Food & Beverage Industry

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Food & Beverage Industry

Food and beverages are vital in the truest sense of the word. And just as our body needs them to keep going, their producers need high-quality compressed air. After all, they must ensure that the things we eat and drink are safe to consume and that they taste good. Stringent compressed air standards for food industry apply.

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Air treatment for the food & beverage industry

The use of compressed air in the food & beverage industry

The applications for compressed air in the food and beverage sector are nearly endless. It is used for powering machines, generating industrial gases, cleaning food, and packaging products. In other words, modern food production would not be possible without it.

Generally, compressed air in this industry falls into three broad categories. The first includes air that does not come into direct or indirect contact with food and beverage products. The second consists of air used in production processes without touching the food itself. Finally, the third category involves air that comes into direct contact with the food during processing.

The importance of quality air in the food and beverage sector

Untreated compressed air contains moisture, particles, and oil, all of which can severely impact your final products, production equipment, and processes. When compressed air comes into direct contact with food and beverages, it must meet strict quality standards to ensure that none of these contaminants compromise the safety or taste of the food.

Fortunately, various technologies are available to maintain the required air quality. Particles are removed using filters, while moisture and water are managed with aftercoolers, dryers, water separators, condensate drains, and additional filtration. To eliminate oil contamination, filters and carbon towers can be used, or an oil-free, Class 0 compressor can be implemented.

The compressed air quality standard

ISO 8573-1:2010 is the international standard that categorizes compressed air quality.

Purity class	Solid particles			Water		Total oil
	Number of particles per m3			Pressure dewpoint		Concentration
	0.1 < d ≤ 0.5 μm**	0.5 < d ≤ 1.0 μm**	1.0 < d ≤ 5.0 μm**	°C	°F	mg/m3
0	As specified by the equipment user or supplier and more stringent than Class 1.
1	≤ 20000	≤ 400	≤ 10	≤ -70	≤ -94	≤ 0.01
2	≤ 400000	≤ 6000	≤ 100	≤ -40	≤ -40	≤ 0.1
3	-	≤ 90000	≤ 1000	≤ -20	≤ -4	≤ 1
4	-	-	≤ 10000	≤ 3	≤ 37.4	≤ 5
5	-	-	≤ 100000	≤ 7	≤ 44.6	-
6	≤ 5 mg/m3			≤ 10	≤ 50	-

Compressed air standards for food industry

Four major organizations have specifically identified the need for compressed air monitoring – ISO (International Organization for Standardization), BCAS (British Compressed Air Society), BRC (British Retail Consortium), and SQF (Safe Quality Food Institute).

The BCAS Food and Beverage Grade Compressed Air Best Practice 102 is an excellent reference for the F&B manufacturing sector and its suppliers:

Compressed air as pilot air (to control valves, cylinders, grippers,…): Class 7.4.4
Non-contact compressed air (no contact with ingredients, finished food, packaging material, storage vessels or the manufacturing machinery): Class 1.4.1
Non-contact high risk (possible unintended contact with ingredients, finished food, packaging material, storage vessels or the manufacturing machinery): Class 1.2.1
Contact compressed air (direct contact with ingredients, finished food, packaging material, storage vessels or the manufacturing machinery): Class 1.2.1

The dryer that meets compressed air standards for food industry

Achieving quality compressed air starts with the right dryer. The PB adsorption dryer series from Pneumatech is the ideal F&B solution:

Top quality air: Produce food-grade compressed air with a reliable pressure dew point to meet ISO 8573-1:2010 Class 1, 2 & 3 requirements.
Cost efficiency: Keep your energy costs in check thanks to the PB’s industry-leading efficiency.
Reliability: With its in-house components and durable build, PB dryers offer superior reliability and reduce production downtime.
Long maintenance intervals: PB dryers are ready for use and allow for long maintenance intervals.
Easy operation: Our advanced controller, the PurelogicTM Touch, allows for easy control and monitoring.

A wide range of filters

Filters play a key role in the treatment of compressed air. Pneumatech has a complete range of filters to make sure your compressed air meets all F&B quality requirements. This includes oil coalescing, particulate and oil vapor filters, as well breathing air, silicone-free, sterile and process filtration.