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In order to ensure the quality and safety of its rice products, S.P. SpA Italy uses an Atlas Copco oil-free HX booster to compress and recycle CO2 during the recovery phase of its disinfestation process.
Rice bags
The Italian company S.P. SpA is a leading producer and seller of loose and prepackaged conventional and organic rice, as well as handmade pasta, in the global market. The company is committed to the highest quality standards, and processing at its facility conforms to HACCP, ISO9001, IFS, BRC, and other important certifications. Food safety has always been regarded as a top priority for the company.
S.P. SpA is one of the first Italian companies to treat its rice using an innovative CO 2 disinfestation treatment that guarantees optimal safety. Furthermore, the company is the first one in Italy to recover and recycle the CO 2 used during processing for additional use.
Oil-free solution safeguards product quality
The carbon dioxide treatment involves holding the prepackaged rice inside receivers at a pressure of 20 bar(e) and then maintaining this pressure for a specific period of time. Once this process is finished in the first pressurized receiver, the CO 2 is moved to a second empty receiver until reaching pressure balance.
Instead of being released into the atmosphere, the remaining CO 2 in the first receiver can be recovered and boosted to the required treatment pressure value for the second receiver. This sequence can be repeated for significant savings of CO 2.
To recover the CO 2, S.P. SpA uses an Atlas Copco oil-free HX booster. Atlas Copco’s HX oil-free reciprocating compressor offers cost-effective operations and minimal maintenance costs. Because of the PTFE piston rings and long distance pieces, an HX compressor is the right solution when compressed gasis in contact with an end product, such as rice.
Giovanni Ingino, Project Manager at S.P. SpA, explains, “We definitely needed an oil-free solution in order to safeguard our product quality and provide great flexibility of use in the compression process. The Atlas Copco oil-free HX booster could guarantee the integrity of the compressed gas during the recovery phase and was perfectly adapted to the job with a variable inlet pressure between 2 and 7 bar(e) and the 20 bar(e) pressure at discharge. It was definitely the right choice for us.”
CO2 compression requires the expertise of specialists
A wide variety of regulation systems adjust the flow rate according to the real utilization of the machine. The HX compressor’s low piston speed and low inter-stage temperatures preserve the inner parts of the machine for high reliability, and the reciprocating technology ensures excellent volumetric efficiency and economic operation in terms of energy use. Furthermore the horizontal design with balanced opposed arrangement keeps vibrations to an extremely low level.
CO 2 compression requires the expertise of specialists. The internal components need to be adapted to the gas composition and especially to moisture content.
“Atlas Copco has the experience in handling wet or dry CO 2, which is a good basis for quality and safe operation,”says Antonio Stefanile, Product Marketing Manager, Atlas Copco Italy. “The good interaction with the customer and the ability to be able to supply the right solution for the satisfaction of our customer is very rewarding, and thanks to the proximity of our sales and service teams, we are very keen to provide high quality service at all times and for a long time.”
Written by Michael Gaar
