Delumping Frozen Vegetable Blocks
An international manufacturer of prepared frozen foods approached Quadro to develop a process to delump and disperse frozen vegetables into a sauce mixture. The vegetables were individually quick frozen (IQF) for the customer by an outside supplier, placed into cardboard cases lined with plastic bags and shipped to the manufacturer. During shipping and storage, the vegetables coalesced into solid blocks. When the blocks were finally used, steam lances and hot water would be used to break up the blocks. In some cases, this addition of heat creates undesirable characteristics such as changes in flavor and consistency in the final product.
To overcome the problems associated with the addition of heat, a Quadro® Comil® was used to break apart the frozen blocks of vegetables. The Comil®'s gentle milling action created no excess heat transfer to the product. Quadro's specially designed tooling completely delumped the blocks of vegetables. The vegetables were separated into individual pieces, retaining their frozen format, without damage.
To meet customer needs worldwide, ten (10) fully scalable Comil® models are available for a variety of applications and depending on the product's characteristics, can range up to 54,500 kg/hr (120,000 lb/hr). Meets all international safety standards including OSHA, CE, and ATEX.
SOURCE: Quadro Engineering Corp.