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French food processing company finds delicious vacuum savings

November 3, 2015

Industries:
Food and beverage
Topics:
Energy efficiency
Geography:
Europe

Valentin Traiteur is a French food processing company. They produce and package classic French dishes such as delicatessen pastries, croissants with ham, pies and quiches for third parties, mainly store brands. All their foods are vacuum sealed to preserve the natural flavours. With Atlas Copco's GHS 350 VSD+ 

They found a vacuum pump that is cleaner, quiter and more energy efficient.

Needed: Safe and reliable vacuum

Valentin Traiteur needed a vacuum pump that would deliver safe and reliable vacuum. Their existing installation of vacuum pumps was far from clean, sitting in drip trays to make sure no oil could contaminate the packing line beneath them. Being in the food industry, safety was a high priority, as was the quality and speed of the vacuum. The shelf life of their products is directly related to the quality of the vacuum before sealing, so the highest possible quality of vacuum was important, and in addition, the vacuum pump determines the speed at which their packing lines run, so the faster the better.

VSD+ to the rescue

Valentin Traiteur replaced their existing dirty, loud pumps with an Atlas Copco GHS 350 VSD + vacuum pump. This is a turbo version equipped with a variable speed drive. The turbo technology makes sure that the required vacuum level is reached as fast as possible. The pump replaced two pumps which delivered 5.5 kW each, but the new GHS pump works on the same process with just one 7.5 kW pump. The clean pump also ensures that the food production process cannot be contaminated, and because there is no oil or oil mist expelled, provides a safe working environment for the operators. Using only one 7.5 kW pump has resulted in significant energy savings; in addition, the Variable Speed Drive technology on the new pump increases energy savings by matching the delivered performance to the production demand. If the operators are running their production machine slowly, because of hiccups in production, for instance, then the pump adjusts. In total, Valentin Traiteur calculates that they will save around 35% in energy costs.

In the food business, safety and reliability are paramount," said Arnaud Burtin, Maintenance Manager at Valentin Traiteur. "That is why we chose an Atlas Copco vacuum pump.

The GHS pump features an Eletronikon control panel which perfectly and constantly balances performance and energy efficiency, which means the pump has increased the accuracy of the vacuum system, and so the quality, and at the same time it has also increased production. Its faster evacuation time means it has a shorter cycle time than comparable pumps, half a second faster. Over a year, that means a thousand extra packages for Valentin Traiteur.

Written by Christoph Angenendt

Valentin_packing_04

Food and beverage Energy efficiency France Vacuum pumps Europe Vacuum