Page 52 - Food&Drink Magazine Aug-Sep 2021

SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT
All shook up
Heat and Control is making sure Australian manufacturers have the latest technology available with Key Technology’s latest Marathon vibratory conveyor shaking things up.
KEY Technology’s latest Marathon vibratory conveyors with monobeam construction have a narrow frame that’s less than half the surface area of traditional Marathon frames, offering better access to the conveyor bed and fewer parts to clean. Available in lengths from 9 to 15 metres, this is Key’s longest monobeam conveyor.
Ideal for processors that need a high degree of equipment hygiene and/or a small footprint, the latest Marathon is suitable for a wide range of bulk food applications, from raw receiving to packaging, including product collection, transfer, and distribution.
Unlike a traditional shaker, which has a frame and spring arms on both sides of the conveyor bed, monobeam conveyors position the frame and spring arms underneath the bed to maximise sanitation while improving operator access and safety.
All Marathon conveyors, including the monobeam models, use natural-frequency vibratory motion to distribute bulk foods long distances on a single unit. Marathon can replace several shakers in a row, relying on only two independent, frame-mounted drives to improve efficiency and reliability.
Additionally, fewer supports to the floor eases cleaning and sanitation. Two foot-mount, self-synchronising motors transfer the force of the frame to the bed without mechanical joints to further improve efficiency, reduce maintenance and minimise downtime.
Key tailors each Marathon using predictive modelling and Finite Element Analysis to define the product characteristics and deliver superior performance. Available in lengths from 9 to 15 metres and widths from 50 to 100 cm, Marathon with
monobeam can achieve conveying speeds
greater than 15 metres a
minute depending on the application. The conveyor bed can be tilted to draw product to one side, and flow direction can be controlled with optional side outlet diverters. It can be built with end-mounted drop-out gates, diverters, end-mounted screens and covers when needed.
In addition to the sanitation enhancements from its monobeam construction, Marathon offers a variety of sanitary advantages. Its stainless-steel conveyor bed features a standard rotary polish within the product contact zone, which resists bacterial attachment and biofilm formation. Oil-free drives, elastomeric isolators, scalloped flat bars (if requested), internal ground arms and minimal laminations maximise equipment hygiene and help
meet rising sanitary standards and regulatory requirements. The monobeam
frame is sloped to prevent product and moisture build-up that can harbor bacteria. Marathon is available in four different finishing standards, and its rotary vibratory drives are available in either stainless steel or food-grade epoxy finishes.
Marathon with monobeam is suitable for fruits, vegetables, potato strips, potato chips, nuts, meat, poultry, seafood, dairy products, confections, snacks, cereals, grains, seeds and more. Like all Key equipment, these conveyors are backed by Key’s five-year warranty, which ensures equipment reliability and limits the processor’s total cost of ownership. ✷
Key Technology is exclusively distributed by Heat and Control in Australia.
Brewing with heat exchangers
There are numerous uses for heat exchangers in breweries, as well as being more energy efficient with environmental and economic benefits. Matt Hale from HRS Heat Exchangers writes.
ONE of the first uses of heat exchangers in brewing is for rapidly cooling the wort following boiling, and both plate and tubular heat exchangers can be used, with tubular heat exchangers often having a larger capacity and being able to chill the wort more quickly. The warmed medium which results can be up to 80°C in temperature and has many uses, such as pre-heating the steeped wort before boiling.
Heat exchangers can cool fermented beer prior to maturation or bottling, and for some products, such as cider, it may be necessary to pasteurise the product before bottling and High-Temperature, Short-Time (HTST) pasteurisation techniques help to preserve the refreshing taste which is so distinctive to cider.
They can also play an important role in treating the waste products of brewing.
Anaerobic digestion (AD)
is a popular way of treating the wastewater and slurry from breweries and heat exchangers have many uses in AD including pasteurisation so that the resulting digestate can be sold as a valuable bio- fertiliser, and evaporation to reduce the water content.
Evaporation using heat exchangers is also an energy efficient method for reducing the water content
52 | Food&Drink business | August/September 2021 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au