Food manufacturer eliminates contamination with pneumatic conveying system

A food manufacturer has eliminated the risk of rice product contamination incurred during transport from storage to the filling and packaging lines by replacing an open belt conveying system with a closed, pneumatic conveying system. Designed and manufactured by process equipment manufacturer Gericke USA, Somerset, N.J., the sealed, dense phase conveying system transports long grain, risotto, and basmati rice at distances up to 70 m while avoiding exposure to mechanical wear parts, lubricants, pests, and other contaminants.

The conveying system transports the fragile, dry rice grains at low velocities to protect the size and shape, consistently meeting a 0.5 per cent or better broken grain rate, yet also delivering high throughput capacities from 6 t/h to 15 t/h.

Tested in the Gericke testing laboratory to verify performance under simulated operating conditions, the PTAD conveying system continuously transfers the rice as a pulsed plug through stainless steel conveyor piping. Twin pressure vessels introduce the rice into the process without requiring an external air injection system and without any moving parts to eliminate the potential for metal particle contamination. Additionally, the pressure vessels were custom-configured to fit into a limited space underneath an overhead hopper without compromising the efficiency or requiring additional conveying air.