JP2010075891A - Cleaning process of oily foodstuff tank and cleaning system of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning process and a cleaning system by which the inside of an oily foodstuff tank of low water content, including a roof plate and a stirrer root portion, can be automatically cleaned in a short time without using water. <P>SOLUTION: Heated fats and oils are used as a cleaning solution in the oily foodstuff tank 7 and are sprayed from a spray nozzle 6 into the tank to clean the inside of the oily foodstuff tank including the roof plate and the stirrer 8 root portion. Further in this cleaning system, the fats and oils after cleaning are filtered with a filter 10 and then are heated again to recycle the oil as cleaning oil. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an oily food tank cleaning method and a cleaning system. More particularly, it relates to cleaning a tank with chocolate dough attached.

  Chocolates that are typical of oil-based foods and doughs such as chocolate-like foods that do not contain non-fat cacao (commonly called white chocolate or color chocolate) (hereinafter collectively referred to as chocolate dough) are cocoa powder, cacao mass , Powdered milk, saccharides, etc. are mixed with fats and oils, and the paste is finely pulverized with a roll or ball mill. It is manufactured by doing.

  This conching step is typically performed in a temperature range of 40 to 80 ° C., and about 3% of water contained in the raw material is reduced to 1.5% or less when reaching the final dough. This is because moisture evaporates during this process, but the evaporated moisture diffuses into the atmosphere from the opening of the conching tank or is forcibly discharged out of the tank by a fan or the like.

  The mixing and mixing tank called conche where this conching process is performed, the defoaming tank from the subsequent dough, the tank top plate of the dough storage tank, the root part of the stirrer, etc. are easily attached with chocolate dough, and the dough remains attached for a long time. May elapse. The adhered dough will solidify as it is.

Since chocolate dough is an oily food and has a moisture content of 1.5% or less, there is almost no growth of bacteria or spoilage. Therefore, chocolate dough tanks are often used continuously for a long period of time. In this continuous use, the tank is almost full and always replaced with a new dough, so there is almost no problem in practical use, but the tank top plate and the stirrer root part are not enough to be replaced. The chocolate dough that adheres and solidifies in the form of embracing the transpirational water becomes a hotbed of mold.

  Therefore, in order to prevent mold on the top plate of the tank and the stirrer root, conventionally, continuous production was periodically stopped and workers entered the tank to the top of the tank and stirrer root. The adhered chocolate dough was scraped off with a spatula or the like, and the tank was washed by a so-called hand washing operation by jetting washing water.

  However, the above-described conventional manual tank cleaning requires a great deal of labor for workers, has poor workability, and has room for improvement in terms of work efficiency. Further, since it takes a long time to dry and remove the washing water from the chocolate tank, there is a problem that the production efficiency is greatly reduced.

  For the purpose of automating tank cleaning by hand, methods for cleaning by spraying a cleaning liquid from the spray nozzle onto the inner surface of the tank are disclosed in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and the like. Is a known technique. However, in these prior arts, water or warm water is generally used as a tank cleaning liquid, or water washing is generally performed after cleaning with a cleaning liquid such as an acid, an alkali, or a surfactant.

In such a conventional spray cleaning method, since it takes a long time to dry and remove the cleaning water after cleaning, a more simplified and efficient method for cleaning an oily food tank has been demanded.
Japanese Patent No. 2582273 JP 2002-66480 A Kikuo Hotta: Japan Food Science, Cleaning and Sterilization of Food Production Line, 55-64, NO. 4 (1992)

  An object of the present invention is to automatically clean the inside of the tank including the top plate of the oil-based food tank and the root portion of the stirrer in a short time without using water.

  The present inventors have found that the problem can be solved by spraying and cleaning oil and fat from a spray nozzle as a cleaning liquid for an oil-based food tank, and the present invention has been completed.

  That is, the first aspect of the present invention is a tank cleaning method characterized by spraying and cleaning the inner surface of an oil-based food tank from a spray nozzle using fats and oils. 2nd is a 1st washing | cleaning method whose oily food is chocolates and chocolate-like food. 3rd is a 1st washing | cleaning method in which fats and oils are the same as 1 or more types of fats and oils contained in an oil-based foodstuff. Fourth, cleaning oil heating means for the cleaning oil tank, cleaning oil feeding means, cleaning oil spraying means, discharging means for discharging oil after washing from the oily food tank, and means for removing chocolate solids from the oil after washing An oil-based food tank cleaning system that uses cleaning oil for recycling.

  The oil-based food tank can be automatically washed in a short time without using water, and the production stop time for washing can be greatly reduced.

  In low-moisture oily foods such as chocolate dough having a moisture content of 1.5% or less, it is necessary to avoid mixing water as much as possible, and it is desirable to avoid the use of water as much as possible even when cleaning oily food tanks. As a result of diligent examination of a cleaning method that does not use water, the present inventors have found that the problem can be solved by spraying and cleaning oil and fat from a spray nozzle as a cleaning liquid for an oil-based food tank.

  The present invention can be applied to cleaning oily food tanks such as chocolates (chocolate, chocolate-based foods) and chocolate-like foods. For chocolate and chocolate-like food applications, plate and granular solid chocolate confectionery alone and confectionery raw materials used in combination with other foods, more specifically, baked confectionery, bread, frozen confectionery coating materials, Applications include enrobing materials, filling materials, and decorative materials. In order to suit these application suitability, fats and oils are 20 to 60%, and various fats and oils are used as a part of raw materials.

  In the case of chocolate, cocoa butter, cocoa butter substitute fat, and milk fat are used as fats and oils. Cocoa butter substitute fat (typically hard butter) includes a tempering type and a non-tempering type. Among these, the tempering type is obtained from shea fat, monkey fat, iripe fat, palm oil or the like or fractionated oils thereof, and its main triglyceride is SUS (2-unsaturated, 1,3-saturated triglyceride like cocoa butter. ). As the same type of fats and oils, hard butter rich in SUS using an ester exchange technique using an enzyme is also used. On the other hand, the non-tempering type is typically a trans acid type or a lauric acid type. The trans acid type is obtained by trans isomerization hardening of a fractionated soft part such as palm oil or a liquid oil such as soybean oil, and contains a relatively large amount of trans acid in the constituent fatty acid composition. The lauric acid type is obtained from fats and oils that contain a large amount of lauric acid such as coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and babas oil, and fractionated oils and hardened oils thereof.

  In the case of chocolate-based foods and chocolate-like foods, the fats and oils include animal fats such as pork fat, beef tallow, milk fat and fish oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, and palm oil. One or more of vegetable oils such as coconut oil and palm kernel oil and hydrogenated oils and transesterified oils thereof are used.

  If the fats and oils used in these chocolate doughs are used as a washing liquid as a washing method that does not use water, production can be started quickly without drying after washing. Even if a small amount of oil used in washing remains in the chocolate dough tank, if the oil is the same as one or more of the oil used in the chocolate dough to be produced next, the advantage of hardly affecting the quality of the chocolate dough There is.

The fats and oils used as the cleaning liquid may be one or more of the fats and oils used for the chocolate dough. In the case of chocolate, it is preferable to use cocoa butter or cocoa butter substitute fat. In the case of chocolate-based foods and chocolate-like foods, it is preferable to use fats and oils that have a relatively low melting point such as 0 ° C. to 40 ° C. and excellent oxidation stability among the fats and oils used in the dough. Palm oil fractionation low melting point part, coconut oil, palm kernel oil and its fractionation oil, other hardened oil, transesterification oil, etc. can be used conveniently.

  Liquid fats such as milk fat, soybean oil and rapeseed oil can also be used, but their oxidation stability is relatively weak, which may cause oxidative degradation during washing and adversely affect the quality of the chocolate dough to be produced next, especially the flavor. Therefore, their use in a cleaning solution is not preferable. The use of fats and oils having an ascending melting point exceeding 40 ° C. is also possible, but there is a risk of solidification and blockage in a strainer or a fat and oil pipeline, which is also not preferable.

  The tank cleaning according to the present invention can be performed by the following procedure. First, the oil used as the cleaning liquid is heated to 40 ° C. or higher, preferably 50 to 75 ° C., with a heat exchanger or the like in a storage tank or drum for cleaning oil, or in an oil supply pipeline to the spray nozzle. This heated cleaning oil is fed by a liquid feed pump, and then sprayed and washed on the inner surface of the tank from a spray nozzle such as a spray ball through an oil supply pipe equipped with a pressure gauge for measuring a discharge pressure after passing through a strainer. The washed oil and fat is discharged and collected together with the washed and removed chocolate dough from the outlet at the bottom of the tank.

  The heating temperature of the cleaning oil is preferably about 65 ° C. When the temperature is lowered to 40 ° C or lower, the viscosity of the oil and fat is so high that spraying from the spray nozzle does not work well, and the chocolate dough that has adhered and solidified on the inner surface of the tank cannot be dissolved. I can't. When the temperature is as high as 80 ° C. or higher, the oxidative deterioration of the cleaning oil is likely to occur, and the quality of the next chocolate dough after the cleaning is adversely affected.

  As the spray nozzle to be used, various tank container cleaning nozzles that are commercially available can be used. A motor-driven three-dimensional rotating nozzle that uses an air motor or a power supply motor as a driving source, a hydraulic three-dimensional rotating nozzle that rotates three-dimensionally using the pressure of the cleaning liquid as a driving source, a hydraulic two-dimensional nozzle, and a spherical shape with multiple orifices An example is a fixed nozzle by a shower.

  The discharge pressure of the spray nozzle that injects the cleaning oil generally allows for a shorter time of washing as the pressure is higher.However, if the discharge pressure and the washing time are appropriately selected according to the capacity of the target chocolate dough tank, good. If the chocolate dough tank has a normal capacity of 10 tons or less, it can be completely washed within a few minutes at a pressure of about 0.5 MPa.

  The present invention also includes a heating means for cleaning oil tank, a means for feeding cleaning oil, a means for removing solids in cleaning oil, a means for measuring spray discharge pressure, a means for cleaning spraying oil, and a fat after washing from an oily food tank. This is a system for cleaning an oily food tank that uses recycling of cleaning oil, and includes a means for removing oily food solids from the oil and fat after washing.

  A hot water jacket or a steam jacket can be used as a heating means for the cleaning oil tank. A liquid feed pump can be used as the liquid feed means. As the spray means, the above-described various tank container cleaning nozzles can be used. As a means for discharging the oil and fat after washing from the oil-based food tank, there are discharge using a head difference from the tank bottom nozzle and use of a discharge pump. As a means for removing oily food solids from the oil after washing, the oily food solids can be continuously separated by using a bucket filter or the like. The filtered oil is sent to the cleaning oil tank and can be recycled as cleaning oil.

  In order to remove the chocolate solids from the oil after the washing, it can be reused as a washing liquid by filtering with a filter of about 60 mesh with a JIS standard sieve. If this solid content is not removed, the strainer and the spray nozzle are clogged, and it becomes difficult to perform continuous circulation cleaning. By using such a cleaning system, the amount of cleaning oil used can be significantly reduced, and the amount of cleaning oil used can be reduced to approximately 20 to 50% by weight as compared with the case where the cleaning oil is not recycled. That is, highly economical cleaning is possible.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The cleaning oil is drawn into the cleaning oil tank 1, and the cleaning oil is heated to about 65 ° C. by the hot water jacket 9. The heated washing oil is fed to the washing line by the liquid feeding pump 2, and then the washing oil is sprayed from the spray nozzle 6 to the inner surface of the tank 7 through the strainer 3 and then through the oil and fat feeding pipe 5 to which the pressure gauge 4 is attached. . Together with the chocolate dough adhered to the inner surface of the tank 7 and the tank stirring blade 8, the washed cleaning oil is filtered by the bucket filter 10, and the filtered oil is sent to the cleaning oil tank 1. The washing filter oil is reheated in the washing oil tank and recycled for washing.
The following examples further illustrate the present invention.

[Example 1]
As a cleaning oil, a palm low melting point part (iodine value 67.5, rising melting point 5 ° C.) was selected from fats and oils blended in the chocolate dough to be produced next. 300 kg of this palm low melting point portion was drawn into a washing oil tank and heated to an oil temperature of 65 ° C. with a warm water jacket. This heated oil is fed by a liquid feed pump at a flow rate of 15 m ³ / hour to a spray nozzle (manufactured by Alfa Laval: TJ20G, nozzle diameter: 3.9 mm) and chocolate dough tank (diameter 1,880 mm, height 3, 116 mm) of the tank inner surface was sprayed and washed. The oil after washing was continuously discharged from the nozzle at the bottom of the tank using the head difference, filtered through a 60 mesh bucket filter, returned to the washing oil tank, and further subjected to circulation washing. The spray discharge pressure was 0.48 MPa and the cleaning time was 5 minutes. After completion of the cleaning, the tank top plate, the stirring blade root and the tank inner surface were visually confirmed. As a result, there was no adhesion of the chocolate dough and the cleaning was almost complete.

[Example 2]
As washing oil, refined coconut oil (iodine number 8.6, rising melting point 24.0 ° C.) was selected from the fats and oils blended in the chocolate dough to be produced next. 300 kg of this refined coconut oil was drawn into a washing oil tank and heated to an oil temperature of 65 ° C. with a warm water jacket. This heated oil is fed by a liquid feed pump at a flow rate of 15 m ³ / hour to a spray nozzle (manufactured by Alfa Laval: TJ20G, nozzle diameter: 3.9 mm) and chocolate dough tank (diameter 1,880 mm, height 3, 116 mm) of the tank inner surface was sprayed and washed. The oil after washing was continuously discharged from the nozzle at the bottom of the tank using the head difference, filtered through a 60 mesh bucket filter, returned to the washing oil tank, and further subjected to circulation washing. The spray discharge pressure was 0.50 MPa and the cleaning time was 3 minutes. After completion of the cleaning, the tank top plate, the stirring blade root and the tank inner surface were visually confirmed. As a result, there was no adhesion of the chocolate dough and the cleaning was almost complete.

  The present invention relates to an efficient cleaning method for oily food tanks such as chocolate dough tanks in a short time, and contributes to productivity improvement.

It is the schematic of the washing | cleaning system which implements the washing | cleaning method of the oil-based food tank by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  1: Tank for cleaning oil, 2: Liquid feed pump, 3: Strainer, 4: Pressure gauge, 5: Oil supply pipe, 6: Spray nozzle, 7: Tank for chocolate dough, 8: Tank stirring blade, 9: Heat exchange Hot water jacket, 10: Bucket filter

Claims (4)

A tank cleaning method characterized by spraying and cleaning the inner surface of an oil-based food tank from a spray nozzle using fats and oils. 2. The cleaning method according to claim 1, wherein the oily food is a chocolate or a chocolate-like food. The cleaning method according to claim 1, wherein the fat is the same as one or more of the fats and oils contained in the oily food. A cleaning oil heating means for the cleaning oil tank, a cleaning oil feeding means, a cleaning oil spraying means, a means for discharging oil after washing from the oily food tank, and a means for removing oily food solids from the oil after washing, Cleaning system for oil-based food tanks that uses recycled cleaning oil.

Images