Photoclean
operates in the food industry
Microbiological and chemical contaminants can directly impact the food industry: premature ripening of fruits and vegetables, spoilage, and even health risks in the case of Salmonella, Listeria, or E. coli… All of these problems can lead to financial losses and pose a health risk.
For this reason, continuous air decontamination is essential. With Photoclean, it’s easy to treat your entire facility (including very large industrial spaces) while minimizing pressure drop—and thus operating costs—as well as the size of the system.
We serve the food industry
, particularly in the following sectors:
Your Challenges
The increasing insulation and airtightness of facilities in the food industry have greatly contributed to the development of areas prone to condensation, which create an environment conducive to mold growth.
Food products are, by definition, “high-risk” products. Two types of contaminants are found in this sector:
- Microbiological spoilage contaminants that cause changes in the product’s taste, color, texture, or odor.
- Pathogenic microbiological contaminants (Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium, etc.) cause numerous cases of foodborne illness each year, ranging in severity.
These two types of contaminants can have serious economic consequences for companies and their executives (customer complaints, product recalls, damage to reputation and, consequently, loss of market share, etc.)—and even legal consequences in the case of pathogenic contaminants.
However, in sectors as diverse as meat products, seafood, industrial pastries and baked goods, fruit and vegetable storage and processing, prepared meals…
There are many issues, and they are difficult to resolve:
- The product (raw material, finished product, or semi-finished product) may itself be the contaminant
- Some products are inoculated with microorganisms so that they can grow “inside” the product, but must not be contaminated by other microorganisms
- Sometimes, they are cooked or flash-frozen, which acts as a form of “biodecontamination”; the next step is to protect the product from any recontamination by the local or outside air until it is packaged.
- Relative humidity, which promotes microbial growth, is very high and difficult to reduce because ambient temperatures are kept at a very low level (typically between 3 and 8°C).
- Finally, daily cleaning of the premises with hot water (around 40°C) requires rapid drying of the premises using an exhaust system, without allowing stale air from outside to enter.
Our Solutions
For many years now, Photoclean Quartz has been developing a comprehensive line of units incorporating all of our photolysis-based air decontamination modules, designed to:
- Minimize as much as possible the amount of mold, yeast, and bacteria in the air that could grow on surfaces and products.
- Eliminate any chemical contaminants in the air (VOCs, odors, etc.)
- Maintain this effectiveness over time.
Our fully autonomous modules are installed in areas with little or no air treatment, ensuring air recirculation and treatment at a rate of 5 to 20 room air changes per hour per unit.
Our units represent the perfect combination of the performance and reliability of an air handling unit and the simplicity of a standalone module.
Our photolysis-based degradation processes offer the unique advantage of continuously destroying microbiological and chemical contaminants as well as odors.
Our modules continuously destroy contaminants in three phases:
Sterilization
The very short wavelengths (254 nm) of UVC germicidal lamps penetrate deep into the DNA of microorganisms, preventing them from replicating.
Adsorption
All organic contaminants (microbiological or chemical) are adsorbed by our media, which retains them until they are completely destroyed (mineralized).
Generation of Oxidizing Radicals
Generation of extremely powerful oxidizing radicals (OH°) through the combined action of UVC light and a catalyst capable of continuously destroying bacteria, mold, VOCs, and odors, and even breaking down the most complex chemical compounds.
In addition, our cabinets can incorporate or be combined with:
- systems for extracting stale or humid air
- humidification or dehumidification systems that use our air distribution duct networks
- air-handling units to regulate temperature and/or humidity
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