Swiss Hoegger highlights unique separation equipment at Potato Expo Las Vegas

The Swiss Food Processing Equipment Company Hoegger is showing its latest implementation of their (potato) separating technology at the Potato Expo 2016 in Las Vegas.

The Potato Expo - the largest potato conference and trade show in North America - starts today in The Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and lasts till Thursday, January 14.

The new separator developed by Hoegger ensures better quality and yield when separating hard/soft Matters of boiled potatoes and vegetables. In addition, the new technology results in low operating costs, easy cleaning and automatic process control.

Successful application fields include:

• Potato mash
• Sweet potato mash
• Potato speciality products
• Potato flake production
• Apple puree
• Chestnut puree

For more than 30 years, Hoegger has been supplying primarily the potato industry with separators for gentle separating and puree processing. These are used to produce fresh potato puree from whole potatoes. In addition, it is possible to produce specialities such as croquettes, Duchess potatoes, Pommes Noisette from by-products of French-fried potato production.

A level monitoring system ensures that the hopper is not overfilled and that the machine switches off when there is not enough product. The speed-controlled screw conveyor moves the product very gently towards the wing pump which, based on the low rotational speed, moves the product to the separating unit with controlled pressure.

The machine has a PLC control system, and an operating panel is available to program its operation to the exact recipe required. All relevant operating data are displayed on the panel and can be exchanged via Ethernet with data from the operating control system. As an option, it is possible to provide a control system for the remote servicing of the separator.

When installed in fully automatic production lines, the separator is equipped with the necessary monitoring devices and interfaces.

Cost effectiveness of the process

The process is very cost effective owing to the high quality of the end product, an improved yield, low operating costs and, if applicable, the automation of the system.

The quality of the end product results from the even puree processing and the gentle and precise separation process. The improved yield is due to the good separation, the precise control and the resulting consistency over long production cycles.

The operating costs are comparatively low because there are few wear parts and the machine

Applications

The new PS2000 is very suitable for the puree and separating process during the production of fresh potato puree, potato specialties or potato flakes. In addition, there are successful applications for sweet potatoes, processing fruits and vegetables.

• Producing sweet potato mash from pieces of fully cooked sweet potatoes

• Making Applesauce or puree from other fruits or vegetables