The term cold smoke house refers to cold smoking plants where products are smoked at low temperatures in alternating smoking and fresh-air phases. The word “cold” refers to the ambient climate inside the smoking chamber.
Cold smoking is a very gentle smoking process. Due to low temperatures of 16 to 26°C resulting in strong dehydration, smoked products are preserved for a long time while retain their fine flavors and aromas. During cold smoking, smoking and fresh air phases alternate. During the smoking phase, the smoking material, e.g. wood chippings, sawdust or squared timber, is layered inside the smoke generator and brought to smolder using embers. This results in a strong development of smoke, which rises and comes into contact with the food. Depending on the product, a smoking phase can last from a few hours up to several weeks.
Afterwards follows the so-called fresh air phase. During this phase, fresh air is transferred inside the smoking chamber. The ambient temperature during this phase has to be similar to the temperature during the smoking phase in order to maintain the quality of the smoked products. The fresh air phase is important, because it allows for fine smoking aromas and tender consistency to develop. This process is repeated until the desired result is achieved.
Alternating between smoking and fresh air phase places special demands on exhaust air purification systems. At the end of each smoking phase, the smoking chambers simultaneously emit large quantities of heavily contaminated exhaust air into the exhaust air purification system. Conventional methods like thermal oxidation require large amounts of fossil fuels in order to reach the temperatures needed to remove odors and impurities from the exhaust air stream. This results is an increased carbon footprint and a negative life cycle assessment.
A more energy- and therefore cost-efficient alternative are high-performance exhaust air filtration systems KMA AAIRMAXX® by KMA Umwelttechnik. The filtration system can be adapted or retrofitted to the specific conditions of the exhaust air purification in smoke houses. The combination of electrostatic precipitator and gas scrubber separates aerosols such as fats, tar or oil mist as well as odors, gases and vapors. The KMA AAIRMAXX® combines cost efficiency with eco-efficiency offering industrial smoke houses great potential to reduce costs and to minimize the carbon footprint.