Airborne contaminants come in all shapes and sizes, from fluffy flakes of dust to microscopic spoilage bacteria. Keeping these threats off of your production line is a top priority in any food production facility, whether you’re bottling, baking, fermenting, frying, or packaging food products of any variety. When it comes to air purification in your food production facility, there’s the minimum standard of filtration, and then there’s a technology that provides true protection and peace of mind. Discover what makes photocatalytic oxidation, or PCO, the air purification of choice for brewers, bakers, processors, and packers who want to reduce losses and risk from spoilage bacteria and much more.
An air filter is similar to any other kind of filter. Whether it’s a basic carbon filter or a true HEPA filter, airborne particles enter the filter, and – depending on the size – they are caught and disposed of later when the filter is replaced. The difference between this and PCO, is that when an unwanted organic molecule enters the chamber of a PCO air purifier, it is destabilized and destroyed – not caught for disposal.
Where air filtration catches organic particles, PCO deactivates them. That means that irritants like pollen, or more serious airborne biological threats like spoilage bacteria and infectious viruses are eliminated or made harmless. Our own air purifiers, the Airocide family of air sanitation units, use proprietary lamps and a TiO2 catalyst bed to initiate the reaction in a sealed chamber inside the unit. When unwanted particles enter the chamber, they react with the active catalyst and are reduced to trace elements of carbon dioxide and water vapor.
These two air purification methods are not mutually exclusive. Where air filtration can mitigate particulate like dust via your HVAC system, a PCO air purifier can deactivate organic particles small enough to pass through the filter, and those that are carried into the air in the room by workers. Some Airocide PCO air purifiers even have integrated particulate filters to keep the sealed reaction chamber inside working in top order. This eliminates the need to replace the reactor catalyst or open the unit for dusting. Even better, Airocide units produce no harmful emissions; no ozone, no peroxides, only pure air circulates out of your purifier.
One of the biggest benefits of PCO is also volume – we can configure a system that will keep the air in your food production spaces clean, no matter the size. Reduce the threats of spoilage and contamination, and provide peace of mind to consumers and employees – from production, to storage, to transportation, to your offices and more. That’s the benefit of PCO in food production. To learn more about PCO, and to get a free quote for your facility, reach out to our air purification experts today and discover Airocide.
