Rotary Shaft Seals Help Power the Protein Powder Industry
Business is booming in the protein powder industry. As of 2019, according to MarketsandMarkets™, the value of the protein supplements market worldwide was $49.82 billion. It’s expected to grow at an annual rate of 6% through 2025. That’s a lot of protein powder. Manufacturers of the protein supplements will need to gear up to accommodate the growth. Why is this industry so important these days? For a number of reasons, mainly because people:
- Prefer healthy diet and nutritional food, filled with amino acids, minerals, vital proteins, and dietary fiber (present in a variety of proteins)
- Prevent exposure to gluten, lactose, and other types of allergens
- Substitute meat with dairy, egg, and whey protein for cardiovascular health
- Want superior personal care and healthcare products – with enhanced ingredients for hair and skin
What manufacturing industries are affected?
- Healthcare foods, feed and sports beverages
- Pharmaceuticals
- Cosmetics & personal care
Manufacturing in those industries uses process equipment such as mixers, blenders, agitators, dryers, and boilers to extrude, separate, concentrate, evaporate, and dry the final product. Along the way, manufacturers should keep a few important considerations in mind:
- How to make processing as efficient and productive as possible
- How to make sure high product safety standards are in place and working
Maintaining and increasing high production levels while ensuring product safety isn’t just about bigger and better processing machinery. In fact, one of the keys to success might be held by a relatively small player that’s often overlooked—until, of course, it quits working. That unheralded team member is the seal—in particular, the rotary shaft seal or radial shaft seal—that keeps the product where it belongs and protects it from contamination.
Why rotary shaft seals?
Making premier protein powder is another type of food processing. In this case, proteins contain many amino acids. So it requires that raw materials move through a system that separates out the target material. Moving the material calls for a variety of conveyors whose construction includes a turning shaft. That shaft must be sealed to prevent product from leaking out and contaminants from leaking in.
Over the years, many industrial seals and radial shaft sealing methods have been used, but each comes with major setbacks, such as damage to the shaft, inability to hold under high pressure and the need for frequent maintenance and replacement. Because of these weaknesses, these seals often allow leakage of product and contaminants, something that just can’t happen in protein powder processing.
Innovative products like split rotary shaft seals from CinchSeal have eliminated these shortcomings.
The benefits of CinchSeal rotary split seals for shafts
It’s worth repeating that a priority in any kind of food processing, including protein powder production, is safety. And safety is closely tied to shaft seal design and performance. CinchSeal rotary seals offer a number of advantages:
Certification
Stringent regulations in the food processing technology, including the protein powder processing environments, protect consumers and encourage safe working conditions. CinchSeal split rotary shaft seals are designed to perform. That’s the reason they carry United States Department of Agriculture certification for poultry and dairy.
Excellent contamination prevention
Our custom radial seals feature:
- An FDA-approved silicon elastomer that both stops material from leaking and moves with the shaft to prevent friction damage, reducing maintenance and replacement costs
- Rotor cups that compress with optimum load against stationary faces to seal potential leak paths, adding another layer of protection
- Air or nitrogen purging resulting in higher pressure inside the seal than outside the seal, in effect forming air-purged shaft seals that ensure optimum performance under high pressure
- Large shaft/seal interface surface to reduce the possibility of contamination and leakage
Easy, cost-effective installation and maintenance
To keep costs down, CinchSeal rotary shaft seals offer:
- Split internal parts that make repairs possible without unbolting the housing
- Repair kits that renew the seal with just a new elastomer and two new rotor cups or stator plates, depending on the model
- Simple radial shaft seal installation that doesn’t require outside expertise
As equipment upgrades and new installations become necessary to keep up with growth, companies in the protein powder industry would do well to note that:
- Safety is the priority in powder processing because, not only do safety failures endanger human health, but they also can be financially devastating
- Shaft seals are critical in preventing leakage and contamination, even though they might not be top of mind
- All rotary shaft seal types, like the ones CinchSeal makes, are proven to outperform their counterparts in every area
For over 25 years, CinchSeal has been a leading rotary shaft seal manufacturer for screw conveyors, ribbon blenders, and all kinds of bulk-handling equipment. CinchSeal products serve as replacements and major upgrades that make the need for machine replacement less likely.
More information on our industrial sealing solutions is available by contacting CinchSeal. Quotes and drawings for protein powder seals are guaranteed to be available in 24 hours. Custom engineering usually takes 10 days.
