At the 20th edition of SupplySide WEST in Las Vegas (NV, USA), Glatt Ingenieurtechnik and its American service centre, Glatt Air Techniques, will showcase innovative fluidized bed and spouted bed technologies to agglomerate, spray granulate, coat and dry various ingredients.
As a manufacturer with proprietary technology and one of the world’s leading suppliers of integrated plant systems, Glatt helps to develop and test solutions for demanding and complex food applications.
For food producers and nutritional supplement manufacturers, working with ingredients — such as those that require precise technical targets, including defined shape, solubility, homogeneity, particle size or the functional protection of active ingredients — can be demanding.
Glatt will present innovative processes for products that are supposed to feature particular properties and show solutions for solving technological challenges during production. Fluidized bed and spouted bed technologies are excellent approved methods to spray granulate liquids, to agglomerate powders and to encapsulate sensitive substances.
Both technologies are based on the principle of fluidizing particles using upward-flowing process air. Depending on the application requirements, the selection and combination of the right process parameters is important: how fast, if at all, should the product dissolve? When should the flavour or active ingredient be released? What role does bulk density play in terms of application, handling, storage and packaging, and how stable do the particles need to be?
Visitors to the technology expert’s booth will be able to delve into a virtual world; Augmented Reality presentations will offer a unique insight into the process chambers of large-scale facilities. Glatt’s fluidized bed technologies enable manufacturers to optimise product properties.
As such, powdered drink formulations comprising semi-hydrophobic components or agglomerated baby foods can be produced that do not separate and offer both excellent solubility and homogenous particle distribution properties. Nutritional supplements such as probiotics, vitamins and other ingredients can also be covered with functional film coatings (polymers, starch derivatives, lecithin or gelatin) that provide better active ingredient release profiles. Spray granulation helps to dry liquid food additives and precisely adjust their particle size.
Glatt Air Techniques (GAT) is Glatt's service centre for North America. For prospective American customers who are interested in innovative technologies to functionalise granules and pellets, GAT represents the link to the German competence centre. Furthermore, GAT provides support for special local tasks during project realisation.
As a leading supplier of integrated plant systems, Glatt provides extensive consulting and offers laboratory units and pilot plants for early stage trials and testing. Lab units are available both at the company’s technology centre in Weimar, Germany, as well as for use in the client’s own laboratories. Besides planning, construction and the implementation of tailor-made production plants, Glatt provides comprehensive engineering services as well as entire turnkey solutions. Glatt designs, develops and delivers plants not only for the food, feed and fine chemicals sector, but also for the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industries.
Volker Budzinski, Sales Manager, Process Technology Food, Feed & Fine Chemicals, commented: 'Our clients approach us with many different questions and requirements. Together, we develop the most appropriate technological strategy. Primarily, we are solution providers. We develop and optimise processes for various application issues — and also design the appropriate individual plant or even entire production lines that are ready to use. We accompany our clients from initial start-up to conclusion. As an alternative, we also provide contract manufacturing services.'
