Food products
There are countless companies working with food products, and each has its own specific requirements and challenges.
But many have to deal with moisture condensing on the surface of cold products, encouraging bacteria or spoiling product quality. In other cases the products can be hygroscopic, requiring particularly low levels of humidity to avoid being spoiled.
Traditional ventilation using outside air only introduces more moisture into the building, while heating has no effect on the dew point of the air. The only effective way to deal with any unwanted moisture is to use dehumidification to reduce the levels of moisture in the air or to reduce the dew point at which moisture condenses.
Adsorption dehumidifiers are the most effective and the most economical solution, making it possible to ensure low humidity and low temperatures, at the same time as making the best use of the thermal energy available.
Refrigerated spaces
Refrigerated areas, such as slaughterhouses, dairies, cheese-making facilities, etc., often encounter problems with moisture-laden air condensing and dripping onto food products. This is highly undesirable for many different reasons.
This problem stems from the incoming air having a higher dew point than the temperature in the cold area, causing the moisture content of the air to condense on the products, or on floors, ceilings and other surfaces.
The solution is to bring the dew point of the air below the temperature in the refrigerated area. The most energy-efficient way to do this is with Cotes dehumidification equipment.
Cold storage
Similar problems arise in cold storage areas and freezing tunnels, where any moisture condensing on cold surfaces will freeze to ice.
In cold storage facilities, this results in ice forming on floors, ceilings and walls – a danger for staff working there. The freezer elements also ice up, so they have to undergo time-wasting and energy-draining defrosting. Cotes dehumidification equipment can help prevent all these problems, as well as providing savings of as much as 10% on overall energy consumption.
In freezing tunnels, the formation of ice can create big problems for production. Moisture from the air condenses on the inside surfaces, as well as on conveyor belts, screw conveyors and other fixtures. Ice accumulates until it prevents conveyor equipment from moving, at which point the system has to be defrosted, cleaned and re-cooled – resulting in substantial disruption and costs, as well as considerable energy consumption.
Cotes has supplied dehumidification systems that boost the efficiency of freezer tunnels by 50% as well as greatly cutting back on energy costs. This means the outlay is recouped in just months.
Coating
Many types of confectionery, such as chewing gum, chocolates and lozenges, are coated with sugar. This is done using special automated processes in which a fluid sugar mass is added to the product while it turns around in a revolving, perforated drum.
A reliable supply of dry air is crucial for the efficiency of such processes. And the cheapest and most efficient way to provide this lies in adsorption dehumidifier systems.
Spray drying
The traditional way to boost the drying capacity of a flow of air for spray drying and fluid bed drying is heat. However, the humidity of the air also has considerable influence on overall drying capacity.
The levels of moisture in the air are very different in summer and winter, resulting in significant seasonal fluctuations in both throughput and product quality. Production during cold periods is often easier.
Using a Cotes dehumidifier to reduce the moisture in the air makes sure drying capacity is consistently high all year round. Under typical Danish conditions, this often increases drying capacity by as much as 10–15%.
Cotes has developed a special set-up for spray drying (patent applied for) that also keeps energy costs to a minimum.