The food and beverage industry

The food and beverage industry consists of two interrelated sectors that fall under the category of food. It includes all companies involved in food raw material processing, packaging, and distribution. The range of food products comprises fresh, pre-packaged, and packaged foods, as well as alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

With the continuous development of the Chinese economy, the output of the food and beverage industry has maintained a relatively high growth rate in the past few years. However, in recent years, influenced by macroeconomic factors, the growth rate of the food and beverage industry has slowed down. Within the sub-sectors of the food and beverage industry, there have been disparities in performance: for example, the growth rate of white wine products has dropped sharply, while the sub-industries of leisure food and convenience food are expected to maintain a relatively high growth rate in the coming years.

Overall, despite the slowing down of China's macroeconomic growth, the food and beverage industry continues to exhibit a strong development momentum. The growth rate in the next few years is predicted to be more than 50% higher than the global average.

The food and beverage industry typically requires compressed air systems for the following processes:

1. Pipeline Transport of Liquids:

For liquids such as milk, soy sauce, purified water, carbonated beverages, beer, and rice wine.

2. Fermentation Process:

Used for liquid stirring and introducing air to increase oxygen content, as seen in processes like beer brewing, rice wine production, soy sauce fermentation, and vinegar production.

3. Mixing/Agitation in Ingredient Processing:

Compressed air is introduced into the liquid to facilitate mixing. Typically, compressed air is used, but sometimes inert gases like carbon dioxide or nitrogen are also used. This process is utilized in the production of soy sauce, vinegar, and blending of white wine.

4. Carbonation of Beverages:

In carbonated drinks, carbon dioxide is introduced using steel bottles or gas storage tanks. When the pressure from the storage tank is low, it is compressed using a carbon dioxide gas compressor before being delivered to the mixing machine.

5. Air Stretching in PET Bottle Production:

Used in the production of PET bottles to stretch the material and form the desired shape.

6. Conveying and Transmission Equipment:

As seen in the slaughtering industry.

7. Aseptic Packaging:

Using sterile air for pressurization.

8. Blowing and Removing Impurities:

Used in processes such as blowing fur and conveying minced meat in the slaughtering industry, blowing away powder and cleaning equipment in the biscuit industry, correcting alignment in baking processes, and using air pressure to remove spent grains in beer filtration.

9. Extrusion of Materials:

In the beer industry, after the malt juice cooling process, sterile compressed air can be used to push out the malt juice from the thin plate cooler. In the sugar industry, it is used for filtering, squeezing sponges, and extruding juice. It is also used to drive the cylinders in filling machines to produce linear motion.

10. Inflatable Packaging:

Suitable for packaging items that require lower vacuum levels and higher air inflation.

The above processes all require the use of compressed air, including factory air supply, vacuum, high-pressure, or low-pressure compressed air. Generally, this type of compressed air is mainly used in various production processes in the food and beverage industry, such as mixing raw materials, fermentation, bagging, blowing, drying, hot air tin spraying, and pneumatic exhaust.

Compressed air must undergo treatments such as oil removal, sterilization, and deodorization. Typically, oil-free compressed air is used as the air source, and then strict post-processing of the compressed air is carried out. The post-processing equipment includes bactericidal filters, air-water separators, and efficient precision filters to remove dust, water, and oil from the compressed air to prevent contamination and accidents.

The quality of compressed air is crucial for the food and beverage industry to ensure product safety and quality.