PET Food Processing - September 2020 - 37

EQUIPMENT

COOL
IS KEY

The importance
of modern cooling
technology for
pet food and
treat processors.

By Richard Rowlands | petfoodprocessing@sosland.com

Cooling is a critical step in many pet food and treat processing applications that removes unwanted heat from
the product. It is used to control product temperature
before further processing steps, or prior to final storage
or packaging. Using modern technology, processors are
able to cool product to desirable levels without sacrificing product safety, quality or integrity.
"Cooling is an important piece to get right, maybe
even an underrated piece of the pet food production
puzzle," said Daniel Tramp, technical sales, companion
animal division, Wenger Manufacturing Inc., Sabetha,
Kan. "Improper cooling can lead to issues that directly
affect product quality and the customer experience."
Tom Barber, vice president, capital equipment and
process engineering, Bühler Aeroglide Corporation,
Cary, N.C., agreed on the importance of cooling in the
processing of pet food and treats.
"Cooling is a critical point in processing pet food," he
said. "A product must heat and cool at a set temperature
within an appropriate time period to achieve the desired
product characteristics, to become safe for consumption, and to be packaged for shelf stability."

Cooling options
Cooling options utilized by pet food and treat processors depend largely on the characteristics of the product.
"There are numerous options for cooling, depending
on what the manufacturer is trying to cool," explained
David Wangensteen, vice president, XChanger Inc.,
Hopkins, Minn.
The company manufacturers air-cooled and liquidcooled heat exchangers that are designed to cool air used

in the manufacturing process. The cool air can then be
used to lower the temperature of pet food or treats.
"We have two different air-cooled heat exchangers,"
Wangensteen said. "Our most common, the AA-Series,
is designed to use ambient air to cool process air. The
other, the LC-Series, uses ambient air to cool process
liquid. These heat exchangers offer low pressure loss on
the process side and only require electricity to run the
motor, so are fairly easy to install. They do reject all of
the heat removed from the process air or liquid into the
atmosphere, so must be installed outdoors or in a wellventilated space. Their cooling ability is limited by the
ambient air temperature.
"Xchanger's liquid-cooled air cooler, the C-Series,
uses cool liquid (water, glycol/water mixture, etc.) to
cool process air," he continued. "These heat exchangers also offer low pressure loss on the process air side.
A supply of cool liquid is required. The cooling water is
most often supplied from a cooling tower or chiller, depending on the required temperature of the coolant."
A variety of options are also available to cool pet food
and treats directly.
"There are four primary means of pet food/treat production cooling," said Adrian Martinez-Kawas, international project manager, Corporate Project Services, a
division of Wenger. "Continuous flow vertical cooling,
counterflow vertical cooling, continuous flow belt cooling, and continuous batch open air cooling."
Will Henry, research and development director,
Extru-Tech, Inc., Sabetha, also highlighted some of the
most common cooling solutions.
"For most companion animal food products, a simple

Cooling finished
products uniformly
and within a specific
timeframe helps
to ensure product
quality and stability
are maintained
throughout a
product's shelf life.
Bühler Aeroglide Corporation

www.petfoodprocessing.net | September 2020 | PET FOOD PROCESSING

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PET Food Processing - September 2020

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