Blockformer upgrades deliver efficiences.

Cheese producers looking for production improvements and efficiencies are now able to benefit from a range of Blockformer upgrades available from Tetra Pak Processing. Tetra Pak Processing have introduced a variety of upgrades for the market leading range of Blockformers that not only improve efficiency but also deliver valuable production improvements with short pay back times. The principle upgrades are a new lift-up door, high capacity twin-vac towers for installation on to existing Blockformers and a new, more flexible check weight system.

The new lift-up door can be retrofitted on all MK2 and MK3 Tetra Tebel Blockformer bases. It replaces the bottom-hinged door and vertically actuated cylinder with a door that pivots on the upper edge and two actuating cylinders. Door locks have also been eliminated from the design. The result is a substantial reduction in curd losses. The cheese block does not come into contact with the door seals, eliminating the risk of the curd sticking, damaging the block and creating door closing and cleansing problems. Overall there are improvements in yield, product quality, hygiene and throughput. And leaking of CIP fluids is decreased along with the need for labour for cleaning.

By upgrading Blockformers with Twin Vac towers, Tetra Pak Processing say that cheese producers can achieve a number of improvements, with higher production capabilities, improved product quality and reduced CIP requirements. The Twin Vac concept allows for different vacuum conditions in the two sections, namely a high vacuum in the lower section and reduced vacuum in the upper section during refilling with curd. The advantages are more constant column filling, as this can take place during more steps of the cycle programme as the high vacuum in the lower section can be maintained during most steps of the cycle. And reduced cycle times, because the extra height and longer high vacuum provides enough curd fusion and compacting to eliminate the need for a secondary pressing, allowing cycle time to be reduced to a nominal 45 seconds per block. Also better curd block quality results as horizontal cracking in the blocks is reduced by the use of a special liner treatment that reduces friction. The tower can be installed without any modifications on the MK3 Blockformer base units and on MK1 and MK2 units with a new top frame.

Contact Tetra Pak on tel: [phone] or visit www.tetrapakprocessing.com