Research project identifies cost saving opportunities for cooling trim in red meat processing
The Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC) is running a research project to help red meat processors find efficiencies and cost savings in how they cool trim.
Trim is pieces of meat remaining after steaks, roasts, and other primal cuts are removed through ‘boning’. Beef trimmings are very often used to make ground beef.
Trim needs to be cooled down quickly to two degrees Celsius before it goes to chillers in a processing plant. It would normally start at 10 degrees Celsius after the boning process.
Some processing plants across Australia use direct contact gases to cool down their trim, mainly in the form of food grade liquid CO2 (which makes dry ice) and food grade nitrogen (through nitrogen pipes/tunnels).
AMPC Program Manager Matthew Deegan said, “The cost of food-grade liquid CO2 and nitrogen has been increasing rapidly and there has historically been supply chain issues. There is a need for plants using these gases for rapid cooling of trim to be more efficient. Improved efficiency will help reduce the consumption of these gases, thereby reducing costs and fugitive emissions in the case of dry ice.
“This project is looking at efficiencies where processing plants can use less of the gas for the same amount of trim, which in turn means less costs. By using less gases there is a secondary benefit of less emissions entering the environment.”
AMPC has been working with several processing plants across Australia so far to evaluate their current plant operations using direct contact gas for cooling of trim. The evaluations looked at current trim management systems. Each of these processing plants received a summary report on how they can improve efficiencies in the short, medium and long term which they can action.
Some examples of short-term efficiencies include pipe re-design and pipe insulation, lagging of equipment (insulation to keep the system cold), and a novel sub-cooling process for liquid CO2 to maximise dry ice production. High-efficiency dry ice pellet production (through flash gas recycling) was also analysed. The relevant solutions differ for different processing plants based on individual needs.
New technology, and long-term cost savings it can provide, is also a key element of this research program. The technology being analysed is innovative mechanical direct cooling systems. Where feasible, processing plants can install a direct contact tube plate cooling system which can pump and cool trim without using any gases.
Matt said, “Testing of this new technology will form a key part of the program. We have completed the initial evaluation of the lifetime cost of this technology and found that using this new tech compared with direct contact gas cooling may be up to 73 per cent cheaper than liquid CO2 and 22-40 percent cheaper than nitrogen over the first 15 years of plant operation.
“Short-term efficiency solutions mentioned above could rapidly contribute to about 20 per cent in cost savings for CO2 systems. For those plants that could use pellets, high-efficiency dry ice pellet production could save processors 52 per cent.”
During site visits to each processing plant as part of this project, other research projects were identified such as how to effectively chill offal. And AMPC has already begun a separate research project on rapid cooling methods for offal.
For more information contact m.deegan@ampc.com.au