SteriMaid™ prevents microbial intrusion into critical production areas
Edesia Inc., Rhode Island, USA
Edesia Nutrition is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 to help prevent malnutrition, a health crisis responsible for the deaths of 3 million children each year. Based in Providence, RI Edesia has grown rapidly and now produces 1.2 million packets of ready-to-use food. Plumpy’Nut® is their main product, which complies with the WHO definition of RUTF (Ready-to-use therapeutic food) by using a special F-100 milk formulation. The production of Plumpy’Nut® is completely automated, with the highest standards of hygiene and contamination prevention.
Facts
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Name:
Edesia Inc.
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Location:
Providence, Rhode Island, USA
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Industry:
Food production
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Air volume:
12,000 m3
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Challenge:
Ensuring microbial-free production environment and prevention of external infection
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Room layout:
Two warehouses, seven rooms in total
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Purpose:
Room sanitation for bacteria and viruses
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Project value (USD):
200,000
Solution:
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SteriMaid™ sanitation solution and Ozonetech RENA Pro C6
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Dimensions (HxWxD):
1,800 x 1,200 x 800 mm
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Weight:
190 kg
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Input power:
2.8 kW
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Number of wireless ozone sensors:
10
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Performance:
Automatic ozone level control in seven separate production sections. User-set sanitation cycles with upper ozone level concetration for at least 3-log microbial reduction. Turn-key ozone systems with touch panel.
The problem
The production plant at Edesia Nutrition is very large, due to its high capacity and the various processing steps. The facilities are divided into two main warehouses, with a total air volume of 12 000 m3, which consists of several individual production areas.
Plumpy’Nut® peanut-based nutrient pouch.
Bacteria contamination is one of the most common problems in the food industry, which may lead to sudden production losses. Even if the standard at Edesia Nutrition was the highest, they wanted to add an additional layer of protection. The quality assurance implementation needed to be performed with ozonation. The sanitation of each room needed to be effective, fast and automated, with no disturbance to the production process. It was also crucial for Edesia to be able to prevent risks from inadvertant external contamination due to human factors. This case was particularly challenging due to the large volumes and complex room layout. In addition, the ozone concentration needed to be continuously measured in the sanitized room.
The home screen of the SteriMaid™ with wireless ozone sensor communication.
The solution
A treatment cycle is considered successful only when a certain ozone concentration is maintained for a predetermined period.
The SteriMaid™ was the ozone system chosen for this application, due to its high degree of automation and out-of-the-box-functionality. This product is an upgrade of the regular version of the RENA Pro C-series, with a special module designed for sanitation applications. This addon allows to define the desired ozone concentration and sanitation time. In addition, settings for multiple rooms can be saved, with possibility of selecting the treated room easily from the included user interface. The user friendly interface touch panel also presents information about the progress and completion of the sanitation cycle.
The SteriMaid™ module is actively controlled through a user-defined set of wireless ozone sensor. The sanitation progress can be closely monitored and automated through a functionality with customizable sanitation cycles.
The SteriMaid™ tested at Mellifiq factory.
Evaluation
Mellifiq performed commissioning with the plant operations manager. The system outperformed the 0.7 ppm active saniation requirements. The SteriMaid™ was integrated in Edesia’s operations, implementing a routine of regular sanitation cycles. Each room is treated with no disturbance to the production line and is a completely automated operation. After each sanitation cycle, no microbial contamination can be dedected. At the same time, the system is adding an additional layer of protection for operators.
The plant’s operation manager is satisfied with the new sanitation levels reached, coupled with a safer environment for employees.
