In this episode, we explore the various types of pouches used within the food industry. We then take a closer look at the process of pouch drying, highlighting some of the key techniques involved, as well as the challenges faced during this crucial stage.
An Introduction to Pouch Drying in Packaging
In the packaging industry, particularly within the food and beverage sectors, the use of flexible pouches has surged due to their consumer convenience and marketing potential. However, after the retorting (cooking) and sterilisation processes, residual moisture often remains on these pouches. This moisture can compromise packaging integrity and product safety, making effective pouch drying crucial.
The Role of Pouches in Modern Food Packaging
Marketing purposes,
- Due to improvements in technology, the printing of flexible pouches makes it easier for brands to stand out and get their brand messages across.
- Especially true of stand-up pouches (DOY Packs), Their vertical presence on the shelf gives the brand a distinct competitive edge.
- A greater surface area on pouches allows for useful information, such as nutrient & health benefits which are becoming Increasingly important in today’s world, as well as ingredient lists and cooking instructions.
Material Technology,
- The durability and reliability of the pouch material make it an ideal container for products that need to be cooked or sterilised after filling. This gives manufacturers confidence that there will be no spillage or wastage during the production process.
- Recent advancements in technology have made it easier for flexible pouches to be recycled and produced using recycled materials, such as RPET, supporting sustainability efforts.
Consumer convenience,
- Their shape and design make them easy to store and use at home with some pouch designs featuring resealable closures.
- They are easy to open, often featuring a predefined tear, allowing for effortless opening without the need for kitchen utensils.
- Many can be cooked directly in the packaging, offering a significant advantage over traditional metal cans for food products.
- Due to cooking & sterilisation process often have long lifespan.
What is Pouch Drying?
Pouch drying is a crucial step in the packaging process, after they have been retorted or sterilised involving a thermal process using steam, a lot of residual liquid remains on these pouches. Pouch drying is used as a method to remove excess moisture or liquid from the surfaces of pouches. This process is vital for a variety of industries, particularly in food and beverage and pharmaceuticals to allow for the next process to occur smoothly.
The Importance of Pouch Drying
- Operational Efficiency: Effective drying prevents water damage to secondary packaging, water left undried could spoil the cardboard packaging, impacting the brands quality and resulting wasted produce.
- Check weighing: An important quality process during production is checking the contents has the correct weight post filling. Whilst this may happen before the retorting process, it often happens after. Wet packs can cause inaccurate weights or impact the check weighers efficiency.
- Health and safety: It’s essential to keep residual moisture contained within the wet environment and prevent it from entering the dry zones, as this can result in slip hazards and potential contamination.
- Enhanced Labelling: Especially in the pharmaceutical industry, dry surfaces are crucial for the proper adhesion of labels on flexible packaging. ensuring batch marking & manufacturing date labels are applied securely.
- Date coding: This will be dependent on the manufacturers process but if choosing to inkjet code after production then it will be vitally important to have dry packaging, and clear printing of codes. Moisture can cause ink to blur, leading to branding and traceability issues.
Challenges in Pouch Drying
Several challenges come with drying flexible pouches, especially when dealing with the unique designs and high-speed production lines typical in modern packaging.
- Complex Designs: Modern pouches come in various configurations, such as stand-up pouches (DOY packs), gusseted, spouted, and lay-flat designs. Each of these presents unique drying challenges, particularly in areas like gussets, where moisture can accumulate. As standard dimensions are becoming more common, there is still a massive variety of packaging options, which can make it challenging to create a “one-size-fits-all” design.
- Coverage of All Surfaces: Unlike in other container drying operations like bottles & cans, usually with pouch drying all surfaces need to be dried at the same time. Therefore, careful consideration is made to the design to ensure this is possible, like how Secomak’s pouch dryer has targeted gusset drying.
- Pack Weights: Unlike other forms of packaging, flexible pouches can be very light. The most economical and effective way of drying containers is with high pressure air. Therefore, the lighter packs can be dislodged, especially when drying the bases of the packs. This is particularly true of high speed & more automated production lines, it can be process critical to ensure that packs exit a pouch dryer in the same orientation that they have entered.
- Production Speeds: High-speed production lines require drying solutions that can keep pace without compromising efficiency. This calls for drying equipment that can handle large volumes of pouches quickly and effectively.
- Hygiene Standards: In food and pharmaceutical applications, drying equipment must adhere to stringent hygiene standards to prevent contamination. Residual moisture can foster bacterial growth. Additionally, it is crucial that the design of a pouch dryer prevents the packs from splitting during the drying process, as this could result in mess and wasted product.
- Manual Processes: Many food production lines still rely on hand-operated processes, such as loading and unloading retorts. The complex shapes of flexible packages make automating these tasks expensive, often requiring robotic arms. Therefore, it’s essential to ensure that the pouch dryer design is ergonomically optimised for manual handling.
Innovations in Pouch Drying Solutions
To address these challenges, specialised pouch drying systems have been developed. For example, The Secomak in-house designed Pouch Dryer is engineered to effectively remove surface moisture from all types of flexible pouches. Including those with complex features such as gussets and spouts, through targeted drying. It is also suitable for lighter pouches and is integrated with a built-in hold-down conveyor, ensuring smooth alignment with your process as products don’t become displaced.
Why Choose Secomak’s Pouch Dryers?
Secomak provide reliable, efficient, and high-performance pouch drying solutions. Our pouch dryer is designed to meet the demanding needs of various industries, offering advanced technology to ensure uniform drying, minimal energy consumption, and consistent performance. Our pouch dryers feature advanced blower-driven technology, eliminating the need for expensive compressed air systems.
Designed with user-friendly interactions in mind, offering an ergonomic build and safety features, including automatic shutoff when the doors are opened. Secomak’s engineers prioritised hygiene and contamination control when designing the pouch dryer, incorporating a drip tray to prevent health and safety concerns within the factory.
Conclusion
Pouch drying is an essential part of the packaging process that ensures product quality and hygiene & safety standards. By investing in purpose developed pouch drying technology, manufacturers can improve production efficiency, product safety, and ensure their products are delivered in the best possible condition.
Secomak’s pouch dryers offer reliable, energy-efficient, and precise drying solutions, helping businesses optimise their packaging process. If you’re looking to improve your packaging operations with high-performance pouch drying equipment, Secomak has the solutions you need.
Contact us today to learn more about how our pouch dryers can benefit your business.
In the next episode, we’ll take an in-depth look at the Secomak pouch dryer and explore how it effectively addresses many of the challenges we’ve discussed.
