Foodprocessing equipmenfian overview

DR. V.V. CIIA'y'AN*

Introduction upon us aturehasbestowed R? types foods. of several Quality lS & \B and varietv havebeen made availableby the human efforts over the years by developing effective ugri.utt*at iod nu*".tLgiechniques. then,it becomes For 'FoodProcessing' necessary meet the to fundamentally : followingrequirements to (1) 'To preserve' havelongstorage/ transportiife, (2) 'To makeit digestible'forhuman consumption, (3) 'To make it ready to eat' by Foods", "Processed . developing (4) 'To cater to the aesthetic senses' proper flavours, by incorporating aroma and/or texture to the foods. processed plants foodprocessing In designing is the sequence and machinery, above followed. Often,two or notnecessarily are moreof the above requirements into one operation.Design combined and operationof food plant and maattention chinery oftenrequirespecial part whichis not necessarily of other Thesespecialities process industries. with Together this arediscussedbelow. that themachineries are arediscussed presentday food industry. partofthe TheIndianscenariois briefly sketched.
' N'lamko ProcessEquipment Nlanufacturers (A Di'i-eion of [nnovatie Laboratory ln1 ,l'orklnp A'r. Ltd) I t i l , I l c c r a P a n n aI n d u s t n a lI ' - s t t t c , ( ilrcgalr (l:), ilombay .100t{)3.

Further, an emphasis is given to the newertechnologies that are yet to make an impact on the Indian food industry. Design specialities Some aspedsof food processingdiffer from the other processindustries in a definite wayi These are : (a) Sensitivity Most foods are sensitiveto temperature, prolonged heat, pH (acidity and alkalinity) high shear and impact. in designing the equipment and operating conditions,one hasto keep this in mind. In fact, one hasto achieveprocess results without unduly damaging the material. This makes innovative designsa necessify. (b) Rheolog Most foods are rheologically complex in the sense that, under the flowing conditions such as pumping, mixing, blending,emulsification, homogenisation and dispersion,they do not behave like most l.iquid chemicals do. Theydo not behaveinNewtonianway is where the viscosify a constant. Here, in fact, the viscosity will vary with the shearrate,or the flow rate or the RPM of the stirrer (See Fig. 1). Viscosiry or alsovarieswithtimeinstorage transport. Solid or semisolid foods have their own problems. They show elongations and brittleness which is very much stressand time dependant(See on Fig. 2). For a detaileddiscussion this, specialisedbooks or reviewsmay be looked into.
B CHEMICAL USINESS

Fig. 1: Typical viscositycurvesof food products

In designing equipment, espethe pumpciallyin the heattransferarea, ing capacity, mixing/blendingtime and the horsepowerof all the rotating complexithe equipment, rheological ties play a very imporiant role. Another importart role rheologyhas in of the foodindustryis in the designing

sHtAn Fig, 2: Stress - Strain curves for butter or l!{argarine at 10"C in simple shear

JULY.I993

21

and rheologr Table1: Productproperties

Property
Shetf-life or physical stability Tlpical rheological parameter Yield stressviscosityat very low shear rate (101 S-r) Unconfined compressionstrength and angle offriction Viscosity at around 200 s'' Breaking strength Shear strength Breaking strength Viscosity at 37C and at about 103 s'r, breaking strength Yield stress(or hardness)and maximum shear Elastic modulus, viscoelasticbehaviour at low shear and feld stress Yield stress Product Squashes,Ketchups, Sauces,Chutnics' Butter, Margarine Soft drinks, sauces,ketchup Chocolate, Biscuits Cheese, Margarine Cheese,Chocolate, Biscuits, Margarine - do Chocolate, Icecream' Butter Butter, Marg;rine, Cheese

Flow from Packages PourabilitY Breaking Cutting Biting In-mouthsensing ScoopabilitY SpreadabilitY

Holding own weight against flattening or sagging.

Cream Dressings, Ketchup,

the productpropertiessuchaspouratextureand similar bility,speedability, (SeeTable1). properties organoleptic

of contamination, all are factors that need study. Here, a hYgienicdesign assumesa greater importance in the caseof food machinerythan many other factors. The basicobjectiveunderlining the hygienic design is that the machine itself should not contribute to microbial or other tlpes of contaminationor spoilageof the food. Several international standards have been evolvedin order to achieve this basic requirement. The features that these standardsinsision are: - Food contiicting surfaces should be inert to food under all conditions of use, - Surfaces must be smooth and not allow tiny food Particlesand bacin teria to get deposited the microscopic surfacecrevices' - Even internal surfacesshould be visiblefor inspectionand cleaning, Design must facilitate easy dismantling of parts for cleaningand inspection, Providing lids and other Protectionsto prcvent exlcrnalcontamin a t i o n ,a n d Avoiding sharp corners and crevices,which harbour microbes difbY ficult to dislodge normal cleanins.

(e) ScalingUp Scaling up in the processingindustry meansincreasingthe plant sixe. In food processing, the trend is for a modular design. Here, scaling uP is largely done bY adding modules. However, the scale of the module itself goes on increasing. Therefore,'scal' ing up' of the equipment is required. 'Rheology' plays In food processing, an important role is scalingup. Several rules have been scientificaily derived and are available. (f) Plant and Systems "Food ProcessingPlants" require a special attention in cleanliness, spacious plant layouts and designs that are amenableto cleaning in place (CIP), methods and inline sterilisatiou of plant in shut down and before startup. 'systern designs'is appropriate use of instrumentationand processcontrol. It ascertains the reproducible product quality and also energy and material efficient design.Typical examples of cleverly designed systems are "Biostil Proccss" of Alpha-Laval or "Hcrbal Extraction Plants" of l,{AMKO.

Above, in discussingsensitivity'we have noted how the designedprocess and the operating condition affect the product adversely' In a reverse way' appropriate processconditions may not only do the required processjob but could also impart favourableproperties to the product' It has been conclusivelyproved that an appropriate use of emulsifiers and homogenisers rvould give higher viscositiesto manv dairy mixesand fruit juices.As a result' there is an improvement in stability and also cost saving on the use of exPensive Sucheffects emulsifiersand stabilisers. product imProvement are also of achievedby selection and proper use of otators in margarine and eKruders in texturised Protein foods. (d) Hygienic design The equipment designsmust match dentands' the product and the processing fragility, dcnsin', size Abrasiveness, propertiesof both and shapc,corrosive material and the food the construction a f producl, low velocities ndcharactcrof thc prtrductandease pI'I, i:-iic-s. statc

B CHEMICAL USINESS

JULY 1993

Equipment and machinerY' Oveniew ln TableT,equiPment and machinery that are generally required in food processingare listed. Industries using ih"r" u." also noted. In noting the industries,the basis used is the raw material.However,all the downstream industries are included in relation to the equipment rsed' For examplg maize indusiry includes products like samolina, cornflour' corn oil, starch and glucose.The.milk industry includes oasteurised and/or sterilised milk, i.".r"u-, dairy desertsand likewise it Someimporis for the other industriestant products that themselvesconstitute large industriesare sometimesmentioned in relation to the specialised equipment required, for example. oil, margarine, icecream,yoghurt and beer. The list given is bY no means exhaustive.It can definitely be improved upon. Further, ancillaryequipment such as storagevessel, piping and electricalsare not noted. The list is, however, very much rePresentative. Developmentin India Tremendous develoPments have takenplace in EuroPe, U.SA', JaPan, Australia and NewZealand in the area of food processingplant and machinery. A number of significant devel- . opments have paved the waY for the production of a wide range of food processing machinery, conformingto high sanitary standards.Development of different grades of stainless steel and the type of surface finish that is possibleon this metal, new ranges of plastic construction materials, CIP (Cleaning-in-place) techniques, automation and continuousoperations and processing teciniques are some aseptics of the factors. One maY notice that many of these developmentsare yet to make their entry into the Indian food machinery scene. This has been the main reason for the rather poor quality of the Indian food processingmachinery. It is, however, heartening to note that there have been considerate government supportto'R&D' to help the food industry.
JULYI993

Table2: Proccssequipmentoverview
Sr. No. Equipmcnl lndustry where used

Processing
1. PrecleanersfVashen/Scourcrs Cyclone Separator (Pneumatic) Magnetic Separator Destoners (Pneumatic or GravitY) Husk, Shell Separator (Pneumatic or Gravity) o. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
lJ, 1A

Paddy, Wheat, Pulses,Fruits, Vegetables Meat, Fisb. Wheat, Maize Wheat, Maize, Fruits, SPices Paddy, Wheat, Pulses,Maize, SPices Paddy, Oilseed, Pulses Wheat, Maize, Tea/Coffee, Sugar, Spices Paddy, Maize, Sugar Paddy, Maize, Oilseeds,SPices 'leafCoftee, Fruit, Vegetables Paddy, Sugar, Paddy, Pulses,Maize, SoYa,Teaf Cnfee, Fruits, Vegetables,Meat, Fish, Spices Maize, Paddy, Wheat Pulses, Spices Pulses,Maize Paddy, Sugar, Oilseed, SPices Paddy, Maize, Oilseed Wheat, Maize, Spices Sugar (also other on larger scales) Tea/Coffee, Fruits, Vegetables Fruits, Vegetables,Fish, Meat, Sugar Paddy, 0ilseeds, SPices Paddy, Maize, Sugar,Tea/C-offee, Milk Meat, Fish. Maize,Teaf C-offee,Fruits and Vegetables Tea/Coffee, Fruits and Vegetables Paddy, Maize, ScYa, I\'{eat/Fish Wheat, Pulses,Oil (Fnible/Sugar, Milk Vinegar, Soya, Yeast. Wheat Paddy, Wheat, Sugar, Milk, Yoghurt' Fish, Meat, Yeast, Vinegar Wheat, Spices Paddyt, Maize, Oil Paddy, Maize, Fruit, SPices,Oilseeds Maize, Sugar, Tea/Coffee, Milm, Fruit Maize, Oil, Tea/Coffee, SPices Oil, Spiccs Oil. Tea/Coffee Sugar, Oil, Milk, Fruits, Yeast, Vinegar Sugar, Icecream, Margarine Sugar TeaI Coffee, Yeast, Vinegar Milk, Fruit Tea/Cnttee Yeast, Vinegar, Yoghurt, Beer Oil, Tea/Coffee Milk, Fruit Juices ( D c p c n d i n g o n s a l c ) ,O i l , F r u i t s ,S u g a r ' Ycast.

2.
J.

{. ).

Vibrating Separator Sifters Aspirators Size Graders c

Shellers,Dehusker/Decorlicators Dehullers/Peelers/Deskinnen Degermers/Debranners Hot Air Conditioner Humid Air aerator Hammermills/Pulveriser

15. Flakers 16. Grinding Mills

't1

Conveyers

18. Pulper 19. Cutting/Slicing/Dicing/Shredding 20. Roasters 21. Dryers (Rotary, Drum t)?e)
22. 23. U. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. Y. 35. 'X. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. Spray Dryers Freeze Drying Plant Extruders Mixers/Blenders/Homogenisers/ Reactors Kneaders BakingOven/Autoclave/Heat Exchanger Cooling Tower Cooling Devices (Exchangers/ Tunnels) Expeller/Presses Evaporators/Concentrators (Vacuum, Rotary) Extractor Solvent Recovery Unit/ Desolventers Deodouriser/Refining Centrifuge/Cream SeParator/ Clarifiers/Decanten. Crystaliser/Votaton Filters (Vacuum, Rotary) Filter Press Deaerators Fermentors (Solid) Fermentors(Liquid) Fractionators CIP(Cleaning-in-Place) Effluent Treatment Unit

BUSINESS CHEMICAL

23

fuges are manufactured in India'

Continuationof Table2
Sr. No. EquiPment lnduslry rhert usrd

Packaging
1. 2. 3. 4 . 5. 6. 7. 8. WrapPing Machine Bag Filling Machine C-artonPacking Machine Liquid Filling Machine Bottling Plant Exhausting/Retortingequipment Canning (Can Forming, Sealing)' Sealing Machine Required as per the Product range Note: The scalewill determine the level of automation. Transport, Storagecondition, and product designwill dctermine the'aseptic' packagingrequirement

Utilities
1. 2.
J. A

5.

Boiler Cooling Tower Chilling Plant Freezing Plant Precooler

Type of processingdeterminesthe requiretnent

(b) Large capacity spraydrying and roller drying Plants A number of industries,sPeciallY the dairy products,baby food, instant coffee and tea industries, need efficient spray and Moller dryers' There are certain engineering problems which need attention. The austeneticstainlesssteels,commonlyused in India, are by not hardenable heat treatment' Drum dryers needa hard and perfectly cylindrical surface.Problemsof heattreatment have retardcd the development CastSSor Cl drums of this equipment. with hard chromium plating can serve the purPose.However, no attemPtln this direction has been made. Similarly, the centrifugalatomizers employed in sPraY drYers also need design and fabrication' The .-"2t engineeringindustry is capable Indian of developing the atomizers and other comPonents of sPraY drYers' Sustainedefforts are lacking' (c) Evaporation and Aroma Recovery Pl,ants production Fruit juicc concentrate Many of requires thcse equipments. exported from the fruit products are the countrY. The technologY is not too complicatedfor the Indian engineering industry. Application of energy saring techniques like vapour recompression and multi-effect evaporation are emPloYed in indigenous equipmentin other chemicaland dairy aiplications. However' right types of evaporators with aroma recoverY plants a.e not manufactured in the

(a) R&D Efforts

Some agencies are Agricultural Universities of Punjab,Pantnagar, Marathawada and Tamil Nadu, Rice Research Institute at Cuttack, Paddy Processing Research Centre at Tiruvarur, IITs, Indian Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal and some CSIR and ICAR laboratories' CFTRI has been endeavouring to machinerysince developfood processing its inception, speciallyto cater to the needs of the small scale processors' Over the Years, several equiPment designs have been worked out and perfected through proto-tlpe fabrication and factory trials. liers S) Machinery Manu,facture/ Supp A large imPact on the Indian food industrieshas been by the prccessing companieswith foreigncollaborations Companieslike Larsen or agcncies. Alpha-Laval'Mather and and Toubro, Platt, Kilburn and Penwalt have been introducing a number of specialised into the Indian market' Then, machines of course,there are some who have in been specialising cateringto one industrylike the supply of machinesfor sugai, solvent extraction and paddy proccssing Plants. proc, Furthr:rto the above cilenriclrl alsoGlt'r ess equipnrcntnianufacturers
24

to the needsof some food industries' like And some small companies Mamko and Alpha-Equipment are also satisfyingsomecustomerneeds'where some spicial atteniion to processor fabricition qualitv is needed.There is also the emergence of several small fabin ricators, each specialising one area meat mincing, icelikc potato wafers, cream. Their list may be found in any of the directorieson this subject' New Technologies Though the need is for the overall srowth of the food machineryindustry iector, which is still in its formaLive are stage,and developments neededin al! typesof machineryand equipment, some technology areas need special attention.Some of them are:

(a) HiSh speedspecialisedcentrtfugel country. separalors need A good number of industries energj efficient heat (d) Speci.alised Nozle efficient centrifugalseparators' exchangers disc bowl anclself-cleaning/desludging The inciianfood industryhas been haveapplicationin dairy, type centrifuges using mostiy tubular heat exchangers proteinefraction and many oil rel-rning s f o r a l l t h e r m a lp r o c e s s e P.l a t eb e a te x n B other indtrstrics.csides latrufactur( c h a n g e r s P H E s ) , a n d S c r a P c dS u r a ing ctifficulties, thoroughundcrstandface Heat Erchangers (SSIJEs) arc is o[ ing of the clynamics thc machines ittr unilonn hcatingand srnlrllcr viiil for manufacturingthcsernachines' known a r t h e a t i n g i m c s , v h i c h r c v i l a lf o r f o o d s ' Apart from a fcw m odclsof ccntrifugcs L " I t i s o n l r r c t c n t i t t h l t n r a n u f ' r ti t i ' : I inn f t x c r c a u ts c i t a r a t i r l i n t h c d a i r v P [ { [ t - si i . r s: l i r t e d i n I n d i : r ' ! i ' d t r s t r l ' , t t t r o r h c r t r ' p c so f d i s c c c n t r i cl{El,,tlcAL BUSlt'IESS . r u L Y1 9 9 3

Fig.3: Scraped surface heat exchanger

of forming and cooking equipments' time and problem is the long delivery Forming eKruders, extrusioncookers requiredfor "niert .upitur investments and co]extruders,which are available for i"it"ffi"g the heavy duty presses in the western market, with suitable atrue' PHEs.SSgf,S(SeeFig'3)need modifications,can meet our requlrefor nn"tv poti.tt"d internal surface' another area where functioning' This calls ments. This is ii"ii are clevelopments neededespeciallyfor "fn.i"nt for the SS ior rp".ifi.alty honed tubes Indian conditions. Uoayuna specialweldingandannealing iechniquesto preventdistortions (g) Freezing technologt be Jti.lnn welding' If SSHEsare to the ln freez\ng technologY, India is applications, rotary aseptic u.cdi-o type' very much backward. For examPle' will seals haveto be of a special the use of liquid nitrogen, drY ice' theyhave been introOnlyrecently poor' In comliouid CO. is extremely herefor food Processing' duced it

in beenexperimenting India,commeris not YetPracticed' cial use an'd Separation Reverse $) Membrane Osmosis
has Over the years' this technology place in the food infound a definite dustry all over the world' For separa'of sc[d Particles or unwanted iion liouid.it is usedin variousforms' Many i.,iusi.ies ru.h asfruit juice,milk proclfrom ucts,beer,alcohol,have benifited important tor its use. It is specially product quality a[ lower manufacluring costs. Conclusions At Present, the industry is largelY bogged down by primitive technology unl-lo* scale of operation' Recently' high some comPanies irtroduced food processtng technologyof modern in this sJ.to. such as eKrusion' flash roasting, film coating, quick f'reezin.g at eKremely low temperature'aseptlc gas packaging, vacuum and inert " multiPle barrier hn"a plckagirg, pu.tugi"g includingtera pack and retort pou.hes.However,much more areYet to come. O[tcn, thc imPorted machineries th.ey are too expensive and even when c o u n t r yw t t h i a r c m a n u f a c t u r e dn t h c arc th t l r c t i r r c i r : nt c c h n t i l t r { Y c p r i c e s c o s t st n . n . l t r n c ( , u r a g i n gT h c p r o j c c t

an^d Processing Packaging is fractional.Becauseof its meagreuse' (e) Aseptic EquiPment manufacturers are also not coming in fruitsandvege- forward. Application techniques this processed Expori of industrialenterprise area are to be develoPedto suit our is tables u urijo. are in India. Most of the products still country and the use needsto be popucans' for which packed in sanitary larised. "Freezilg"'whether it is for imports' Asepon indiahasto depend drying or for preservation in transpackingof liquid tic processingand port and storage,definitely needsconis a develop- siderableattcntion and development' foois in flexiblepouches ment that will be veryusefulto Indian It is particularlyimportant for fruits' heat needs The technology meat and fish' exporters. vegetables, and asepticfrllirg equip"*.huog"., should nreet rigid saniment,ihich (lr) erc nti cal Ex t ra clio n
tary itandards. There is an immediato need for the industry to go into the in developmentof thesesystems a big \\'a,v, (D Forming and cooking m'achinery^ A nur,lGrof traditiorurlIndiur ftrxls lt h a r ' es c o p cf o r n r l r s s p r o d u c t i can t l r c necd spc'ial t11o-' inJuslriallsvcl' Tlrc')
J U L Y1 9 9 3

countries' ou.iron toihe developed

SuP at Use of carbondioxide tts suPercondition for ertraction hasbeen critic.rl by conrmcrcialiscd someGerman aqd Therc are dcficompanies. American h se e r ci n p r o d u c tq u a l i t y n i t ca d ! ' a n t a g
rcle ni r ' : r r : l : r l i , r ni ( r i l i ( ) n l 3 a n d f l l * t l t t r lrntl f ilitt ii. n. ,\i.h,'i:rll.'n l.rlrtrr'It'rfy
unl.t.t,.., \r"lrc l.ll"'l'ti.'ttr:r lt'tic I

B CHE[IICAL USINESS

this caseare high and in thesedaysof ,,cash-crunch",tend 16 [amper the ingenuindigenous Thercfore, Drogess. have to be innovativeness i"iti aod taken up as challenges.There three areasneed specialattention because theyarerelevantto the exportoriented indrstries.Harvesting' dehydrationand ofaromas/ inprocessencapsulation for fruits, vegeflivours/fragrances are tablesand sPices theseareas'

and preshippingstorage life of the product, tley arc to be treated and after halvestprecooledimmediately this achieve needto be Lg. Facilitiesto capital at mide available a reascnable with Dehydration and operating cost. to and damage of minimalloss flavour at be achieved a to the materialneeds minimal cost. "Solar drying:' with keepingcost adequatesophistication in mind has to be utilised as far as This area definitelyis worth possible. novelprocessthe In order to increase transPort iooking into. Further,

ing tecbniquesneed to be devised whereby, at a minimal cost aroma/ flavouri/fragrancesmaybe preserved couldbe still of an interandproducts nationalquality. The food industrYdefinitely has a gteat future in this country' However, from the Lntributions are necssary together and scientists the technologists the entrewith the industrialistsand preneurs. trl