As global consumers pay more and more attention to food quality, safety and health value, the food processing industry is facing unprecedented pressure for transformation and upgrading. In this context, how to improve production efficiency, reduce energy consumption and achieve clean processing while ensuring high-quality production has become an urgent problem for many food companies. Separation technology, as an indispensable link in the food production process, is playing an increasingly critical role.
Decanter Centrifuge, with its powerful solid-liquid separation ability, continuous operation characteristics and excellent cleaning performance, has gradually become a “star equipment” in modern food processing production lines. It can not only achieve efficient separation in multiple processing fields such as dairy products, fruit and vegetable juices, soy products, animal oils, condiments, etc., but also help companies optimize processes, ensure food safety, and reduce labor dependence and resource waste.
Overview of Decanter Centrifuge Working Principle
Horizontal screw centrifuge is a device that uses high-speed rotation to generate centrifugal force to achieve solid-liquid separation. Its core structure consists of a rotating cylinder (drum), an internal screw conveyor (screw), a differential, a transmission device, etc. Its basic working process is as follows:
Material feeding: The material enters the drum through the feed pipe.
High-speed rotation: The drum rotates at high speed driven by the motor to form a strong centrifugal field.
Phase separation process: Under the action of centrifugal force, the solid particles with higher density are thrown to the wall of the drum to form a sediment layer; the liquid is located in the inner layer and continues to flow forward.
Spiral slag discharge: The screw conveyor rotates slowly at a certain differential speed relative to the drum, and continuously transports the deposited solids along the conical end to the slag discharge port.
Clear liquid discharge: The clarified liquid is discharged from the overflow port to achieve continuous separation.
This working mechanism enables the decanter centrifuge to achieve a continuous, efficient, stable and fully automated solid-liquid separation process, which is particularly suitable for complex working conditions in the food industry with high viscosity, varying solid content and large production capacity fluctuations.
Typical application scenarios of decanter centrifuges in food processing
The application of decanter centrifuges in the food industry covers almost all raw material and product processing processes, especially in the following five major areas, showing extremely high adaptability and cost-effectiveness:
1. Dairy processing: precise separation to improve the purity of dairy products
In whey separation, milk residue processing, butter separation and other links, the decanter centrifuge can achieve efficient separation of whey and protein, and recover high-value components such as milk fat. Its fully enclosed design can prevent secondary contamination and meet HACCP and GMP hygiene standards.
Advantages:
Avoid protein damage
High whey recovery rate
CIP online cleaning supports high hygiene requirements
2. Fruit and vegetable juice extraction and clarification: ensure taste and improve juice yield
Fruits and vegetables such as apples, carrots, grapes, and citrus need to be processed for pomace removal and juice clarification. The high-speed separation function of the horizontal screw centrifuge can significantly increase the juice yield and reduce the filtration pressure, effectively retaining the flavor of the raw materials.
Advantages:
Increase juice yield by 5%-15%
Achieve large-scale continuous extraction
Reduce the burden of subsequent membrane filtration
3. Plant protein extraction: high yield, low residue, gentle separation
The extraction of plant proteins such as soybeans, peas, and rapeseed requires extremely high separation accuracy. The horizontal screw centrifuge can gently separate the slurry according to the density difference, retaining the protein activity to the maximum extent, and is widely used in the soy milk, tofu, and plant meat industry chain.
Advantages:
Reduce the loss of nutrients
Automatic slag discharge and anti-blocking
Strong adaptability to a variety of materials
4. Animal oil processing: impurity separation, improve oil purity
In the process of refining animal oils such as lard, chicken oil, fish oil, etc., the horizontal screw centrifuge can be used for oil residue separation and refining pre-treatment, effectively removing moisture, protein impurities and residues, and ensuring the color and purity of the final oil.
Advantages:
Oil residue separation is thorough
Reduce acid value and peroxide value
Reduce subsequent refining costs
5. Condiment and sauce processing: Improve product stability
Bean paste, chili sauce, soy sauce and other condiments often involve solid-liquid separation of fermentation liquid, slurry, etc. in production. The horizontal screw centrifuge can continuously process high-viscosity, high-solid content slurry, improve product consistency and reduce manual operation.
Advantages:
Automatic slag removal, saving labor
Improve product batch stability
Reduce the number of reheating and waste
Ideal choice for clean production
Modern food factories have extremely high requirements for the cleanliness of equipment. With the following technical features, the horizontal screw centrifuge fully meets the high standards of the food industry for pollution-free, easy to clean, and corrosion-resistant:
1. Fully enclosed design to prevent secondary pollution
The materials are separated in a fully enclosed cavity to avoid contact with the outside world, effectively preventing impurities, bacteria, etc. from entering the product.
2. Stainless steel material, corrosion-resistant and anti-oxidation
The key parts of the equipment are made of food-grade 304/316L stainless steel, with mirror polished surface, which will not rust or precipitate metal ions after long-term use.
3. CIP automatic cleaning system
The built-in online cleaning (Clean-In-Place) interface can realize automatic flushing of pipes and the inside of the machine body, avoiding manual disassembly and cleaning, and saving time.
4. Low noise and low vibration operation
Adopting advanced shock-absorbing structure and silent motor, the noise during the operation of the equipment is less than 75dB, which is suitable for clean workshop environments that are sensitive to noise.
Selection and use suggestions for decanter centrifuges
When choosing a decanter centrifuge, food companies are advised to combine the following key parameters and requirements:
Material properties: viscosity, solid content, particle size, etc.;
Processing volume requirements: selection based on hourly processing capacity (m³/h);
Separation accuracy requirements: whether secondary clarification or pre-concentration is required;
Cleaning method: whether it has a CIP interface;
Energy efficiency ratio: variable frequency drive, power consumption optimization;
Control system: whether it has PLC automatic control, linking upstream and downstream processes.
In addition, when purchasing equipment, you should focus on the manufacturer’s comprehensive service capabilities such as technical service capabilities, installation and commissioning support, spare parts supply, and after-sales response speed.
The decanter centrifuge is no longer a symbol of traditional “rough separation”, but an indispensable core equipment in intelligent, modular and automated food factories. It not only optimizes the process flow through rapid separation, efficient recycling and clean slag discharge of materials, but also brings substantial improvements in food safety, environmental protection and production efficiency.
As the food industry develops in the direction of green, sustainable and intelligent, the decanter centrifuge will show broad application prospects in more subdivided fields. In the future, it will be deeply integrated with new technologies such as sensor technology, data analysis, and artificial intelligence, and become a “separation engine” to promote the high-quality development of the food industry.
