Challenges

While a third of the world’s food is wasted, one in nine people do not have enough to eat. Thanks to support and equipment from HRS Heat Exchangers, a socially conscious Spanish food producer is aiming to redress the balance by turning Europe’s surplus fruit and vegetables into a nutritionally enriched, easy-to-digest and 100% natural foodstuff for people in need.

Challenges

A food ingredients plant in the northern Malaysian province of Seberang Perai, in the state of Penang, owned by a major multinational food producer, had a history of using smooth-tube heat exchangers for a range of cooling, heating and condensation. However, despite reservations about switching to corrugated tube exchangers, the client wanted to increase energy efficiency, reduce maintenance and cleaning requirements, and lower operational costs.

Denver, Colorado-based soup and sauce manufacturer Ready Foods has cut the time it takes to chill one of its core products by a third, thanks to a turnkey cooling system from HRS Heat Exchangers. The HRS solution, which is ideal for viscous materials, has enabled Ready Foods to significantly increase production of the meat marinade it supplies to a leading restaurant chain.

Challenge

After receiving a large order for one of its meat marinades from a leading chain of quick-service Mexican restaurants, Ready Foods needed to increase capacity. The existing process of kettle cooking and steaming the marinade, then chilling it in 2.25 kg pouches in a water cooling system for three hours, would not allow it to meet the customer’s increased demand for 910 kg bulk packs.

Challenges

Using out-grade vegetable products and other feedstocks can increase the risk of plant diseases and weed seeds being spread between farms when re-distributing digestate on the land. One farming consortium comprising six local farms, Agri-Gen in Suffolk, tackled this issue at its 5MW anaerobic digestion plant by installing a 3-Tank Batch Sludge Pasteuriser from HRS to improve the biosecurity of the digestate fertiliser which is then returned to the fields of the six farms.

In order to maximise production efficiency, the waste products from sugar production processes are reused whenever possible to extract and reuse as much energy as possible. Many of these fluids and vapours can also present a severe fouling problem when heated.

HRS Heat Exchangers compare a biogas production plant that is fitted with an evaporator for digestate processing to one that doesn’t.

When it comes to anaerobic digestion, trials can range from making minor changes with the feedstock mix or dwell time, to assessing the effects of major equipment upgrades such as new CHP units or digestate processing equipment.

Challenge

Driven by austerity measures, at the beginning of 2012 the Spanish government effectively withdrew subsidies for renewable energy, including biogas production. Despite this freeze on support, there are still opportunities for businesses to maximise the value of energy and digestate. So how does a farming company like Kernel Export, which produces salads, brassicas, melons, herbs and courgettes and pumpkins and exports throughout Europe, answer these market challenges and meet high crop safety standards, while complying with local legal requirements and fulfilling the expectations of overseas fresh produce markets?

Challenges

For traditional dairy producers, removing the heat is an essential part of the manufacturing processing when preparing butter, cream, buttermilk, yogurt, cottage cheese, crème fresh, sour cream and fromage frais for sale. While many use traditional plate design heat exchangers, for family-owned Yorkshire-based Longley Farm, who specializes in producing uncooked dairy Yorkshire curd and also needs to cool fresh cream without over-agitating it, a gentler, more compact system was sought to maintain high product quality.