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Building Services Engineering l November/December 2022
Improving food productivity with humidity Condair has released a new podcast about how food manufacturers can enhance their productivity by controlling their production area’s humidity. In a 10-minute interview with BusinessNet Explorer, Dave Marshall-George, Sales Director at Condair, explains how paying more attention to a manufacturing or storage area’s ambient humidity can improve manufacturing yield and profits. Dave explains: “Accurate humidity management in food and beverage production has many benefits. There are a huge range of applications. Humidification is frequently used to reduce evaporative losses, prevent static issues and extend shelf-life of produce. Dehumidification can be employed to more efficiently dry a product, eliminate condensation, reduce cold storage
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overheads or prevent products sticking to conveyors. “As a humidity control specialist, we interact with many food and beverage manufacturers to identify areas of potential improvement across a production line, and then implement improved systems to maintain the ideal environment to realise those benefits. For example, we work in the meat sector to reduce evaporative losses from carcasses during primary chilling, with cheese manufacturers to reduce weight losses during cheese ripening, with bakers to optimise “proving” and oven baking, and distilleries and wine makers to prevent evaporation through casks.” In this podcast Dave also provides an overview of the potential for productivity improvements in a variety of applications and offers expert advice on how manufacturers might take steps to start improving their processes. “Properly understanding the environmental profile of an area is key.” Dave continues. “This isn’t just an average temperature and humidity level in a room. It can include the
micro-climate directly next to the product, and being aware of any temperature differences between product and atmosphere. If a product is cooler than the air, this can lead to condensation; if it is warmer than the air, it leads to moisture loss through evaporation. “Using multiple data loggers is a very good idea to properly assess the atmospheric profile of an area. However, for any manufacturer interested in exploring how they might improve profits through improved humidity control, I’d recommend having a free site assessment from the local Condair sales engineer. We offer free on-site reviews and are always happy to talk to food and beverage manufacturers about possible improvements they can make.” The podcast is available on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Apple iTunes by searching for “Condair Podcast”, or on the website; www.condair.co.uk Contact: Damien Power, Condair Area Sales Manager, Ireland. T: 091 507 120; E: ie.sale@condair.com Q
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