STABILISATION OF DAIRY
- Venting of Milk Tankers
- Ensuring a sterilising grade filter is fitted can significantly reduce the risk of contamination, of both the product and the environment (e.g. during FMD outbreaks). This filter should not only be fully retentive to an aerosol bacterial challenge but must also retain bacteriophage.
- Storage Tank Venting
- Cleaning and sterilisation of large non-vacuum rated tanks is becoming more important in the drive to increase hygiene standards throughout the dairy. To maintain this increased hygiene level sterilising grade filters are required for both atmospheric vents and filters for tanks running on slight over pressure. The implementation of the correct procedures with the correct products is imperative if problems such as tank collapse are to be avoided.
- Low Pressure Sterile Air Supply
- To guarantee the provision of sterile air supplied from low-pressure blowers the differential pressure of the system should be minimised whilst lifetime is maximised. This combination can be achieved with a combination of very high flowing and efficient pleated glass microfibre products using specially developed hydrophobic filtration media.
- High Pressure Sterile Air Supply
- This system is more likely to suffer from large quantities of water, dirt and oil, the magnitude of which depends on the specification of the compressor. Allowing these contaminants onto the final sterile filter will compromise its effectiveness and could lead to final product contaminations of both bacteria and flavour taints. The use of coalescing filters in conjunction with activated carbon filters should be implemented. Sterile filters should be robust enough to withstand the high temperature 142°C (288°F) multiple steam sterilisations seen in common use. All filtration systems recommended exceed the quality requirements outlined in 3A Accepted Practice 604-04.
- Rinse and Chase
- The rinse and chase water used in the dairy should be free from micro-organisms. Sanitising a piece of production equipment followed by a rinse with mains water can easily re-introduce contamination. Using high throughput 0.2 micron rated membrane filters in association with optimised pre-filtration will remove possibility of contamination to processes using the water.
- Steam Supply
- The standard of steam used within the dairy industry is important in delivering the correct quality product to the customer. The filtrate from the steam filters should exceed the requirements laid down in 3A Accepted Practice for Culinary Steam 609-02. This can be achieved cost effectively with both sintered and pleated metal fibre filters from domnick hunter.
- Sterile Gas Services to Filling Machines
- The environment within the modern aseptic filling machine can be very aggressive to sterile gas filters. Incorrectly designed systems and sub-standard filters can quickly compromise the sterility of the process. domnick hunter has worked in partnership with a number of end users and filling machine manufacturers to optimise the operating and sterilisation parameters to guarantee and extend the lifetime of the sterile gas filters. Typically lifetimes have been extended 10 fold over previously used cartridges. Guaranteed performance depends not just on the technical performance of the filter but a true understanding of the working environment.
- On-site Nitrogen Gas Supply
- The use of nitrogen in dairy processing and packaging operations reduces wastage due to product oxidation and extends product lifetime. By installing domnick hunter MAXIGAS generators, end users can produce a supply of clean, dry nitrogen gas from an existing compressed air supply. The benefits of on-site generation of nitrogen include; reduced costs associated with traditional gas supply methods; reliable, consistent 24 hour gas supply; no handling of high pressure cylinders; one time installation and the flexibility of either a central nitrogen supply or individual supply at the point of use.