Full steam ahead

Numerous decisions must be made to get the best results. Several technologies could be considered. Two common technologies that use steam in food processing are steam injection and steam infusion, but what are the differences between them?

WHAT IS STEAM INJECTION?

Typical steam injection units are compact, inexpensive and simple to use. Steam injection is a direct contact heating process that passes steam through liquid to be cooked.

Steam is injected through a mesh or with a multiple nozzle arrangement that creates a dispersal mechanism so steam can pass through the fluid more effectively. Occasionally the design also incorporates spiral vanes, which mix the fluid while injecting steam.

WHAT IS STEAM INFUSION?

This is also a direct contact heating process, but with steam infusion the core operating principle is controllable disruption.

This enables standardised batch cooking repeatedly. The disruption process creates a negative pressure condition to aid thermal and kinetic energy transfer to the fluid. As the steam passes into the mixing chamber, it disrupts the fluid flow and breaks it into droplets, known as the vapour phase. This vapour provides a significant surface area for the steam to condense into as the pressure rises, heating the fluid and producing a condensation shock-wave, generating a pumping effect, reaching a rate of up to 50 000l/hr on water, and allowing steam infusion to heat, mix and pump with just one unit.