PROCESSING
Beware the brazil nut effect The production and packing of sweets and snacks presents new challenges to machines and their constructors as market demands increase. In particular, the processing of nuts and cereals for sweets and snacks is treading new paths in the handling of these sensitive, free-flowing materials.
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ver 300 companies will be presenting techniques and solutions for the sweets and snacks industry at the ProSweets Cologne 2016 international supplier fair. From 31 January to 3 February 2016, ProSweets Cologne will offer comprehensive information and a direct line to suppliers of techniques, machinery and technology. The path taken by a cereal flake during the production of muesli shouldn’t be underestimated, and sweet and snack manufacturers have plenty of tales to tell. The flow behaviour and transport characteristics of nuts, pistachios, chocolate crispies or dried fruit are very difficult to predict in advance. Elaborate test series of varying degrees nearly always precede the implementation of mixers, driers or other systems for handling the free-flowing goods. Mixtures that include particles of differing sizes, weight and densities prove to be particularly tricky. Some of the physical phenomenon can actually be observed at the breakfast table. If one pours muesli out of a packet, the big nuts always land on top. The reason: while pouring, hollow spaces form under the larger particles. Smaller particles flow into these hollows and thus move further and further down in the mixture. The phenomenon that is referred to as the ‘brazil nut effect’ causes technologists considerable headaches because the prerequisite for sweets of high quality is the exact adherence to the recipes. 22
January/February 2016
Segregation-free on the way to becoming a muesli bar They are a first choice for between-meal hunger: sweet bars filled with cereals and pieces of fruit. Often the granular ingredients have to be carefully heated during the mixing process so that the liquid chocolate can flow into the spaces between the granular ingredients when the chocolate coating is finally applied. Hence, there is the optimal mixer for almost every application. Volumetric plate metering devices ensure the exact supply of cereals, dried fruit and nuts in the Conbar bar manufacturing systems of Sollich. It not only enables rectangular-shaped products to be produced, but also bars with different crosssections. The SnackFix by Hosokawa-Bepex is an easy way for manufacturers to get started in the automatic bar production sector, with a system for the production of fruit bars consisting of just two components. The cereals are continually mixed with the binding agent in the processing unit. After the mixing process, the mass is moulded into an endless carpet by two calibrating rollers and cut into the desired product width.
A coat for crunchy granules Crisps lend chocolate and bakery products a crunchy effect and produce interesting colour effects in ice-cream. However, the crunchy granules obtain their characteristic properties after
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