Potatoes chips, fries, nuggets, instant noodles are among staple food produced through frying technology. Submerging the cuts in hot oil creates crispy textures and preserve these products for future, tasty consumption.

Crumbs from the product and seasoning are often accumulated in the fryer and become carbonised soils. Although in-line oil filtration system does help to slow down the built-up, it is not eliminating the problem.

Carbonised soils adhered on heating coils will reduce the heat transfer efficiency between coils & frying oil, resulting in longer heat-up time & higher energy consumption. There are many research & study reports on heat transfer efficiency versus scales thickness, conducted by different researchers & institutions. Although the study focuses on scales formed from water sources, but the message here is that scales as minimum as 1 millimetre thick can lead to 30 percent energy usage increase!

If the lowered productivity & higher energy saving are not alarming enough, consider this: the build ups on the fryer hood and ceiling are hydrocarbons that are highly flammable. It ignites easily and burns rapidly in hot processing environment like those of fryer. Processing plants lose thousands of dollars in fire damage, getting replacements, and potential revenue.

Different processors would have different standards of cleanliness when it comes to fryer. However, many would agree on the fact that the unattended soil may fall during production and contaminate finish product with foreign material.

The cleaning of fryer usually comprised 2 methods, which are boil-out & manual cleaning. Typical plant with weekly fryer cleaning frequency in place, will take at least 2 hours for the boil-out to complete. Manual cleaning of the hood with smoke ducting will take about 1 hour depending on the soils accumulation and the expected results to achieve by producers. A massive semi-annual cleaning is a typical remedy to tackle accumulated soils.

There are ways to improve the cleaning process. Special pre-treatment cleaning program like Exelerate HS-I can help boost up carbonised soils removal during boil out process. It will create additional mechanical action by breaking and loosen the tough carbon layer from the surface faster and effectively compared to conventional boil-out program.

Assisting fryer surface cleaning, Ecolab presents a breakthrough program based on gel technology – Exelerate Tufsoil. It is a ready-to-use gel degreaser for hot surfaces that helps to minimise the need for manual scrubbing of heavy grease and burnt-on soils. The gel consistency supports its ability to cling and clean vertical surfaces like fryer hoods & corners, for up to 90 minutes without drying. This product can be applied without the need to pre-rinse the surface or waiting for it to cool down. It also contains fluorescent green dye to assist application & final rinsing process.