SaniRibs® - Maximum hygiene and supreme performance
Decanter centrifuges featuring Alfa Laval’s new SaniRibs® transportation aid offer a unique combination of excellent hygiene and outstanding separation performance. Intended for separation tasks in the food industry, the SaniRibs design eliminates crevices under traditional spot-welded transportation aids and minimizes the risk of bacterial growth.
- Fast and easy cleaning – long production runs and minimal discolouration of your product
- 100% sanitary design ensuring maximum food safety
- Your existing Alfa Laval units can be upgraded with a new decanter bowl featuring SaniRibs®
Focus on food safety
Listen to Kenn Honore Jepsen, Service Product Portfolio Manager at Alfa Laval and Bent Madsen, Application & Process Development Manager describing the benefits of SaniRibs in food decanters.
Fully sanitary design without crevices
Many decanters are equipped with transportation aids that facilitate the movement of solids through the decanter. The standard solution is to spot-weld axially running metal ribs to the inside surface of the decanter bowl.
The downside of this solution is that there is a risk for bacterial growth in the crevices between the ribs and the bowl. To eliminate this risk, a design using grooves instead of ribs was developed. These bowls are however harder to clean and separation performance is lower.
Seal-welded ribs
The new SaniRibs transportation aid from Alfa Laval combines the high performance and easy cleaning of the spot-welded ribs with the hygiene of the grooves design. The solution is to seal-weld the ribs to the inside surface of the bowl, thereby eliminating any crevices.
With SaniRibs you get a very cleanable decanter centrifuge with the highest separation performance.
How it works
Efficient handling of the solids fraction is a key part of the performance of a decanter centrifuge. Inefficient transport of solids reduces capacity and effectiveness of separation.
The scroll conveyor moves the solids through the decanter bowl to the outlet. If the inner surface is completely smooth, the solids have a tendency to rotate with the conveyor rather than move forward as it is being pushed. For many applications it is therefore important to increase friction at the bowl surface to facilitate the scrolling action.
The traditional way of doing this is to install thin ribs that run axially on the inside of the bowl. As solids build up between these ribs, a static layer of solids is formed on the inside surface of the bowl. This layer increases friction and prevents the solids from sliding sideways when the screw conveyor pushes the solids forward. It also helps protect the inside surface against erosion.
The ribs have traditionally been spot welded to the inside of the bowl, which has created crevices between the ribs and the bowl surface that are hard to clean properly.
The new SaniRibs design features ribs that are seal welded to the surface, thereby eliminating the crevices and any risk of bacterial growth.
Upgrade your decanter with a SaniRibs decanter bowl
The SaniRibs technology is available on all new food decanter centrifuges from Alfa Laval. You can also upgrade your existing Alfa Laval unit with a new decanter bowl featuring SaniRibs transportation aids, for faster and easier cleaning, higher capacity or increased solids content in drymatter. If your decanter has a smooth-surface or grooved decanter bowl, an upgrade can significantly boost separation performance and or capacity.
