Potato Flakes Lines: Tummers just eliminated all steam emissions from the drum drying process

The process of drying out potato puree to make flakes produces a lot of emissions in the form of steam. Until recently, this steam was still being released into the outside world through flues, wasting energy and polluting the landscape with visible and smellable emissions. Now, however, the introduction of the E2E SteamClosure means those days are over.

In conjunction with partner Solutherm, Tummers is continuing to expand the Emission to Energy (E2E) concept through the addition of this ingenious extraction system. This concept entails them using innovative solutions to convert emissions to energy, enabling customers to create a future-proof, sustainable and cost-efficient production process. Marking another step towards the emissions-free factory of the future.

Flake production involves passing puree over a heated drum dryer, which evaporates the moisture to leave a thin potato sheet behind. This is subsequently ground up into potato flakes of the desired size. A lot of steam is released during the process and has to be extracted.

All the steam is captured in pure form due to the ingenious design of the newly developed and patented Tummers E2E SteamClosure, which is fitted hermetically over the drum dryer.

Jelle Nijdam from partner Solutherm:
 

"Normally this steam would be extracted along with plenty of air, but here the steam is being fed into the E2E FlowCondenser and turned into water. This new concept produces water at 85–95°C, which can be reused elsewhere in the production process for blanching, heating, cleaning or other purposes."

"This is a revolutionary process, as it is focused solely on moisture extracted from the potatoes and converted by the condenser into water which can be used somewhere else in the process. Moreover, the E2E SteamClosure renders the flake production process entirely free of steam and odour emissions, which is a genuine breakthrough!"

For many years now Tummers Food Processing has been the world’s largest supplier of flake lines. And thanks to their relentless quest to come up with innovation and more sustainable solutions, the factory of the future is now one step closer.

The E2E SteamClosure has been subjected to comprehensive testing in an existing production environment belonging to one of Tummers’ customers and the results far exceed expectations.
 Dennis Rademakers, R&D Engineer at Tummers:
 

"Obviously you go into the testing with certain expectations, hoping that these will be met in the results. But now the tests have exceeded not only our expectations but our customer’s too, which is great. Aside from making the drying process emissions-free, the E2E SteamClosure has plenty of other additional benefits which were picked up during the tests."

"The fact that the E2E SteamClosure is hermetically sealed means that the flakes are being dried in a controllable environment at a constant temperature and humidity, making the drying process more stable. What’s more, the hermetic seal also ensures that there’s no longer any air in the extractor, which means we can monitor the drying process perfectly because of the windows in the housing."

"In principle, the combination of the high, constant temperature and the sealed environment create a sterile space, boosting the hygiene of the production process. Once the extractor is switched off, it automatically drains nearly completely dry. The fact that no condensation is left in the extractor is beneficial in terms of hygiene and saves a lot of cleaning work."

Ronald Dekker, Sales Manager at Tummers:
 

"The steam from the Tummers E2E SteamClosure is fed into our E2E FlowCondenser, where it’s then turned into water at 85 – 95 C. Using this water elsewhere in the production process, such as for blanching, is straightforward. Hence the E2E SteamClosure will save customers a sizeable amount on costs."

"Besides the reusable water, it eliminates the need to pump clear, conditioned air into the production facility to get the steam out through the flues. And so customers can expect to recoup their investment within an extremely short space of time, obviously depending on the production capacity on which they’re operating."

"Even more importantly, though, is the fact that this marks a major, important step on the road to the factory of the future, characterised by pioneering levels of sustainability and efficiency. At Tummers, we’re constantly trying to find solutions that will convert emissions into energy to enable us to make as many parts of the production process as possible emissions-free."

"The E2E SteamClosure is a fantastic milestone in that respect, but it doesn’t stop there. We’ve gone straight back to working hard on other interesting, sustainable innovations. Here at Tummers, we don’t like to rest on our laurels."