Riverside Bakery are a major manufacturer and supplier of chilled quiche products to Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencers.
They contacted Munters to see if they could help reduce the build up of ice in their freezer which is used to chill these products.
The main problem they were experiencing was a build up of ice in their spiral freezer. This was caused by the surrounding air, which had a high humidity and moisture content, getting into the freezer via the inlet and outlet openings and then condensing on the cold surfaces. There was also moisture loss from the hot quiches going into the freezer straight from the oven.
Production was being stopped every 36 hours to completely defrost, wash, clean and dry the freezer. The freezer then had to be brought up to the correct operating temperature of -13 oC before production could be restarted. This whole process was taking up to 5 hours to complete.
Riverside Bakery worked with Munters to see if they could help to solve the problem, thereby increasing the amount of time between defrosts and therefore increasing productivity.
The answer was to install two Munters IceDry® systems onto their spiral freezers. The system works by passing ambient air through a slowly revolving rotor coated with a desiccant material, which absorbs moisture from the air.
This provides an efficient, low-cost method of dehumidification. In this case, by re-circulating the air and bringing in outside air to negate infiltration, the system is able to pick up some of the moisture load from the product as well as dealing with the infiltration load.
By controlling humidity, Munters create optimal conditions during the freezing and chilling of food. As a result of Munters IceDry® dehumidification systems being installed, there have been substantial benefits to Riverside Bakery.
These include increased production, reduced downtime and the production of a consistent and high quality product with the correct temperature every day of the year.
Because the freezer no longer has to deal with the moisture load in the air, the freezers take significantly longer to frost up.
This ensures a much longer production time between each defrost and the actual time taken to complete the defrost has also been reduced. The freezer is now running 6 days a week before being defrosted instead of only 24 - 36 hours.
Munters IceDry® has been used successfully installed around the world at over 600 sites. IceDry® is not used not only for process freezing, but also to prevent frost in coldstorage.
It is impossible to prevent air from entering a cold store, however Munters IceDry® removes the moisture in the air that forms ice. Condensation causes fog around doorways, blinding strip curtains and obstructing views in traffic ways.
Apart from the safety issues, ice also prevents the free operation of cold store air lock doors, stopping them sealing properly, or even lifting them out of their runners. To run smoothly requires people to regularly chip away the ice a time consuming job.
The ice also effects the efficiency of the refrigeration system, increasing defrost cycles and degrading temperature control.
Munters IceDry® systems tackle the cause of the problem by removing the moisture from the air, so it can’t condense out and form ice on cooling coils, floors, walls or air locks.
Fork trucks and personnel can operate at normal speed, doors operate freely and Munters IceDry® reduces maintenance on doors and refrigeration plant, reduces down time, speeds up loading and unloading time and increases efficiency and throughput.
With no ice to slip on, no ice on strip curtains or fog around door entrances, visibility is improved.
