Alfa Laval blasts into the blast/freeze market.

Alfa Laval has extended its offering to the food industry with a new range of blast freezers called AlfaBlast aimed at sectors such as ready-meal preparation, poultry, meat, fish and dairy where blast freezing is an integral part of the handling or preparation process.

Developed from Alfa Laval's highly successful AirMax technology, AlfaBlast is designed for high quality and speed, both essential to hygienic food preparation in cold rooms and tunnels. The range offers high air flows, extremely sensitive temperature control and optimum humidity to deliver uniform and rapid cooling/freezing with the minimum of effect on food appearance, taste or aroma.

AlfaBlast is compatible with most modern refrigerants including R404A, R507A, CO2 and NH3 and offers a refrigerant charge that is low compared with many of the alternatives currently available. Robustly built in galvanised steel for the casework and with aluminium drip tray, defrost system, lateral cover panels and adjustable legs as standard, the AlfaBlast range encompasses more than 60 standard models offering capacities from 12 up to 117 kW. It can be extended with the addition of options such as different case and coil materials, alternative fin spacing, number of fans and the required external static pressure.

Alfa Laval has also developed a new breed of scraped surface heat exchanger (SSHE) from Alfa Laval that not only provides 25% more efficiency with less product shear but also offers users substantial capital and installation cost savings.

The new Contherm FLEX range is designed as a direct, more economical and efficient replacement for existing SSHE (Scraped Surface Heat Exchangers). It features very durable scraper blades that can also incorporate metal detecting technology to enhance food safety and security plus a 76mm tangential head that reduces shear, resulting in enhanced product quality and the need for lower system pressures.

The cylinder is treated with a proprietary alloy coating that increases equipment life while reducing operating and maintenance costs.

In addition, the exchanger uses up to 50% fewer scraper blades--typically 12-14 blades--where a more conventional SSHE would use as many as 24. The resulting savings in material and capital costs significantly reduce the overall cost of the exchanger.

There are 4 models in the new Contherm FLEX range, providing surface areas from 0.28 [m.sup.2] up to 0.98[m.sup.2]. Each is designed to utilise as much existing equipment as possible, including items such as drive castings, horizontal mounting frame and all motors, belts and pulleys. Allied to the reduction in material costs, this helps to provide existing users of SSHEs with substantial savings when they opt to upgrade to the Alfa Laval units.

Contact Alfa Laval Ltd on tel: [phone] or visit www.alfalaval.co.uk

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