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Reference project
Elimination of black mold at dairy facility
Introduction.
The cheese production increased thanks to the warehouse ozonation
In the central part of Norway, there is a town called Dovre. Despite the small size, the history of Dovre goes back in time to about 6000 years ago. Nowadays, TINE – the largest Norwegian dairy company – is one of the main industries located there. In the central part of the town, TINE’s industrial plant produces a type of soft cheese called “hvitmuggost”. The plant has a capacity of around 230 tons of cheese per year.
The problem.
One of the stages in the cheese production is the ripening of the wheels. These need to be stored in a large warehouse until they are ready to be packed and sold. The aging time lasts for several weeks, depending on the hardness of the desired product. During this time, the wheels are vulnerable to attacks from microorganisms such as black mold. This resistant parasite is one of the most common in food industries. By growing on the wheels, the mold contaminates the product which is then not available for sale. The site in Dovre exhibited extensive black mold growth in various locations, especially in the storage warehouse. The whole production process was sub-optimal, with difficulties in predicting the annual production.
The solution.
Mellifiq was commissioned to sanitize the entire warehouse, having a total volume of 8000 m3. While mold removal was the main purpose of the treatment, other microorganisms where also considered. Bacteria – such as legionella and salmonella – may also occur at the premises. At the same time, viruses are also a threat present in all environments. The sanitation treatment was also required to prevent any possible spread of bacteria and viruses in the warehouse. For this tough application we selected the Ozonetech RENA Pro Ozone System, model B6. Ozonetech RENA Pro is the premium Mellifiq’s choice for air treatment. These systems are fully integrated with all components mounted on a compact skid. Once they are delivered, they just need a power supply and they are ready to produce ozone. The ozone outlet was split into various injection points. The treated area was divided into various sectors with one injection point per sector. This distribution was ensuring a homogeneous ozone concentration throughout the warehouse.
Evaluation.
The results clearly showed the successful sanitation of the room: black mold was removed, with no occurrences of regrowth. At first our ozone system was tested for one month. This period was used to find optimal settings, combining an effective mold removal with short treatment times. For this application, 3 ppm of ozone were applied for up to 10 hours in order to complete the sanitation cycle. After the testing period, our client was glad to keep the system, due to the proven performance.
The benefits of ozonation were multiple:
- Increased production capacity by more than 10 %
- Accurate prediction of yearly budget
- Reduction in labor for manual cleaning
- Safer working enviroment by preventing bacteria and viruses
We are glad to know that, since the installation day, we solved this tough sanitation problem for our client.
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