p.16 Conveying - BW Spring 2013_p.16 Conveying - BW Spring 2013.qxd 13/03/2013 10:05 Page 16
cOnVeYing
Safe
travels
conveying is key to success in biscuit making. not only is the baker seeking a quality end product, he
also needs the whole process to be smooth, glitch free and hygienically safe. this is where the top
equipment manufacturers show their real value, says andre erasmus.
G
etting from A to B is not always
the simple matter of following a
straight line – especially in
specialised baking processes like
biscuit making.
It is a process that requires a slick,
efficient and smooth movement of the
product through the entire baking process –
whether it be the raw dough, depositing or
extrusion stage, baking or cooling.
Not only must the process be smooth
but hygiene and cleanliness is paramount
too, for obvious reasons.
biScuitS
And what is the best material for
conveying? The battle for supremacy these
days seems to be between plastic and metal.
US-based Intralox lays claim to having
revolutionised the conveyance of food and industrial
products when the company invented modular
plastic conveyor belts (patented in the US in 1970).
Constructed of plastic modules and hinge rods,
and driven and tracked by plastic sprockets, Intralox
belts have the inherent
qualities that plant
operators and
designers desire.
But Swedish
company Sandvik
Process Systems, the
world’s largest
manufacturer of solid
and perforated steel
belts for the food
industry, says steel is
the way to go.
And the company
has ensured customers
are to the forefront is
Sandvik’S new
terms of sanitisation
Quickcleaner.
16
moving along a Sandvik perforated belt.
and cleanliness with the recently introduces unique
new belt cleaning system that uses salt.
This is applied at high pressure to clean,
degrease and sanitise bake oven belts in a single
operation.
essential cleaning
The Sandvik QuickCleaner has been developed to
provide an easier way of removing carbon residues
– and potentially hazardous acrylamide – that can
build up on bake oven belts.
Traditionally one of the dirtiest and most timeconsuming maintenance jobs in a bakery, belt
cleaning is essential as burned on carbon residues
can affect the look and taste the product and could
even be harmful to health.
Interesting that Intralox favour plastic for
conveying belting – as do several other
manufacturers – but Sandvik have opted for steel.
Interest in the use of steel belts in bake ovens,
says Sandvik, has increased in recent years, mainly
due to the global appetite for American-style
cookies. The use of real butter – and often chocolate
spring 2013
BISCUIT WORLD