Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Challenge: To Reduce use and to extend the use of the water, the not exceed the OSHA limit of 0.08 to
Flume Water Usage and company installed an ozone treatment sys- 0.1 ppm, an ozone detection unit is con-
tem in the flume water. tinuously monitoring the amount of ozone
Keep Tastee Apples Tasty
in the environment adjacent to the flume.
Apple processors face increasing needs to Water is circulated through the flume at
Excessive amounts of ozone in the air are
reduce the risk of spoilage from bacteria, about 600 gpm (2,300 lpm). To ozonate
also readily detectable by the typical sharp
molds, and fungi. At the same time they the water, a side stream of about 60 gpm
smell of ozone.
need to conserve water and reduce waste- (230 lpm) is first filtered though an 80µ
water disposal costs, particularly the costs filter with intermittent backwash capabil- The Results
associated with high biological oxygen de- ity. After filtration, gaseous ozone is in-
jected into this side stream. The ozone is No longer is flume water replaced daily.
mand (BOD) and suspended solids (SS). Now the company can reuse the same wa-
Using ozone to treat the water that con- generated in a 5 lbs/day (2.3 kg/day) co-
rona discharge unit, which is fed with ter for a whole week, saving more than
veys and washes the apples can meet the 12,000 gal/week (45,000 l/week). Since
challenge. dried air. After about 10 minutes of expo-
sure to the ozonated water, the apples are the ozonation system is running 24 hours
conveyed to a size grader, an inspection a day, it is able to reduce the BOD load in
The Old Way
belt, and to the equipment that inserts the the flume water—particularly during the
Tastee Apple is a privately owned night when apples are not being washed—
processor of fresh apples, located in stick and coats the apples. Three apples are
placed together into a display package. to less than 50 mg/l.
Newcomerstown, Ohio. The plant is one
of the major packers in the US of caramel The ozone treatment reduced the yeast
apples. These are fresh apples on a stick, and mold count in the water, resulting in
which are coated with sweet brown or red cleaner apples and a longer shelf life for
caramel and dipped in either chunks of the caramel apples. As a result, fewer com-
peanuts or coconut. The plant also pro- plaints of moldy apples have been re-
duces apple juice and apple chips. ceived. As one more benefit, workers
sorting the apples noticed that their rub-
Typically, Jonathan or Empire apples ber gloves remained clean throughout the
arrive from the field or storage rooms day and did not build up a sticky coating
in bins, which hold about 950 pounds as had happened prior to ozonation. How-
(430 kg) of apples each. To avoid bruising ever, the seals in the bearings of the origi-
apples during handling, the plant uses a nal conveyor and automatic valve in the
water flume to float the apples out of the filter were not made from ozone resistant
bins, to transport the apples towards a material and had to be replaced after a few
conveyor for further processing, and— weeks of operation.
at the same time—to wash them. The
2,000-gallon (7,600-l) flume at Tastee Tastee Apple’s
Apple can handle about 40,000 apples customers demand
per hour. freshness and flavor.
Gary Hackenbracht, Tastee Apple Inc. and Carl Photos by Jurgen Strasser, PhD, Process and © 1998 Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Inc.
Byrd of American Electric Power made valuable Equipment Technology, and Ronald G. Tonjes, All rights reserved. Electric Power Research Institute and
contributions to this issue. ProWrite Inc. EPRI are registered service marks of the Electric Power
Research Institute, Inc. EPRI. POWERING PROGRESS is a
This TechApplication was written by Jurgen Strasser, Applicable SIC Codes: 20—all
service mark of the Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
PhD, Process and Equipment Technology, and
Dorothy G. Tonjes, ProWrite Inc. Printed on recycled paper in the United States of America.
TA-112064
EPRI Food Technology Alliance • 43158 Parkers Ridge Drive • Leesburg, VA 20176
713-737-0401 • csopher@epri.com
EPRI Corporate address • 3412 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304 • PO Box 10412, Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA
800.313.3774 • 650.855.2121 • askepri@epri.com • www.epri.com