Benefits and Application of Irradiation in Vegetables and Fruits

The process in which food and food packaging are exposed to ionizing radiations such as x-rays, gamma rays and electron beams to improve the shelf life of the various food products, is called Food Irradiation

Additionally, this process is used to reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses such as Salmonella and E.coli, delay ripening or sprouting in fruits and vegetables and sterilize foods as a means to control invasive pests and insects that could spoil the quality of food.

While irradiation is growing to be a popular technique in the food and agriculture sector, almost more than half of consumers have negative perceptions about irradiated food since they imagine the food to be mutated or radioactive and that it could damage their body. 

But, this is not how irradiation works. Irradiation techniques kill the living bacteria on the food and do not change the quality of the food itself. The WHO, the USDA and many other organizations have evaluated irradiated food to be safe for consumption. 

Here are a few benefits of irradiated food:

1. Preservation of food by destroying inactive organisms that could cause spoilage or decomposition of food, thereby increasing the shelf life of the food product.

2. Irradiation can be used to sterilize certain food products so that they could be stored for many years without refrigeration. Sterilized foods find their applications in hospital settings for patients with AIDS and patients undergoing chemotherapy- who have a severely damaged immune system.

3. To delay sprouting and ripening of fruits and vegetables and to increase their longevity.

4. To destroy or control insects that can grow on or in tropical fruits kept for imports.

5. To eliminate organisms that can cause foodborne illnesses.

Food Irradiation finds its applications mostly in treating fruits and vegetables since these food products can decompose quickly. The chances of fruits and vegetables getting spoilt by insects are also very high. 

If fruits and vegetables, especially the tropical ones need to be exported to another country, then their shelf life has to be long enough. Therefore, industries today make use of irradiation in fruits and vegetables to increase their longevity and to keep the insects and pests away.

Symec Engineers is one of the top Food Irradiation facility providers in India to help agriculturists increase the shelf life of their crops. Apart from this, they also provide irradiation facilities for medical products and devices manufacturing industry, Rubber Industry for vulcanization and for animal and poultry feed irradiation.

Ultimate Role of High-Speed Disperser in Powder Dispersion Process to Get Homogeneous End Product

High speed dispersers are a type of a mixer which used to rapidly breakdown the lumps of materials which are powdery in nature, while also distributing it uniformly and wetting it in a liquid. 

Dispersers are also used for dissolving soluble solids in liquids. A disperser typically operates on the principle of energy transfer: a disc blade which is mounted on the bottom of the mixing shaft rotates at a relatively high speed and as a result of this, the liquids and solids are drawn in the rotating disk creating a suction. 

This suction usually results in two opposite visible whirlpools- one from the top to the bottom and the other from the bottom to the top and these together are called vortices.

When the solids and or the liquids enter these vortices and engulfed into the high-power disc, the energy is immediately transferred to the mixture from the disc and this creates tremendous changes in the velocity.  As each layer of the mixture comes in contact with the disc, it is instantly accelerated from the slow speed vortex to the high-speed disc and is, therefore, projected into an outward direction, which is towards the wall of the tank and away from the disc. This is how a high-speed disperser typically works.

A disperser is quite different from an agitator, while both devices are used to mix components. While an agitator is a high volume, low powered high-intensity mixer, the disperser is quite a low-intensity mixer. 

This does not mean that the disperser is not good at all. While agitator may be more efficient,  it is a disperser which can generate the shear force that is required to rapidly break down the powder lumps in the liquid, which an agitator cannot do since it cannot generate the necessary shear required for de-lumping.

Dispersers come in various types depending on their speed- single speed, double speeds, and variable mixing shafts. While some high speed dispersers are directly mounted on top of a tank and are fixed to operate with a blade, other tank-mounted dispersers can raise and lower the blades without actually exiting the tank.

Since there are various types of dispersers and the size of each is generally thought in terms of their horsepower, you will require a professional to help you select the right kind of high speed dispersers that will suit your needs and requirements. Contact Stalwart International to help you out with your disperser-related queries and problems. 

Corrugated Tube Heat Exchanger to Obtain Higher Heat Transfer Coefficient

Corrugated Tube Heat Exchanger

Various industries use chemical processes that require heat to be transferred between two fluids or gases. While many industries still make use of the plate heat exchangers for simple viscous fluids like water, milk and some thin oils, it is best to use tubular heat exchangers. 

There are many types of tubular heat exchangers available in the market, but the one that provides the highest efficiency depends upon the type of tube that is used and not its configuration. Yes, we are talking about the corrugated tube heat exchangers that are extremely efficient at transferring heat than the smooth ones.

Here are a few advantages of corrugated tube heat exchanger that helps obtain a higher heat transfer coefficient:

1. Increased Efficiency: When a fluid passes through the tube of the heat exchanger, a lot of factors affect the way it moves such as the pressure, the nature of the fluid (its viscosity), and the design of the tube wall. In a smooth tube, the fluid moves in a plain path and the particles of the fluid do not interfere with each other.  On the other hand, corrugated tube heat exchanger creates turbulence within passing fluid, which makes the corrugated tube more efficient by preventing the viscous fluid sticking to the internal surface of the tube.  It also prevents materials in suspension from dropping out of the carrier fluid.

2. Easier Maintenance and Cleaning: Since corrugated tube heat exchanger provides a sufficient amount of turbulence it is much easier to clean and maintain and therefore, more reliable too.

3. Smaller Footprint: Since this type of heat exchangers have increased heat transfer rate when compared to the smooth tube of the same length, they can be made smaller in size.

4. Longer Running Times: Corrugated tube heat exchanger prevents the formation of a boundary layer in the tube, thereby increasing the thermal efficiency and reducing the downtime needed to keep removing it.  

Corrugated tube heat exchanger comes in different geometrics such as the HARD Corrugation which allows achieving the high increase of heat transfer co-efficient and the SOFT Corrugation which is an intermediate between smooth tube design and HARD tube corrugation that improves heat transfer to a comparatively lesser extent. 

To obtain a higher heat transfer coefficient, the number of starts of the helix must be changed as well as the angle of the tube. Stalwart International deals with various types of the corrugated tube heat exchanger and the professionals here know which type would exactly fit your requirements. To know more, visit their website and get in touch with their team experts.