Meat processing
Alliance Mataura
After years of putting off major upgrades, Alliance Mataura found its self in need of a modern and cost-effective solution for hot water delivery at accurate temperatures throughout the plant. The challenge was to reduce steam consumption by up to 40%.
The existing system was prone to breakdowns, requiring constant maintenance and repair. Liquid Dynamics developed a cost-effective skid-based solution which was delivered in full and on time. The customer was delighted with the result.
The great advantage of the system is that energy is only consumed when there is immediate demand for hot water. The system was designed to pasteurise water before its use in the plant. Pasteurisation is difficult and costly to achieve with a conventional system.
The system is fully automated with SCADA. There is constant monitoring of the system to ensure faultless service with minimal maintenance.
SILVER FERN FARMS – WAITOTARA
IMPROVEMENTS IN TRIPE PROCESSING
Liquid Dynamics recently installed a skid-based water mixing system for the Waitotara plant to address issues they were having around tripe processing.
Whereas tripe production in the US is predominantly done using chemicals, in the EU, Australia and New Zealand production is generally chemical free, utilising specialist machines such as La Parmentiere™ or Kentmaster Systems™.
The objective is always the same: clean the tripe thoroughly to eliminate residual green colouration and simultaneously maximising the available yield of the product. Depending on the type of tripe being processed, the age of the cattle, and even the time of year, the temperature of the process water used to clean the tripe is critical to maintaining optimum yield an ensuring the best colour.
Operators may often run their processes hotter in an attempt to clean the tripe faster. The result however can often be an overcooked tripe that is not sufficiently washed.
Traditional systems have employed either thermostatic mixing systems that become inaccurate over time, or simple ball valves to dump in hot and cold water into the washing machines in an uncontrolled fashion.
If the temperature in the washer or refiner is not sufficient, the chemicals may not react correctly. The result is a tripe that is not sufficiently cleaned. This results in rewashing, or a higher consumption of chemicals to achieve the desired appearance.
Equally if the temperature is too high in the washers or refiners, then the tripe can start to cook in situ leading to shrinkage. This reduces the yield weight and also impacts on the quality of the tripe.
Liquid Dynamics developed an advanced yet low-maintenance solution using an Emech mixing valve which has transformed Silver Fern Farms’ tripe operations at Waitotara. The Emech F3 and F5 generation of integrated mixing solutions have allowed reduced reworking, and increased cycle performance due to more accurate temperature mixing than previous technology.
Customers like Silver Fern Farms who have deployed Emech technology as part of their tripe process have all seen an increase in high quality tripe output. Many customers have seen yield improvements of more than 10% on yield alone. At the same time, maintenance demands have been reduced, meaning less cost and less downtime.
