When choosing food and beverage pumps, it is important to maintain hygienic processing conditions and prevent contamination. Food that is not handled hygienically can get contaminated and have detrimental effects on both the consumer and producer.
You can experience loss of flow, leaks, lost revenue, unplanned downtime, safety risks and even environmental issues if the fluid gets out of your facility. You can achieve and maintain top-notch hygienic conditions and prevent food contamination by employing the right pumps for your processing applications.
Along with handling both high and low viscosity fluids, pumps in the food and beverage industry should provide solutions to various processing challenges such as managing routine cleaning, handling a wide range of temperature ranges, ensuring protection from contamination, complying with the FDA guidelines and accomplishing loading and transferring functions.
Choosing the right pump for your application
It is critical to choose the right pump. This means that you need careful consideration. Whilst there are different types of pumps and properties, the diverse capabilities of air-operated double diaphragm pumps make them a number choice for most food and beverage pumping applications.
Why to choose air-operated double diaphragm pumps (AODD)
AODD pumps are reliable, safe, and simple to use in slurries, fluids, and solids-laden transfers. These pumps run dry without damaging the system or the pump. They also pump solids-laden fluids without product or pump damage.
AODD pumps for the food industry are self-priming. They can dry run and do not separate the products being pumped. These pumps require no electric power and can be grounded to ensure safety during operation. They have a low initial buying price and need no additional controls. This makes them a great value. You can submerge these pumps completely in the material being pumped without performance or safety issues. The pumps offer variable flow and head pressures. They don’t have sophisticated controls. You can run them in intermittent or continuous cycles without damaging the pump.
Because pumps are essential to keeping your processing systems running properly, it is crucial that you choose the right pump that best meets your needs.
Provide leak detection options
When pumping expensive fluids such as those used in the food industry, leak detection products are essential because they allow you to monitor the diaphragm’s integrity of your pump through electronic, visual or mechanical leak detection.
Be constructed for the work at hand
The pumps used in the food and beverage industry are constructed by either bolting or clamping the mating parts together. If your pump is part of a batch process such as barbeque or salsa, requiring frequent and regular equipment tear-downs for sanitation and cleaning, clamped construction pumps are ideal as it takes less time to disassemble, clean, and assemble.
If your process takes longer and equipment isn’t torn frequently then bolted food and beverage pumps may be ideal. This is because bolted construction pumps are more robust. They are also leak-tight over a very long period of time. Make sure you talk to a professional before choosing pumps for your application.