Disinfecting inner surfaces of jars on conveyer lines with UVC light at high production rates is the preferred choice of non-invasive, clean disinfection. This production step is necessary to assure the safety of filling jars with product and then cupping them. The major challenge here is in delivering UVC light in sufficient doses to the jars’ areas between their openings and strait walls.
This challenge is positively resolved by our UV optics and is proved in tests, as shown on the photo for the 1.9l (64Oz) and 0.48l (16oz) jars for peanut butter. Arrows show the direction of UVC light from above into jars and the positions of UVC sensors to measure UVC doses. The jars were prepared to test custom UVC optics while imitating jars’ in-line advancements.
Maximum speeds can be reached for the simplest of cases of disinfecting from common E-coli, salmonella and listeria at 3 to 4 logs, with 99.9% to 99.99% reduction. De-activating common spores requires higher UVC doses of up to 80-100mJ/cm². Jar lids are disinfected while sliding on rails under a UVC module and respective equipment is available to a custom-made construction.
Exact UVC doses for customers’ jars can be established during disinfection tests at a food lab along with a selection of a UVC disinfection processes, which will allow the customisation of UVC tunnels for the disinfection of both inner and outer surfaces of jars at speeds of up to 15,000J/hr. The design and costs of such tunnels depend on: jar sizes; the rate of jars disinfected per hour; and disinfection requirements. Higher production speeds and 3 -4 log deactivation rates for common spores can be also reached with compact PUV tunnels.
