverage manufacturing facility will uncover the extensive use of compressed air and the importance of not overlooking this powerful utility.
Untreated compressed air contains many potentially harmful or dangerous contaminants that must be reduced to acceptable levels in order to protect the consumer and provide a safe and cost-effective production facility. Contaminants that may be a potential hazard for human consumption need to be controlled, as a lack of control could potentially result in criminal consequences in the case of personal injury. Typically, hygiene legislation requires manufacturers to instigate written food and beverage safety management systems (FSMS) based upon the principles of hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP).
HACCP works very well when the team carrying out the hazard analysis fully understand the manufacturing processes or have clear industry guidelines, good manufacturing practices (GMPs) or standard operating procedures (SOPs) to follow. In a typical compressed air system, there are ten major contaminants that have to be removed or reduced to protect the consumer and to provide a safe and cost-effective production facility. These ten contaminants come from four different sources in the process.
The first source is ambient air. Compressors draw in huge volumes of ambient air that continuously fills the compressed air system with invisible contaminants such as micro-organisms, water vapour, atmospheric particulates, and oil vapour. The second contaminant source is the air compressor. After the compression stage, the aftercooler will cool the air, condensing water and oil vapour and introducing it into the compressed air as either liquid water, water aerosols, liquid oil, and oil aerosols.
The third and fourth sources of contaminants are the compressed air storage devices and distribution piping. As the air leaves the compressor, it now contains eight different contaminants. The air receiver (storage device) and
the system piping that distribute the compressed air around the facility can store large amounts of this contamination. Additionally, they cool the warm, saturated compressed air that causes condensation on a large scale, adding more liquid water into the system and promoting corrosion and microbiological growth in the form of rust and pipe scale.
A correctly performed hazard analysis, which includes the compressed air system, has the potential to highlight a high number of new critical control points required around a food and beverage manufacturing facility. Each critical control point requires management, constant monitoring, and if they fail, this could lead to a quality incident.
Poor compressed air quality and failure to control contamination can cause numerous problems for an organisation, many of which are not immediately associated with contaminated compressed air. Products and packaging could become contaminated, resulting in spoiled products. Consumers face the risk of becoming unwell or seriously ill. In turn, this damages the manufacturers’ brand and could lead to legal actions, financial loss and potentially, imprisonment. The manufacturing process could become inefficient, leading to increased manufacturing costs and failed quality audits. The compressed air system could, as a result, grow, store, and distribute oil, water, particulate and microbiological contamination. This leads to corrosion within the system and consequently, damaged production equipment with high operational and maintenance costs. It is therefore vital to implement effective contaminant control. Ensuring effective control of compressed air contamination requires a number of purification technologies. To many compressed air users, the realisation that there are ten major contaminants in a compressed air system is somewhat of a surprise. It is often thought that only three contaminants are present: dirt water, and/or oil. However, as those contaminants can be found in many phases, they therefore require a specific purification technology for efficient reduction.
Rest assured there is an effective solution for every contaminant. These include water separators, coalescing filters, compressed air dryers, absorption dryers, refrigeration dryers, absorption filters, dry particle filters, and sterile filters. Measures should be put in place to remove
26 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2021 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
hazards or reduce them to acceptable levels. To assist food and beverage manufacturers, the British Compressed Air Society (BCAS), who are the governing body for compressed air in the UK has developed a Food & Beverage Grade Compressed Air - Best Practice Guideline. Following the best practice guideline is not mandatory and nor is it required by law; however, adherence would allow a company to demonstrate due diligence should a quality incident reach a court of law.
Once the compressed air used in the production of food or beverage products gets classified as either direct contact, which includes cutting, moving and cooling or in-direct contact, which includes for example exhaust air that is not supposed to come into contact with ingredients, food, production equipment, products or packaging, a minimum specification for each classification should be achieved. An equivalent ISO8573-1:2010 classification is also included. To achieve the stringent air quality levels required for today’s modern food and beverage manufacturing facilities, a careful approach to system design, commissioning, installation, and operation must be employed. It is highly recommended to treat compressed air prior to entry into the distribution system (usually in the compressor room or at point of generation) to a specification that will provide contaminant-free air for general purpose applications and protect air receivers and distribution piping from corrosion and damage. Point of use purification should also be employed. This is the most effective approach that is also cost effective and ensures that air is not ‘over treated’.
Ultimately, compressed air purification equipment is essential to all modern production facilities. It must deliver uncompromising performance and reliability whilst providing the right balance of air quality with the lowest cost of operation. Many manufacturers offer products for the filtration and purification of contaminated compressed air, which are often selected only upon their initial purchase cost and with little regard for the air quality they provide, the cost of through-life operation, or their environmental impact. When selecting purification equipment, the required air quality, the overall cost of ownership and the equipment’s environmental impact must always be considered.
Parker Hannifin
www.parker.com
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