Cryogenic freezing and chilling: an agile solution to improve quality and productivity

In an ever changing environment (global pandemic, raw material price fluctuation, climate concerns...), innovation and cost control remain key focuses of manufacturers to mitigate the impact on profit margins.

Processes involving cryogenic refrigeration, i.e., using liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide to cool and freeze, continue to play a vital role in food manufacturing since cryogenics can deliver outstanding results, addressing many food safety and spoilage concerns for various types of food products.

Cryogenic freezing also presents advantages over mechanical freezing, with the three main ones listed below:

1. Improved product quality: lower weight loss, smaller ice crystals for a better aspect of the product after thawing;
2. Processing flexibility: easy change of configurations during product changeover;
3. Lower capital investment: typically renting the equipment, easy to scale up or down.

Whether it’s preserving food quality during the grinding and mixing process, producing dry ice in a safe and sanitary environment, or moving temperature-sensitive foods via refrigerated transport, Air Liquide provides a wide range of Freezing and Chilling cryogenic services that meet the industry’s varied needs, help maintain quality and freshness — all while helping to improve productivity.

Although Air Liquide has been providing gas solutions to the food industry for over 50 years, innovation remains at its core, with a strong focus on safety, hygiene and cost-efficiency.

An example of this is the latest CRYO TUNNEL-FP1 specifically designed for those processors that need to achieve a competitive freezing or chilling cost for their food products. This solution includes the best of Air Liquide’s ALIGAL™ food grade gases, state-of-the-art application equipment and technical support services.

The CRYO TUNNEL-FP1 is constructed with stainless steel food contact surfaces and a fully welded stainless steel insulated body. Available in various sizes with different width and length. The hygienically-designed lifting system ensures that the lid can open completely for better accessibility during cleaning, sanitation and maintenance functions. The inside corners are curved while the base of the freezer has a sloped floor with drain openings for better drainage of the wash water during the cleaning operation with electrical wiring integrated into the insulation of the lid.

The CRYO TUNNEL-FP1 uses proprietary hygienic, stainless steel, high performance fan blades to ensure optimal heat transfer, cryogen efficiency and consistency of freezing.

The cryogen injection system consists of a hygienically-designed manifold which operates on either liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide and automatically adjusts to meet the changing product heat load requirements using specially-designed software.

Finally, the CRYO TUNNEL-FP1 is simple to operate with its push button/PLC hybrid control panel and delivers excellent performance with respect to quality, cryogen efficiency and productivity throughput.

For more information, please visit: https://industry.airliquide.com.au/industries/food.