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Vacuum Pump Improves Lettuce Cooling Process

Switching from three oil-lubricated rotary vane vacuum pumps to one frequency-controlled screw vacuum pump, a lettuce grower eliminated maintenance issues and improved process time and energy consumption.

One Cobra Plus screw vacuum pump replaced three rotary vane vacuum pumps.
One Cobra Plus screw vacuum pump replaced three rotary vane vacuum pumps.

Serving discount stores and supermarket chains throughout Germany, Jörg Heekeren has grown his business, Heekeren GbR, to produce more than 10 million heads of iceberg lettuce each season, along with other lettuce varieties. To give that lettuce the longest possible shelf life without any loss of quality, he’s been relying on vacuum cooling for eight years, transferring the heads of lettuce to a vacuum chamber as soon as they are harvested.

The vacuum chamber has space for 11 pallets, which can be loaded up to almost 3 m high.The vacuum chamber has space for 11 pallets, which can be loaded up to almost 3 m high.It’s a common approach for vegetables and leafy greens, but Heekeren was having difficulties with his vacuum pumps. Given the size of the vacuum chamber—designed to hold 11 europallets stacked with lettuce crates to a height of almost 3 m—three parallel oil-lubricated rotary vane vacuum pumps were connected. The operating fluid oil in the pumps tended to cause issues, requiring the oil and filters to be changed regularly.

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