Air Purification for the Food Industry

The industrial food production industry is large and diverse, spanning products like meat, dairy, bakeries, beverages, grain and seed milling, seafood processing, confectionery, and fruits and vegetable processing. These production processes include several instances where air quality could become a concern, notably during cooking or baking, frying, spraying, coating, grinding, packaging, etc. These air quality challenges could occur in many settings ranging from an industrial production line, a restaurant, or events venue, to a small artisan shop. Your food production will have a unique air purification need depending on the ingredients, processes, and appliances you are using, which is why Aeroex provides a range of air purification applications for the food industry that can be tailored to your need.

Oil Mist Collection in the Food Industry

One of the most common and prescient air quality challenges in the food industry is managing oil mists and sprays from applicators on your assembly line. Oftentimes, packaged foods are lined with a tray, tin foil plate, or packaging that is non-stick. In other cases, sprays are used to help move food through an assembly line, or a final spray is used to coat the food. These applications improve the food and packaging but can lead to air quality issues. When spraying pressurized oil, some oil can be deflected or miss the product on the line, and the fine nature of the spray of small oil particles means it usually gets introduced to the broader environment. This is undesirable both for your nearby equipment (which can be enveloped in oily films) as well as your staff, who can breathe in the harmful oil mist. If your equipment and products are hot then this creates further air quality challenges, as oil will become volatized into even smaller particles that are harder to collect without special filters. 

Oil mist collection is Aeroex’s specialty, even in the food production industry. Models like Aeroex’s Mist Fit are recommended in instances like those described above for their deep fiber bed filters that capture the smallest oil particles using a MERV 15 filter. These devices are small enough to fit on the production line and are powerful enough to provide source control for oil mists. Oil mist is likely only associated with specific parts of your food production, which is why Aeroex has a variety of customizations and mounting options to ensure the Mist Fit will fit in a modular fashion into the production line. If you had additional challenges like smoke, it can be further outfitted with a final filter that captures small smoke and fume particles. 

Fume Extraction in Industrial Kitchens

Fume extraction is often necessary for places like industrial kitchens where a high volume of food is being produced at a high temperature in a short amount of time, often leading to buildups of smoke, fumes, dishwasher steam, and vapors from the variety of cooking stations. These fumes when accumulated can interfere with your other ventilation systems like air conditioning, can spread into public-facing areas like the dining room, and are unhealthy and uncomfortable for those working in the area. Fume extraction for kitchens is one of many ways Aeroex supports the industrial food industry by applying Aeroex’s knowledge of air purification systems, always with the use of a multi-stage filtration method that provides the best performance and efficiency. Aeroex’s fume extraction experience spans well beyond the industrial food industry to other emerging needs for fume extraction like 3D printing!

Odor Control in the Food Industry

Notwithstanding the respiratory, quality, or safety aspects of air purification discussed above, sometimes there is a specific need for odor air purification in the food industry. Sources of odors can include cleaners, aerosols, composting, and many others. If your food industry requires odor control, Aeroex recommends the use of the IRIS air purification system – this system attacks the very small volatilized organic compounds that cause odor using an activated carbon filter that captures VOCs through adsorption. Whatever the air quality issue associated with the industrial food production industry, Aeroex is ready with a solution! To learn more about industrial odor control, check out Aeroex’s recent blog on the subject.

High-Risk Food Production Environments

In some cases, Aeroex clients like hospitals and long-term care homes require heightened safety and air purification beyond a regular industrial food workplace. In these spaces, there is a need to produce large volumes of food without compromising the health of the infirmed through the transmittal of any airborne contaminants. These needs may overlay with other air quality issues associated with industrial food production discussed in this application, such as fumes, smoke, oils, etc. Aeroex provides medical-grade air purification for these instances. There is a growing interest in this type of air purification due to the onset of coronaviruses. 

Aeroex in the Food Industry

Aeroex recognizes the myriad air quality issues that arise from the many unique types of food production. We are experienced in diagnosing the underlying problems that cause your air quality challenges and applying our knowledge of air purification to a product, configuration, and deployment that fully addresses the need. Examples of our experience tackling unique problems include:

• Dr. Oetker’s Ristorante Pizza – Non-stick sprays were used to help pizzas move between production stages, which introduced oil into the air. Aeroex oil mist collectors were installed to mitigate the issue.
• Baked pies – We have used our oil mist collectors to mitigate oil sprays associated with the production of non-stick trays and finishes for pies and other baked goods.
• Fairmount Bagel’s – Ovens for Montreal bagels burned wood fires that released polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, an issue that was mitigated by an Aeroex air purification system that dealt with the smoke and contaminants. 

For more evidence or details, check out Aeroex’s case studies to learn more about how we tackle air quality unique challenges in the industrial food industry. If you require an industrial air purification solution for the food industry, contact Aeroex today to learn how we can help. We will take the time to understand your food operation, just as we did in each of the examples showcased for this and other applications.