19.08.2013

Humidifier makes fish factory $1M per year

Condair’s JetSpray humidifier is helping refrigeration equipment specialists ICS Cool Energy increase profits at a leading worldwide brand of canned fish by $1 million per year. By maintaining a high humidity around the fish after steaming, evaporative weight loss from the cooked fish has been reduced from approximately 5% to 0.67%. The humidification system is preventing up to 8.5 tonnes of product from simply evaporating each day between cooking and canning.

After steaming, the fish needs to be rapidly cooled in order to be processed and canned but can lose up to 20% of its moisture in the process, impacting significantly on its weight. As the factory processes up to 200 tonnes of fish each day, this severely reduced the yield on its product. ICS Cool Energy was tasked by its long standing client to find a more cost effective replacement to its existing cool room sprinkler system, which was proving inefficient in terms of energy and water usage.

Malcolm Edwards, Group Technical Manager for ICS Cool Energy, explained what he did next: “ICS installed a chilled water system to provide cooling but we needed advice on the most appropriate humidifier and contacted Condair regarding its JetSpray.

“The high skill level of the Condair project management team and its extensive experience in this application gave me confidence to place an order. The support and training Condair subsequently provided was excellent throughout the system development, installation and commissioning. The JetSpray has been in operation now for a number of months keeping the humidity well over the required 90%RH and maintaining a very low 0.67% weight loss. The energy and water savings are a bonus and economies will also be achieved through its easy maintenance programme. All in all, our client could not be happier, and neither could we.”

The humidifier combines compressed air and water in precision engineered nozzles to produce a very fine spray that’s rapidly absorbed by the air. This makes it ideal for use in cold stores where the ambient humidity is often high and humidification less readily absorbed by the atmosphere. The line of nozzles is positioned in front of the evaporator coils of the refrigeration system and introduces moisture to the airstream as it enters the cold store.

The system’s extremely hygienic design also makes it ideal for food processing facilities. The humidifier incorporates regular automatic flush and purge cycles to ensure that water cannot remain in the system to stagnate. The JetSpray can operate any potable water or demineralised supply and incorporate UV sterlisation or silver ion water treatment.

The nozzles have a self-cleaning mechanism, which consists of a pin that pushes through the nozzle orifice whenever the spray stops. This prevents blockages in the nozzle and ensures the system operates robustly in industrial environments with very little required maintenance.

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