Users continue to up the ante when seeking industrial-scale fryers. “We’re being asked for added flexibility in product styles and for lines to run longer hours,” said David Moline, sales and marketing manager, Moline Machinery, LLC.
The extended runtime now expected led the company to design its Libra fryers with continuous sediment removal and continuous oil filtration. “Oil filtration isn’t something you can retrofit into an existing fryer,” he explained. “You have to design the kettle and the oil filter as a set; they must be a matched, married pair.”
Keeping frying oil clean requires removing sediments from the cooking zone. Bits of flour, drips of batter or broken shards of vegetables slices caramelize quickly, and these burnt particles show up as black specs on finished goods. They also break down frying oils by promoting formation of free fatty acids. These compounds result in off-flavors and rancid odors.
“The demand is to run fryers for weeks at a time, and that affects cooking oil,” Mr. Moline explained. “You need to remove all particulates done to one micron or less. Donut fryers turn over their oil fairly quickly, but you still need to remove particulates to ensure best quality results.” The company’s dynamic filtering system provides a live bottom sweep conveyor to continually pull sediment forward toward the kettle’s sump basin. Sediment waste and used frying oil are run through a continuous filtration system, with clean oil routed back to the fryer.
Heat and Control fryers are available with the company’s Fryer Support Module to reduce installation time up to 80%. It incorporates oil filters, heat exchanger, main circulation pump, piping and control valves, pre-assembled for ease of installation. The modules are available in many configurations to suit the special requirements of customers’ unique processing needs including oil coolers and oil holding tanks in addition to the standard filters, pump and heat exchangers provided.
As befits the brave new world of food safety, cleanability and sanitation figure strongly in the design of today’s fryers. “A lot of manufacturers are looking for processes or technologies that simplify the cleaning process,” said Arnaud Jansse, applications engineer, Florigo Industry, a TNA company. Florigo uses hygienic design that reduces splash zones. Its newest fryer is fitted with an internal clean-in-place system with hidden pipes in the hood.
For bakers and snack manufacturers wanting to satisfy consumer desires for healthier snacks and fried pastries, there has been positive change in the flexibility, control and oil management of frying equipment. But finding the right fryer still means matching output capabilities with product type while optimizing food safety and sanitary design.
