GEA increases efficiency of vital wheat gluten producers
GEA is helping food manufacturers improve productivity and reduce maintenance costs by retrofitting the ring dryers used in vital wheat gluten production . It is upgrading the ring dryers with GEA CERTEX ® – ATEX-certified explosion vent doors and newly designed casing sections for the disintegrators made from highly wear-resistant material . The doors provide safe venting if there is an explosion within the dryer . They are also resistant to deformation caused by heat , pressure fluctuations , or vibration , which avoids the costly and time-consuming process of replacing safety panels following an incident . The upgrade is suitable for operators of starch flash dryers working with wheat , corn , potato , tapioca , and other starch sources , as well as operators producing vital wheat gluten as a by-product .
GEA recently upgraded the ring dryers at
Since fitting the CERTEX ® explosion vent doors , BioWanze has had no further incidents of vent failure
BioWanze , Belgium ’ s largest producer of bioethanol , which it manufactures from wheat . The plant produces around 350 liters of renewable fuel and 75 kg of vital gluten per ton of wheat . The valuable co-products from this process are primarily used to make high-quality animal feeds and fertilizer .
When the plant opened in 2008 , GEA supplied two very large ring dryers for drying the wheat gluten – a plantbased protein – extracted from the process . Ring dryers are a special type of pneumatic / flash dryer with the addition of a centrifugal classifier ( manifold ) and a fixed beater hammer mill ( disintegrator ) to provide selective recycling and screenless grinding of material . These lower drying temperatures as well as improving both efficiency and product quality .
Retrofitted GEA CERTEX ® explosion vent doors
The original dryers were protected by safety bursting panels to provide a failsafe release in the event of an explosion within the dryer . At the time , this was the only type of explosion protection that had been given ATEX type approval . However , this type of safety panel is inherently susceptible to failure caused by heat and pressure distortion or vibration , resulting in the dryer needing to be shut down for repairs . When BioWanze upgraded the dryers by increasing airflow and capacity in 2017 , failure frequency increased .
GEA ring dryers ( image : GEA ) 52 FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk