OREANDA-NEWS. September 27, 2012. GE (NYSE: GE) has introduced a line of environmentally friendly molybdate-free water treatment chemicals called FoodPro ST8069* and FoodPro ST8070* to prevent corrosion in sterilizers and pasteurizers used in the food and beverage industry. Due to the absence of the expensive raw material molybdate, these new FoodPro ST chemicals can be sold at a less expensive price, providing, on average, 30 percent more cost-effectiveness when calculated on the treatment costs for 1 mі water.

GE designed the FoodPro ST family for use under soft water conditions where corrosion of food packages and sterilizer equipment can lead to severe problems. It offers equal or better levels of corrosion and scale inhibition than current molybdate-based products tested by GE, which contain heavy metals such as molybdate or zinc.

Molybdate often is used as a corrosion inhibitor in the treatment of process water in closed systems or in sterilizers, but discharge regulations in a growing number of countries restrict its use. The new FoodPro ST products will enable users in the food and beverage industry to improve product quality and to protect sterilizer and pasteurizer equipment from corrosion even under soft water conditions, without the need for heavy metal-based corrosion inhibitors.

The new FoodPro ST products use a synergistic blend of organic corrosion inhibitors and phosphonates. The blend enables food and beverage industry customers to improve the cleanliness of cans, leading to less required manual cleaning of spoiled food packages and to fewer rejects from can corrosion. It reduces the need for repair and maintenance of sterilizer and pasteurizer equipment, helps users meet discharge limitations and reduces overall water treatment costs.

“Food and beverage companies are continually seeking ways to optimize their sterilizer and pasteurizer operations in order to minimize outages to achieve the highest levels of food safety and to ensure that productivity is not impacted by inadequate process treatments,” said Han Engelen, Europe marketing director—water and process technologies for GE Power & Water. “The new FoodPro ST products combine GE’s deep knowledge of industrial water treatment with the company’s experience in bringing advanced technologies to market to solve customers’ problems. In this case GE offers customers a solution, which is, simultaneously, more effective, less costly and more environmentally friendly than the other molybdate-based products tested by GE.”

FoodPro ST, a blend of organic corrosion inhibitors, phosphate, polymeric dispersants and wetting agent, is designed for use in food sterilization equipment. FoodPro ST provides effective control over corrosion and deposition on all the water-wetted sections of the production equipment while enhancing the finished product surface appearance. The proper treatment levels for FoodPro ST depend on many factors such as metallurgy, temperature, water chemistry and system needs. GE recommends use of the product in accordance with control parameters that GE establishes for a specific application.

As one of the largest infrastructure companies in the world, GE provides a comprehensive portfolio of energy and water solutions for the food and beverage industry. From clean energy and pure water to wastewater reuse and financing, GE’s solutions for the food and beverage industry can help its customers increase productivity while reducing production costs and environmental impact.