Endress+Hauser instrumentation installed at a world-class wheat processing facility has pushed plant performance levels to the optimum and helped meet the stringent demands of the client's Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.
Raw materials arrive at the plant in bulk and bagged format and from them, the individual mixes of corn grits, potato or semolina are made. Any silos filled pneumatically with floury, dusty products are in danger of over-pressurisation and possible risk of splitting silo sides. The new Levelflex M guided radar from Endress+Hauser, used in conjunction with a Cerabar M food-grade pressure sensor, will monitor bin levels to 114 feet and keep pressure within silo specifications. It will also close down filling systems and shut valves if dangerous levels are achieved, even during filling.
Once the snack leaves the washers, peelers and extruders, it is blown along flexible pipes into storage hoppers, where it is fed into the drying ovens. Accurate temperature zone control in the dryers is achieved using a series of temperature sensors, output to a data secure Memograph S visual data manager, which is well suited to the food industry, as it is compliant to FDA requirements in 21 CFR part 1.1.
The temperature and feed rate data can be used to give the best drying times for each product type to prevent over-cooking. From the triple deck ovens, the snacks go into the flavour dosing system, which for many crackers, chips or corn puffs is vegetable oil slum. The powder flavours are either pre-weighed or continuously weighed and mixed with a fixed volume of oil and pumped under pressure to the flavour drums. Endress+Hauser's stainless steel PROline Promass 80 Coriolis mass flowmeters will ratio the raw oil and dose the slurries in the product tumblers accurately from 13,61 grams/min to 13,336 tonnes/min, at flow rates up to 10 m/s and at temperatures of up to 200°C. Flavour mixing is critical at this stage, as the correct mix ensures the best possible taste of the final product. Endress+Hauser's Promass flowmeter provides mass and volume dose control and also density and temperature functions at this crucial point in the process.
The excess hot slurry flows out of the tumblers into reservoirs and waste tanks for removal and recycling. Endress+Hauser's Liquiphant M vibrating fork point level switches are immune to oily product build-up and can prevent any messy and costly overfills and spills. From the flavour drums, the product goes up a bucket elevator and onto the distribution system to feed the multihead weighers and packers, before final distribution to the stores and supermarkets.
Endress+Hauser offers a wide range of level, pressure, flow, temperature and analytical instrumentation for the food industry, which is designed to meet FDA, 3-A and EHEDG standards. The company's food industry sensors and transmitters are manufactured in stainless steel and are available with a variety of sanitary process connections to ensure the maximum food safety and flexibility. The picture shows a Deltapilot DB50 pressure sensor, for keeping pressure within silo specifications.
For more information contact Sean Frost, Endress+Hauser, 011 262 8000, [email protected]
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