Fruit slurry for the perfect smoothie

Prior to the startup of the new facility, high pressure pasteurization was performed by a third-party vendor. According to Rich Griffin, engineering manager at Peak Foods, "this process was tedious, caused time delays and increased costs."

However, to bring production in-house, the experience gained from dairy production was not enough, new processes had to be tested and fine-tuned. After initially considering a Coriolis mass flowmeter to monitor the HTST pasteurization system, distribution partner OCS Process Systems helped to review specifications and clarified best practice solutions with the Anderson-Negele Technical Support team. OCS recommended the FMI electromagnetic flowmeter. With the small pipe diameters in the facility, this technology promised higher measurement accuracy on paper. Therefore, during commissioning, extensive tests were run with the most extreme requirement, i.e. the thickest fruit puree.

"These tests were a pure success story. We were able to prove that the measurement accuracy fully met expectations. In addition, an IZMAG is significantly more cost-effective than a comparable Coriolis Meter, so that we can now use the best technical solution at the most favorable price" concludes Rich Griffin.

In CIP systems, time control is often used for phase transition. To be sure that a media has been completely pushed out, buffer times are embedded into the control system. Peak Foods uses an ITM-51 turbidimeter, which measures the change of media in real time and enables valve control without loss of production time.
"Compared to classic phase separation, we can regain large amounts of our valuable product and save costs" explains Rich Griffin. An experience that numerous users can confirm: In many applications, an ITM turbidimeter pays for itself within a few weeks only.