Clean, dry, and reliable compressed air is essential for Condimentum’s production facility that uses up-to-date technologies to process fresh, locally produced raw materials into food ingredients. The facility is one of only three worldwide that is capable of producing double superfine mustard flour, a key ingredient in Colman’s English Mustard.
Condimentum was created in 2018 through agreement with Unilever to replace its primary processing facilities in Norwich. Today, the company’s main customer is Unilever, which use the ingredients in its mustard paste and mint sauce. This continues a long local legacy, with some of the local growers having supplied Colman’s for over 100 years.
“The scope of the project was complex, requiring a new compressed air system, complete with the associated compressed air ring main as a complete turnkey solution,” says Steve Holman, HPC general manager. “We helped minimise overall plant noise levels, to create a better working environment, and have allowed for higher volumes of compressed air if required due to future expansion.”
The HPC compressed air system provides sustained delivery pressure to the factory processing equipment (7.5bar at plant room exit) and the compressed air management and control system intelligently selects compressors to avoid pressure dips on start-up. There is also remote access and control.
“The performance of the new HPC Kaeser compressed air system has exceeded our expectations,” says Graham Muff, Site Engineer at Condimentum.
HPC installed the latest HPC Kaeser ASK40 air cooled rotary screw compressor, each with a production capacity of 4.06m³/min or 143 cfm.
The units are interlinked via a communication cable and configured to work on a programmed duty/rotate cycle. The Sigma control system optimises energy efficiency, especially in partial load operation.
The installation also features HPC Kaeser refrigerant dryers to reduce the pressure dew point of the air to 3° C to remove any moisture and a 2,000 litre capacity galvanised steel vertical air receiver for compressed air storage. A point of use desiccant dryer further reduces the pressure dew point of the air to -40° C, a critical requirement for the system.