Horizontal Spray Egg Pasteurization for Thermal Uniformity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing batch water bath systems for pasteurizing shell eggs face challenges in maintaining uniform temperature, leading to potential overcooking and inconsistent quality, while also struggling to achieve the required 5-log reduction of Salmonella enteritidis without compromising egg quality.
Innovation Solution
A continuous feed, horizontal spray bath system where shell eggs are continuously fed onto a conveyor passing through a heated tunnel and sprayed with heated water, ensuring uniform thermal treatment and consistent quality without the need for batch processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If batch water bath systems are used to pasteurize shell eggs, then the eggs can be heated to achieve 5-log reduction of Salmonella enteritidis, but uniform temperature distribution is difficult to maintain leading to overcooking and inconsistent quality
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous spray bath system divides the heating process into multiple zones along the conveyor path, with each zone providing controlled thermal treatment. This segmentation allows precise control of heat application timing and distribution, eliminating the temperature uniformity problems of batch water baths while maintaining pasteurization effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies heat progressively along the conveyor path, with spray nozzles positioned to deliver thermal energy in a controlled sequence. This preliminary action approach ensures that eggs receive adequate heat for pasteurization before exiting the bath, while preventing overheating by controlling the timing and location of heat application.
2Reliability
If heated water bath temperature is increased to ensure 5-log reduction of Salmonella, then pasteurization is achieved, but egg quality deteriorates due to overcooking
Solution Approach 1:
The spray bath system applies heat locally and selectively to the egg surface through controlled spray nozzles, rather than submerging eggs in uniformly heated water. This local quality approach allows precise control of thermal energy delivery, ensuring sufficient heat for Salmonella reduction while preventing excessive heat that would degrade egg quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts water temperature and spray intensity parameters along the conveyor path to optimize pasteurization. By changing these parameters continuously rather than maintaining constant high temperature, the system achieves 5-log Salmonella reduction while minimizing thermal damage to egg quality.
3Manufacturing precision
If batch processing is used for shell egg pasteurization, then eggs can be treated uniformly, but productivity is limited by batch size and processing time
Solution Approach 1:
The spray bath system transitions from intermittent batch processing to continuous processing, with eggs moving through the thermal treatment zone continuously on the conveyor. This continuity maintains thermal treatment consistency through controlled spray application while dramatically increasing productivity by eliminating batch size limitations and reducing processing time.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves a reliable 5-log reduction of Salmonella enteritidis while maintaining the quality and functionality of the shell eggs, resembling and functioning similar to raw, unpasteurized eggs, with reduced risk of overcooking and improved thermal consistency.
Implementation Method 1
sprayed with heated water as they rotate
Implementation Method 2
heat the shell egg such that the entire egg including the center of the egg yolk warms
Data Source
AI summary
A continuous feed, shell egg pasteurization system and method uses sprayed heated water. The unpasteurized shell eggs are conveyed and rotated through a horizontal tunnel. An overlapping pattern of heated water is sprayed downward onto the rotating shells eggs. Verified testing shows that the shell eggs achieve a statistical 5 log reduction of Salmonella enteritidis that may have been present in the yolk in the respective unpasteurized shell egg, while at the same time are not overcooked and have little to no whitening of the albumen.