Heat treatment of foodstuff
AssigneeJohnson Matthey PLC
InventorBernard E. Enga
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of heat treatment of foodstuff in which a stream of oxygen-containing gas and fuel is passed over one or more catalysts to raise the temperature of the gas stream and the resulting hot, gas stream is contacted with foodstuff in which a proportion of the total fuel may be injected initially and a further proportion or proportions of fuel is subsequently injected preceding passage of the gas and fuel stream over a catalyst and the gas and fuel stream may be passed over catalysts in parallel or in series or so that a portion is continually divided off from the main stream flowing to a main catalyst and passed over a subsidiary catalyst and returned to a point in the mainstream upstream of where it was divided off.
Claims9
A method for the heat treatment of a foodstuff using apparatus comprising a pilot burner or electrical heating element and a catalytic combustor composed of a catalyst supported on a temperature stable and oxidation resistant monolith coated with a refractory oxide layer which comprises:
- (a) preheating an oxygen-containing gas stream by means of said pilot burner or electrical heating element;
- (b) combining a second oxygen-containing gas stream with the preheated oxygen-containing gas stream in a mixing zone;
- (c) injecting fuel into the mixture of gas streams combined at (b);
- (d) passing the mixture of gas streams and injected fuel from (c) through the catalytic combustor such that catalytic combustion of the fuel is initiated;
- and
- (e) contacting the foodstuff with the gas stream resulting from (d).
A method for the heat treatment of foodstuff using apparatus comprising a pilot burner or electrical heating element and a catalytic combustor section including at least one catalytic combustor composed of a catalyst supported on a temperature stable and oxidation resistant monolith coated with a refractory oxide layer which comprises:
- (a) preheating an oxygen-containing gas stream by means of said pilot burner or electrical heating element;
- (b) combining a second oxygen-containing gas stream with the preheated oxygen-containing gas stream from (a) in a mixing zone;
- (c) subdividing the gas streams combined in (b) into gas portions which can be separately passed in parallel into said catalytic combustor section;
- (d) injecting fuel into one or more of said gas portions obtained by subdividing in (c);
- (e) injecting fuel into one or more of said gas portions obtained by subdividing in (c);
- (e) passing said portions of the subdivided stream and the injected fuel through one or more of said catalytic combustors in parallel such that catalytic combustion of the fuel is initiated;
- (f) recombining the portions of the subdivided stream in (e) in a second mixing zone;
- and
- (g) contacting the foodstuff with the recombined gas stream obtained in (f).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.