Pickling plants
Portioning plants play a pivotal role in the food industry by ensuring accurate and consistent serving sizes. These advanced machines employ precision and automation to divide various food products, such as meats, fruits, and vegetables, into predetermined portions. This not only enhances food safety and quality control but also boosts efficiency, reduces waste, and meets consumer demand for convenience in packaged foods.
A pickling plant is an industrial facility built around the chemical process of pickling — the removal of surface impurities from metal parts such as steel or iron using an acidic solution. The acid strips scale and contamination from the metal surface so that the part is left clean and ready for whatever follows it.
Five sets of equipment define the installation. Acid storage tanks hold the pickling acid, typically a solution of hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. Acid circulation systems pump that solution through a series of pipes and nozzles so it is distributed evenly over the metal parts being pickled. Pickling tanks hold the acid bath itself and are made of plastic or lined with acid-resistant materials to prevent corrosion of the tank. Rinse tanks wash the parts with water to remove any remaining acid and prevent further corrosion. Fume scrubbers capture and treat the fumes released by the pickling process so they do not become an environmental contamination problem.
The process runs in a fixed sequence. The metal parts are first cleaned and degreased to remove surface contaminants. The pickling solution is then prepared by diluting solid acids — hydrochloric or sulfuric — with water to the desired strength. Parts are immersed in the solution for a period ranging from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the type and thickness of the metal. After immersion they are rinsed with water to remove residual acid and neutralised with sodium bicarbonate or another alkaline substance so corrosion does not continue. Finally, the spent pickling solution, which carries both acids and dissolved metal impurities, is treated before disposal to prevent environmental contamination.