Air purification in the food and meat industry. Trotec high-performance TAC V+ air purifier in stainless steel version

Viruses and bacteria are particularly feared infectious pathogens in the food and meat industry.  Therefore ensuring food quality and protecting employees from infection are equally important.  Trotec supplies the high-performance, stainless steel air purifier required for this. 

High-performance air purifier in corrosion-resistant stainless steel

Especially for use in meat processing and food production, the high-performance TAC V+ is now also available in a corrosion-resistant, stainless steel version, which is ideal for aerosol separation in areas with specific hygiene requirements or particularly reactive air environments.  Made from high-quality stainless steel (1,4301), the housing is easy to clean and very especially resistant to various chemical solutions.

Good to know: EU Regulation 1935/2004/EC lays down the basic requirements for materials and items that come in contact with food.  In simple terms, the regulation states that the materials should not transfer any harmful substances to foods, which can endanger human health. In Europe, it is well documented that stainless steel (1,4301) meets these requirements.

Safe protection against pathogenic bacteria and viruses in production

In order to keep the growth of listeria, salmonella and other  micro-organisms under control, room temperature in the food processing production (among other hygiene measures) areas is cooled down and dehumidified with stationary industrial dryers. However, the massive corona outbreak at Germany’s largest meat producer in the Gütersloh district has shown that these measures are not sufficient to protect workers from the dangers of airborne viruses. The high-performance TAC V+ air purifier, enables effective protection against viral infections, which can be integrated into the existing room air technology as an additional component in the production areas.  In addition to droplet and smear infection, coronavirus primarily spreads via room air.

Infectious aerosols – invisible risk factor in production

More precisely through so-called aerosols, a mixture comprising gas (usually air) and solid or liquid constituents, which contain viruses in infected persons. These tiny suspended particles are released into the room when breathing and talking. While larger droplets fall to the floor after approx. 1.5 metres owing to their weight (hence the social distancing rule of 1.5 m), infectious aerosol particles sometimes remain suspended due to their small size (approx. 0.3-0.4 µm) for several hours in the room air inside the meat cutting area cooled to 6 – 10°C, where they are permanently circulated around the room by the ventilation system – and continuously breathed in!

An infection risk in food processing which, according to Prof. Martin Exner, has not yet been scientifically discussed in sufficient depth.  Exner is director of the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Bonn and is currently investigating the infection at Tönnies with a working group of employees from the National Center for Health and the Robert Koch Institute.  “What is not known so far: circulating air can keep an aerosol in motion – this represents a previously overlooked risk factor.” Conventional ventilation systems only have a coarse filtration, which is not able to filter out airborne viruses, according to Prof. Exner in an analysis of the infection transmission at Tönnies.

Help should now be provided by the high-performance, stainless steel TAC V+ air purifier, whose HEPA high-performance filtration ensures that the germ-laden room air in food processing is kept free of airborne  micro-organisms such as the SARS CoV-2 virus.

Explanations on the operating principle of the TAC V+ high-performance air purifier

A critical factor in the risk of infection with the coronavirus is how long the virus-laden aerosols remain in the room air. This is because – in contrast to the open air, where aerosol mixtures are diluted and replaced with clean, fresh air by the air movement – aerosol concentration remains continuously high in a closed room. The more aerosols are suspended in the air – and the longer they remain so – the faster these enter the body via the respiratory tract to cause an infection in the lungs. Around 50,000 particles, such as dust or pollen but also bacteria and viruses, are suspended in just one cubic centimetre of air. And with each additional employee in the room, the aerosol concentration increases by thousands of particles per minute.

Put simply, the high-performance TAC V+ air purifier transforms the air situation outdoors to the situation in production areas and complements this with highly efficient virus filtration and inactivation.

The air cleaning concept of the high-performance TAC V+ is based on two foundations: 

• On the one hand, aerosol concentration in the room air is continuously diluted with virus-filtered HEPA ultrapure air. For this purpose, the purifier has a high ultrapure air capacity – previously unattained with mobile devices – which enables an air exchange rate of up to 20 times per hour.
• In addition, airborne viruses and bacteria are first separated in an innovative, heat-resistant HEPA particulate filter and then cyclically killed off by thermal decontamination. Developed by Trotec, this special filter of protection class 14 exclusively is distinguished by a separation efficiency of 99.995 percent for particle sizes from 0.1 to 0.2 µm. Thanks to these features, H14 high-performance filters are even used to produce clean air in operating theatres and in similar hygiene-sensitive areas.

What sounds very technical in theory proves to be very uncomplicated in practice. The draught-free intake of polluted room air occurs close to the floor, and the ultrapure virus-free air is then returned vertically upwards into the room. Thanks to the mobile design, the use of several TAC V+ air purifiers enables even large areas of ultrapure air to be created without hazardous aerosol contamination.

The TAC V+ mobile air purifier is available in several colour and equipment variants in the Trotec shop as well as at the stationary Trotec store in Heinsberg. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us personally: 

Trotec STORE
Grebbener Straße 7
52525 Heinsberg
Germany

Tel. +49 2452 962-400
E-Mail: store.heinsberg@trotec.com