Processing Heat
Processing Heat Exchanger helps Produce Carrot Powder Family-owned for four generations, Huntapac is a leading grower and supplier of root crops such as carrots and parsnips. Following a reorganization of the business in 2019, the company wanted to develop new valueled product options and so installed a state-of-the-art line to produce carrot powder, with a heat exchanger from HRS Heat Exchangers forming a key part of the new process. Andy Ensor, UK Sales Manager, HRS Heat Exchangers Established near Preston by William Hunter in 1942, Huntapac initially grew a range of crops for fruit and vegetable markets in the North West, before starting to supply leading supermarkets almost fifty-years ago. The company was a major producer of root crops (carrots and parsnips), salads and brassicas (such as cauliflower and broccoli) until a few years ago, when it decided to rationalize its operations and concentrate solely on the root crops. The business grows more than 1,300 hectares of carrots and parsnips across the UK, from Suffolk to Scotland, all of which are taken to the company’s factory at Holmes near Preston for washing and packing. With the increased focus on root crops, the company was keen to add value to the five per cent of the crop which is not suitable for its packing customers and looked at a number of options before deciding on the production of carrot powder. “Five per cent may not sound like a lot, but when you are washing up to 400 tonnes of carrots a day, it soon adds up,” comments Huntapac’s Commercial Director Steven Kay. “We researched a few methods because there are lots of different drying techniques available, and we felt that the process that was right for use was to puree the carrots, put them over a drying drum and then mill the flake that results into a powder.” The heat exchanger uses two HRS R Series rotary scraped surface heat exchangers 32 food Marketing & Technology • April 2022
Processing Packaging We bring colour into view! Compact capacitive level switches with 360° custom-colour status display 256 colours Individually selectable: Measurement in progress Sensor switching Process malfunction Compact design 15 cm NEW! Hygienic adapter system Absolutely front-flush design Adjustment via smartphone Anuga FoodTec Hall 7.1, Stand C31 Key No. 101924 www.vega.com/vegapoint food Marketing & Technology • April 2022 33
