Agri-food industry
The processes of transformation, maintenance and transportation in the agri-food sector require a controlled relative air humidity value to avoid product deterioration.
Uncontrolled humidity levels can cause:
- Alteration of product properties
- Proliferation of mould and bacteria
- Condensation problems
- Damage to machinery and structures
Effective humidity management can dramatically improve both operating costs and product quality. Some examples of the use of dehumidifiers in the agri-food sector:
Conservation of onions:
To allow the proper conservation of onions in storage warehouses and prevent the deterioration and the attack of pathogenic agents, it is necessary to monitor humidity and temperature in the rooms used for this purpose. The temperature must be maintained between 1°C and 4°C with relative humidity around 60%.
Maturing cheeses:
To ensure product quality, it is necessary to stabilize the temperature and relative humidity in maturing rooms; for soft cheese it is necessary to keep room temperature in the range 5-10°C, for cooked-milk cheese 12-20°C. The relative humidity is very high, between 80 and 90%; this is to avoid a drastic decrease of the product water content with consequent deterioration (hardening crust, etc.). It must also not exceed 90% in order to avoid the formation of moulds.
Other sectors of use:
- Drying grapes
- Drying medicinal herbs
- Drying fruit
- Storing and drying cereals and flour
- Storing coffee
- Drying or storing tobacco
- Livestock farming
- Drying or farming mushrooms
In desiccation or drying processes, the dehumidifier will be sized according the water it will be required to condense over a given period of time. This process is significantly more efficient than high-temperature drying systems allowing energy savings up to 60%. The FRAL dehumidifier can be installed directly in laboratories or in a technical room. The relative ambient humidity value is controlled with a dehumidistat which allows the automatic operation of the dehumidifier. High efficiency FRAL dehumidifiers can even reach relative air humidity values of 15% and with advanced control systems, the margin of fluctuation can be reduced to +-1%. In processes where it is necessary to control temperature, industrial FRAL TCR models are available for managing humidity and temperature, or portable FRAL Air Conditioners are available just for cooling. With the experience gained over the years, and a skilled and flexible technical office, FRAL can provide solutions tailored to customer requirements.
