Gericke Case Studies
• Gentle Size Reduction of Granola Base & Other Oat Based Products • Gentle De-agglomeration of Packaged Fruit Products • Reclamation of Powders/Granulates used for Food Coatings
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Gentle Size Reduction of Granola Base & Other Oat Based Products
Due to the nature of the low speed, high torque action of the Gericke Nibbler, it proved to be the ideal solution for a common manufacturing process in the food industry. In this day and age of focusing on individual health, protein bars, granola bars and healthy cereals have become commonplace on the shelves of supermarkets across the world.
Combine this with the food industry’s focus on manufacturing aspects such as reduced cost, reduced waste and a desire to use every last drop of the ingredients, the challenge was to provide a suitable component for their process that would help them achieve their goal.
After extensive on site testing with one of our rental machines, it was determined that the N450x800 Nibbler fitted with a serrated screen was the perfect choice. During this testing period, the client noticed the versatility of the Nibbler and introduced two more of their products to test on the machine, as suspected these tests were also successful with different screen aperture sizes to provide the necessary particle size distribution (PSD). Not only was the PSD ideal, but the individual components of the product were not damaged. The Nibbler was designed with special inlet and outlet hoppers to suit the required design parameters, and supplied to the client with its own integral support frame.
The client integrated the unit into their system and the manufacturer was up and running with their process. The main product of granola/oat base is first baked in a continuous sheet and then distributed on to a wide conveyor belt. This flat base is first broken down with a finger breaker to produce manageable sizes and subsequently dropped onto a cleated belt. The cleated belt takes the product and introduces it to the Nibbler inlet where it is further size reduced. This product is then taken up to the second level where a screener separates the fines from the main sized product – the fines are re-introduced at the front end of the process (no waste product) and actual product is sent to the next step in the process, be it cereal or health bars.
Gentle De-agglomeration of Packaged Fruit Products
In many food plants, if the common ingredients for their end product are not grown or available locally, the only choice is to import them from abroad. In the case of dried fruit, such as raisins and cranberries, these are usually packaged and shipped in 25 or 50lb plastic bags inside cardboard boxes. This method of packaging creates its own set of challenges for the manufacturer before incorporating the fruit into their process. Fortunately, PTI was able to assist in overcoming these challenges and was able to supply a solution that was suitable and easily incorporated into the existing system.
During shipment, products such as raisins and cranberries tend to agglomerate or stick together in clumps. The challenge was to de-agglomerate these clumps so that the individual pieces of fruit are teased apart with no damage to the pieces themselves.
Initial trials were performed at the Powder Technologies test plant in NJ, and after various runs with the different products, a screen for our Nibbler was chosen with a suitably sized aperture. Due to the low speed/high torque of the Nibbler, and with the rotating blades set well back from the screen, the machine did what was asked of it. Both products were discharged from the outlet of the machine with no damage and were in their individual pieces.
If it is practical, we always recommend further trials with our machine on site at our client’s facility so that tests are performed under actual operating conditions. This provides our clients with added assurance that the machine will do as we promise, along with our own test results. In this case, on site trials were feasible and were carried out. As usual, our client was impressed with the Nibbler and confirmed our test results with very successful tests at the manufacturing facility.
Subsequently, an N300x450 Nibbler was chosen, inlet and outlet hoppers were designed to allow incorporation into the process stream and the client was up and running making food products we all enjoy.
Reclamation of Powders/Granulates used for Food Coatings
The use of every last drop of ingredient that goes into manufacturing a product has become increasingly important over the last decade. A conscientious manufacturing facility can reduce costs in many ways by focusing on this aspect, as it affects the cost of waste removal, additional machinery for this function and obviously the cost of the ingredient itself. This also falls into line with “green” approaches to manufacturing. This was the challenge that presented itself to us when approached by several of our clients, all of whom had different end products but the same issue.
All the products that were provided to us were coated with a fine powder or granulate. This process usually involves the product being conveyed on a chain link conveyor underneath some form of coater or sprinkler for the coating material. Some of the material sticks to the outside of the product as desired, but the balance of the material falls past the product and though the conveyor. In all instances, this material was collected in waste containers and disposed of because there would be contaminants from of the actual product from the manufacturing process that could also be present in this container. If this material was re-used in this form it would block the coater heads.
Although this collected material had contaminants of the product in, the majority of it was still usable, so disposing of it appeared to be wasteful. The main piece of equipment proposed was our Gericke range of Centrifugal Sifters. The coating material was collected under the chain conveyor and conveyed up to our Sifter using a vacuum conveyor. The material was introduced into the Sifter where the good coating material was separated from the contaminants – the coating material exited the “fines” outlet, and the contaminants exited the “overs” outlet.
The coating material was then recycled back to the dispenser/sprinkler to be used again, while the very small amount of oversized product was disposed of. The final result was reduced waste, reduced disposal costs and happy customers.