Compressed air applications
Compressed air plays a variety of important roles in the food and beverage industry. Some of its common uses in the food industry include:
Cleaning machines: Compressed air is used regularly in food production, such as bakery lines, in order to thoroughly clean machines that leave behind bread crumbs.
Guiding products: Pneumatic actuators operate with compressed air, helping to keep food products and equipment running smoothly.
Produce Cleaning: In fruit and vegetable factories, compressed air is used to clean produce and its containers, ensuring high standards of hygiene.
Drying produce: Many facilities use compressed air to dry fruits and vegetables after cleaning to ensure their quality during the production process.
In the beverage industry, compressed air also has many specific applications including:
Fermentation: Compressed air is used to increase oxygen levels to speed up the fermentation process of beverages.
Water Sterilization: Compressed air is used to generate ozone gas, which is used to sterilize water and ensure that the product meets hygiene standards.
Bottle Sealing: Pneumatic machines operated by compressed air are used to seal the caps of bottles to ensure that beverages remain airtight.
Beer Bottling: One of the most common applications of compressed air in the beverage industry is in the bottling of beer to reduce residual oxygen levels. Compressed air is also used to rinse beer bottles with carbon dioxide via pneumatic machinery to ensure the quality and taste of the beer.
How compressed air is efficiently filtered
Compressed air comes into direct contact with food in the food industry and therefore must be carefully treated to ensure its purity and therefore food safety.
Before entering the desiccant dryer, compressed air passes through a high-precision filter to remove impurities such as particulate matter, oil aerosols and vapors. A downstream high efficiency particulate filter further helps to remove any desiccant dust that may be present. In order to meet the high standards for particulate matter, it is necessary to use filter cartridges with an absolute filtration accuracy that reduces particulate matter to 0.01 µm with an efficiency of up to 99.9999%.
In addition, the use of activated carbon membrane stack filters helps to remove residual oil vapors. These oil vapors can lead to contamination of the contact air, which in turn affects the quality of the product. This step effectively prevents the risk of product spoilage and ensures high quality standards in the food manufacturing process.
What Sanitek can do in this procedure?
By ensuring the functionality and durability of your equipment, Sanitek’s tailored filtration solutions contribute to long-term cost savings on maintenance and operational expenses.
Sanitek’s market-leading filtration systems specialize in the removal of oil and particles from water streams, addressing environmental regulations or injection well standards. Our innovative offerings encompass oil adsorptive guard filters, high-efficiency coalescers, as well as disposable and washable solid cartridge solutions.
For this specific application, Sanitek designs and manufactures filter cartridges and filter housings. Our Oltek pleated filter cartridge and Oltek string wound filter cartridge stand out as ideal solutions for maintaining the required purity levels in this condition.