Food & Beverage

The Food and Beverage Industry, also known as the Food Industry or the Food Processing and Packaging Industry, takes raw agricultural products and turns them into the food products we eat every day.   

Some common food processing applications include: 

• Meat processing and preserving 
• Fish processing 
• Fruit and vegetable preserving 
• Milling 
• Baking 
• Biscuit making 
• Pasta manufacture 
• Sugar processing and refining 
• Chocolate making and confectionary 
• Brewing 
• Distilling and manufacture of other beverages 
• Milk and milk products processing 
• Processing of oils and fats 

Industry Challenges 

The process of food production creates several air pollution challenges in the work environment.  These challenges impact the health and safety of workers and increase the risk of an adverse event such as an explosion or unexpected plant shutdown.   

Common dusts created in the Food and Beverage Industry include: 

• Cereal ingredients 
• Spices 
• Feed and raw grain agricultural products 
• Eggshell and dust 
• Sugar dust 
• Allergens 
• Flour 
• Corn starches 
• Hygroscopic dusts   

Several challenges that must be addressed include:   

• Dried food ingredients, from coarse grains to fine spices and additives, require customized dust collection processes. 
• Sugars, whey, and other sticky dusts also introduce their own unique challenges requiring high-efficiency filtration solutions. 
• The buildup of combustible dust on floors and other surfaces is a fire and explosion hazard.  Dust collectors, if not designed correctly, can also become fire and explosion hazards. Flours, sugar dust, milk powder, peanut dust, soft-drink additives powder, cornstarch and other starches are highly explosive. 

Solutions Available 

Airtight Solutions has vast experience in all aspects of dust and fume control for food processing industries.  Some customizable solutions we offer include: 

• Dry baghouse filtration.  These filtration systems perform well under the following conditions: 
  • High-temperature applications 
  • Sticky or wet particulate 
  • Heavy dust loads 
  • Small or large particulates 
• Wet scrubbers are ideal when dealing with moisture in the airstream.  This includes: 
  • High-temperature applications 
  • Moist exhaust stream applications 
  • Remove both gases and particulate matter 
  • Can neutralize corrosive gases 
• Steam, fume, and vapor filtration offer the following benefits: 
  • Remove hazardous gases from the work premises 
  • Create a safe working environment 
  • Provide significant energy savings 
• Dust extraction systems may be a good option for source capture to help: 
  • Extract coarse dust at the machines 
  • Extract and filter fine dust 
  • Extract and filter aerosols 

We can also design and install integrated filter systems to return filtered products back into the process line.  

To address combustibility challenges present in food manufacturing applications, Airtight dust collectors can be customized to include: 

• Fire retardant cartridges 
• Sprinkler connections 
• Explosion vents 
• Suppression systems 
• Backdraft dampers 

Additional services Airtight Solutions offers include: 

• A range of high-quality silo venting dust collector options for most food processing applications. 
• Custom designed ducting systems for all plant requirements including their modular range of quick-release ducting systems in both galvanized mild steel and stainless steel for quick and easy cleaning. 
• Troubleshooting and auditing services for existing plants. 
• Scheduled dust control plant maintenance and servicing. 

Client Benefits/Saving/Results

A reputable dust collection engineering and manufacturing firm will design and fabricate a safe, low maintenance solution that will help you:  

• Maintain clean, healthy environment for workers 
  • Prevent dust inhalation 
  • Prevent slips and falls 
  • Remove allergens 
  • Avoid dust explosions 
• Minimize electrical, heating, filter, and compressed air costs 
• Minimize human error with automatic controlled releases