Challenge

A leading honey processing and bottling plant in south England, produces an estimated 135 tons of honey per day, was looking for a filtration process to remove bee particles, beeswax, and any other contaminates.

Raw honey is imported from around the world in solid form. To transform the solid ingredient into a pouring consistency the honey is heated to 65° C (149° F). Once the honey reaches this temperature it is transferred to filters. Due to the dense mixture of pouring honey, it requires two bar (29 psi) of pressure for filtration while Manuka honey needs eight bar (116 psi), creating diverse pressure requirements.

Solution

The Kadant UK team recommended Hi-Flo filters with three cascading mesh particle sizes to capture all the contaminates.

Results

Honey is pushed through a 1000-micron mesh that filters out the bee’s wax and larger contamination particles before moving through a 250- micron mesh. The third filter is made up of a 100-micron that eliminates any bee particles such as wings or legs.

This efficient and thorough filtration system provides a contamination-free, low-risk product suitable for human consumption.