Steam Boilers For Food Processing Plants in India

Food processing means transforming agricultural produce into one or more types of food. There are many types of food processing units that perform various functions from grinding grain to making precooked meals. Food processing units help to reduce food wastage and increase the shelf life of food. The food processing industry has helped improve food security, minimize the environmental impact of farms, and give the consumer a greater choice of convenient food. Mass-produced food has reduced the overall cost of food. The food processing industry in India has a lot of potential. It plays an important role in connecting farmers to domestic and international markets.

India’s food and grocery market is the sixth-largest market in the world. The food processing units account for 32% of India’s food market. Experts believe that the food processing industry will touch 45.97 billion USD by the end of 2020. India now has some state of art food processing plants India.

Types Of Food Processing Plants In India

Food processing includes the journey that your food undergoes from harvesting to the time the food touches your plate. The Food and Agricultural Organization classifies processed food into three broad categories-

  • Primary processing is the cleaning, grading, and packing of food and vegetable.
  • Secondary processing is processing where the basic product is altered to a stage just before cooking. e.g milling of paddy to rice.
  • Tertiary processing is what we call processed food. It includes bakery products, instant foods, health drinks, etc.

Uses Of Steam In The Food Industry

Steam boilers are an integral part of the food processing industry.

They rely heavily on steam for the different processes in the plant. Here are some of the typical applications of steam in food processing plants:

  • Sterilization And Disinfection: Food safety is paramount in any food processing plant to ensure the food produced is fit for human consumption. Food processing plants in India are regulated by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India and the State Food Safety Authority. They ensure the plant follows stringent standards to clean, sterilize, and disinfection of all the tools/utensils/surfaces used for food processing. Safety has become even more paramount after the current Covid-19 pandemic as processing units need to follow protocols for their workers and equipment to ensure product safety. Utensils and surfaces need to be sterilized before preparing food.
  • Reducing Microbiological Risks: There is an inherent risk of food getting contaminated by parasites or bacteria or microbes that can cause food-borne diseases. Steam pasteurization is one of the popular methods to control microbiological risks.
  • Cooking, Curing, And Drying: Tertiary food processing units cook the food before it is packed. Steam and hot water are used to ensure the food produced is smooth, soft, and easy to digest. Complex cooking processes such as curing or drying also require steam. These plants require large quantities of steam for processing.

The steam used in processing plants falls under three categories:

  • Plant Steam or utility steam is produced in the boiler and can be used for application where the steam is not in direct contact with the food product or the surfaces that are in contact with cooked food. Utility steam is used for indirect heating applications.
  • Culinary steam is directly injected into the product. It also sterilizes and disinfects plant surfaces. Culinary steam contains additives to prevent corrosion and scaling within the boiler. The steam is usually filtered before it comes in contact with the food.
  • Pure steam (hygienic steam) does not contain any additives. Pure steam is created by heating untreated water that is stored separately.

The steam that comes in contact with food is either pure steam or culinary steam. Most food processing plants use culinary steam, though pure steam may be used for some specific applications.

Boilers In Food Processing Plants

Most food processing plants use package boilers. Packaged boilers are compact boilers that are part of a single unit. The boiler requires only steam, water piping, and electrical connection. Mago Thermal Private Limited carefully designs the boilers to achieve high heat transfer rates using radiation and convection. Packaged boilers are generally used for heating purposes. It is important that steam produced is food grade steam.

The main features of the thermal units of our boilers are:

  • Fuel combustion to provide the required thermal energy takes place in the furnace. The boiler can use solid (coal, biomass fuels) or natural gas or fuel oil.
  • Tank/evaporator is an equipment where water is heated by the burner to evaporating temperature.

The superheater helps to improve the efficiency of boiler and converts saturated steam to dry steam. Superheating of steam helps to increase the temperature without increasing the pressure to produce superheated steam.

  • Economizer utilizes the residual heat to heat the feed water.

Choosing A Steam Boiler For The Food Processing Industry

You need to select the correct steam boiler for your food processing plants. Here are some tips that will help you choose a reliable steam boiler:-

  • Adaptable To Fluctuating Demand: Food processing plants require large quantities of steam, but the boiler should be able to handle fluctuating demand depending on plant requirement.
  • Fuel And Water Efficiency: The cost of utilities has increased exponentially. The boiler you choose must be energy efficient without sacrificing productivity. Food processing plants have strict emission restrictions and the boiler needs to meet the emission norms.
  • Ease Of Maintenance: With steam required extensively in food processing plants, your boiler mustn’t shut down for repairs or breakdown. This can disrupt your plant operation for the day. The boiler needs to be low maintenance.

Why Mago Thermal For Steam Boilers?

Mago Thermal Private Limited has wide experience in manufacturing customer specific steam boilers. We design, manufacture, and commission our food-processing steam boilers. MTPL has supplied boilers using various fuels and different combustion systems. Our boilers are high–efficiency units designed to tackle your steam requirement. Our boilers are easy to maintenance to ensure there are no unexpected shutdowns.

Mago Thermal offers steam boilers for food processing plants in India. The steam boilers are designed to ensure high efficiency. To know more about steam boilers for food processing plants in India, contact Mago Thermal at +91-9910490700.

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