Airgas, an Air Liquide company, showcased novel methods to reduce food waste, avoid food recalls and add sustainability elements to operational, transport and waste management processes at IPPE 2020.

Food manufacturers looking to enhance competitiveness and attractiveness are adopting more efficient and sustainable methods to meet rising consumer demand. Customers can learn about ways to control waste as well as the carbon intensity of their food production process: 

• Dairy or hog farm manure can be upgraded from biogas to biomethane - available to circularly use onsite or to sell to energy providers - using Air Liquide’s proprietary and customizable biogas conversion solution. 
• Wastewater generated on-site can be treated with CO₂ instead of hazardous acids. 
• Airgas will also share new ways to prevent feed from combusting due to extreme heat – an emerging issue given longer heatwaves – and deter costly and dangerous grain silo fires. 
• Airgas local safety specialists and Total Access Telesales associates can collaborate with customers to reduce disposable usage and convert to more sustainable safety products.

Freezing and packaging techniques from Airgas can be adopted to prevent spoilage, enhance food safety and reduce waste: 

• Modified atmosphere packaging using Airgas’ self-calibrating tri-gas-mixing panel can easily connect to bulk or MicroBulk tanks for agility to adjust mixes, as well as record and report detailed gas mix accuracy. This process helps improve the quality of food, prevent spoilage and reduce food waste. 
• Adopting stainless steel lined dry ice bins can aid in quality control initiatives. 
• Freezing with liquid nitrogen reduces moisture loss associated with mechanical freezing, increasing product yield with no additional ingredients or inputs.

New transportation and delivery formats will help Airgas customers solve efficiency challenges:

• Chilling meat to transport for further processing or to end customers using Airgas’ novel box chiller with dry ice (CO₂) not only reduces water consumption but eliminates contaminated water disposal as the CO₂ sublimates leaving no wastewater at the bottom of the chilling box or in the floor of the truck or cold storage.

Bill Baker, Vice President - Airgas Business Development, Service Markets and Safety, commented: “Customers can look to Airgas not only for our breadth and depth of food industry products and expertise but for emerging innovations and solutions that can help transform and optimize operations. Working together, we can make modest enhancements with significant operational impact and find more sustainable ways to operate.”

For more information visit www.airgas.com.