These particulates are readily removable in the same way other UFs are removed. Of particular interest is our experience with cross-contamination of products, leading to major quality control issues.
Jones and coworkers (2) are especially concerned about chronic exposure to ultrafine particles such as oil droplets and metals. They point out that chronic leakage of UFs into the air can lead to occupant exposure to health risks.
Food and Flavor
The manager of a food and flavor company called us with an interesting problem. A batch of mint was to be processed. The mint odors were everywhere in the plant, contaminating other products, and rendering other flavors such as chocolate, cherry, and vanilla off-spec, even though the mint processing was moved 300 feet away from the other flavor processing units. Placement of a free-standing bioreactor in the corner of the area removed all the mint powder dust and odor, solving the cross-contamination problem with the other products and taking care of quality control issues.
Below a bioreactor scrubs the air around a mint powder processing unit at a food and flavor company, solving quality control issues caused by cross-contamination of products.
| Bioreactor Unit | Chromium (g) | Nickel (g) | Iron (g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large 3 | 0.6375 | 0.2805 | 440.64 |
| Large 4 | 0.1530 | 0.0765 | 25.25 |
| Large 5 | 1.0710 | 0.7905 | 267.75 |
| Medium 6 | 0.2040 | 0.1496 | 31.82 |
| Medium 7 | 0.1224 | 0.0544 | 31.01 |
| Total metallic particles captured | 2.7234 | 1.6295 | 884.44 |
