High Recovery and Hygiene for Green Bean / Snap Bean Processing Lines
Air cleaners, cluster busters, snippers, UBRs, various slicers, blanchers, primary packaging, retorts, case packing and palletizing robotics, and more.
Several of our engineers came from Hughes equipment, and know how all about green bean / snap bean processing.
Weather you want snipped for fresh, whole or cut for frozen, French-cut for canned beans or anything in-between, we custom design a complete processing and packing line for your specific needs.
Here are just a few of the options we have to automate your line, increase your capacity, or improve your product hygiene. Let’s talk about your needs.
General Line
Industrial green bean processing typically involves several stages, including sorting, cleaning, blanching, and packaging. Here is a general overview of the process:
- Infeed: Raw product goes through pre-cleaning stages, such as through an air cleaner and/or cluster buster.
- Cleaning: The green beans (or snap beans) are then washed thoroughly to remove any dirt or debris. This is typically done using a flume, jet or bubble washer.
- Sorting: The green beans are first sorted to remove any damaged or discolored beans. This is typically done using an optical sorter. Some plants have optical sorters after several process steps.
- Cutting: Some processors split all or partial loads into cross-head, french or other cutters for that cut.
- Blanching: For canned beans. The green beans are blanched in boiling water or steam for a short period of time (usually 1-3 minutes) to deactivate enzymes and reduce microbial activity. This helps to preserve the quality and shelf life of the beans.
- Cooling: Also for canned beans. The blanched green beans are then cooled quickly using cold water or air to stop the cooking process.
- IQF Tunnel: For frozen product, fed into a tunnel freezer to freeze and help mitigate block freezing.
- Packaging: The cooled green beans are then packaged into bags, cans, or other containers, often with the addition of salt, vinegar, or other preservatives to enhance flavor and extend shelf life.
- Quality control: Throughout the processing stages, quality control checks are performed to ensure that the green beans meet the required standards for appearance, texture, flavor, and safety.
There are many ways to process beans, and we work with you to determine the right process steps, equipment and line design for your unique output needs.
Dump the entire truck into the system – for high volume lines.
1 of 13Meter and spread out incoming product.
2 of 13Option to first wash incoming product. Some may put an air cleaner or cluster buster ahead of this stage.
3 of 13Remove excess water before next stages.
4 of 13Break apart beans and stems with minimal damage to the usable beans.
5 of 13Using air flow, blow out leaves and other light debris prior to additional steps. Some put these earlier in the process.
6 of 13Using air flow, blow out leaves and other light debris prior to additional steps. Some put these earlier in the process.
7 of 13Remove brown or other discolored beans prior to additional stages.
8 of 13Additional wash stage option prior to snipping.
9 of 13Mechanically remove the ends of the beans while mitigating cuts into usable product.
10 of 13Mechanically remove the ends of the beans while mitigating cuts into usable product.
11 of 13Automatically collect beans that needs to be snipped a second time, and send back into line. Multiple cutting head types.
12 of 13Size grade individual beans to be used as per your recipe.
13 of 13Enhancement Options
From scanning to robotics, we have enhancements that will further automate and optimize your line. Often, the paybacks are faster than you may think.
Scanning
Systems
- Grade and Score Product
- Reduce Contamination
- Increase Utilization
- Robotic Options
Robotic
Upgrades
- Orientation & Product Loading
- Malformed Product Sorting
- Tray Packing
- Case Packing
- Palletizing
Control
Systems
- Robust Architecture
- Centralized
- Connected
- Sensors
- List Item
Engineering
We design your line in-house, with our dedicated engineering department.
PROEX FOOD engineers will perfect the design of your line to make sure your product is handled gently and hygienically, giving you the highest utilization and yield prices. We will ensure your operation delivers high-quality product with high levels of throughput.
When you are ready to incorporate robotics, sensors and digital tracking into your line, our team knows how to integrate for you.
Common Equipment
Here are some of the more common pieces that may be included on your green bean line. This is just a small sample, as most lines are unique. Don’t worry, our final solution will include the right mix of equipment and technology. We will find it for you.
Once we understand your needs, capacities, budgets and timelines, we are ready to propose your optimized solution.
Our equipment and lines are designed to be hygienic and easy to access for maintenance needs. We also have solutions for traceability and other sensor-driven capabilities.
