Air Liquide America, L.p.

American Air Liquide, Inc.

Robert W Conners

Richard A Sauer

Carol Ann Schnepper

Christine E Boisrobert

Miles S Bajcar

Tsz-Ching J Yuan

Michael Thaler

John-Luc Hubert

Per O Sundin

Systems and processes are described for sanitizing a food product with ozone gas. The ozone gas is generated using a low pressure, low volume ozone gas generator and is delivered to a fluid injector. The fluid injector receives high pressure carrier fluid from a carrier fluid source and causes the ozone to be entrained in a stream of carrier fluid. The entrainment is created by passing the carrier fluid through a venturi diffuser inside the injector which creates a negative pressure in the sanitizing fluid line, thus drawing the sanitizing fluid into the carrier fluid and creating a highly homogenized fluid jet. The fluid jet is then injected into a container which contains a food product to be sanitized by the ozone. The container may also be provided with a mixing paddle to vigorously mix the food product while the ozone/carrier fluid jet is injected into the food product, which further ensures that the food product is contacted with sanitizing ozone gas. The container can be sealed to be pressurized by the ozone/carrier fluid jet by selective opening and closing of a vent. The ozone/carrier fluid jet may also be selectively humidified before injection into the container.

Process and equipment for sanitizing and packaging food using ozone

The present invention relates to a continuous processing apparatus and method for cleaning articles with a liquified compressed gaseous solvent mixture. The continuous processing apparatus includes three processing chambers including an entrance chamber, a cleaning chamber, and an exit chamber. The chambers are provided with hatches which are opened and closed at appropriate times to allow the articles to be cleaned to pass into and out of the chambers. The entrance chamber is used for evacuation of the incoming articles to remove the majority of the air and moisture from the articles. After evacuation of the incoming articles, the entrance chamber is pressurized and the articles pass into the cleaning chamber. The cleaning chamber is maintained at a temperature and a pressure at which the liquified compressed gaseous solvent mixture is in a subcritical state and a liquid/gas interface exists between a liquid and a gas portion of the liquified compressed gaseous solvent mixture. The cleaned articles are then passed into a pressurized exit chamber where the liquified compressed gaseous solvent mixture remaining in the articles is evacuated before the cleaned articles are removed from the apparatus.

Continuous processing apparatus and method for cleaning articles with

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Western Springs, IL, United States of America

Robert W Conners