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Production Technology for Fruit, Preserves, Jams and Other Canned Products Containing Sugar

Food industry, , , ,

The modern food industry produces a wide range of products made from fruits and berries such as preserves and jam, jelly and marmalade, and grated and crushed berries.  At the heart of all this diversity are preservative properties of high concentrations of sugar.  When the amount of sugar is between 60 to 65%, sugar syrup creates a high osmotic pressure, whereby the microorganisms get dehydrated and perish. If the final product contains more than 65% of solids, it can be stored for a long time without pasteurization. However, on an industrial scale only fruit paste is produced without pasteurization because during storage of preserve, jam, and other products with sugar syrup, moisture can accumulate in the upper layer, thereby reducing sugar concentration and allowing for fermentation.

Fruit preserves. Fruit preserves have the most sophisticated production technology. This product consists of sugar syrup and a fruit/berry that has retained its shape during boiling. To obtain high-quality preserves you need to heat fruits/berries  repeatedly and continuously, so that you could save the marketable condition of the fruits/berries. Herewith, the kind and maturity degree of fruits/berries are of great importance. If fruits or berries have not reached maturity – fruit preserves can become  gelatinous due to the high content of protopectin, and overripe fruits or berries will simply fall apart while cooking.

Briefly, the technological process of cooking fruit preserves is as follows:  after preparing (sorting, removing the stalks, seeds, and other) raw materials are blanched in hot water for a few minutes to soften the pulp and increase permeability. If fruits and berries have been conditioned with sulfur (sulfurizing) to improve their storage capabilities, then they are to be pre-desulfurized by boiling.

Syrup is prepared from sugar (sometimes adding 15% of molasses to reduce the risk of crystallization of the product). If sulfurized raw material is used – sugar is added into the solution, remained after desulfurization,  that has been passed through a filter.

Traditionally, fruit preserves are prepared in special cooking boilers equipped with a steam jacket for heating the raw material, and a paddle stirrer. Since fruits and berries are put into syrup with a high sugar concentration, diffusion of water from fruits into syrup goes faster than the reverse diffusion of syrup. This can lead to, if the cooking conditions are violated, berries become wrinkled, hard and start to floating. Preliminary blanching, pricking or rolling partially weaken the peeling and mutual diffusion of water and syrup goes more evenly. Multiple boiling with intermediate cooling (from 10 to 24 hours) improves soaking of the raw material with syrup because, while cooling, the reduced pressure starts to build up inside fruits and therefore syrup penetrates the peeling much better. The duration of one boiling varies from 10 to 15 minutes, and the total boiling time should not exceed 30 minutes.

It is much more effectively and quicker to cook fruit preserves in a vacuum apparatus. In fact, such an apparatus is the same cooking boiler with steam heating and a paddle stirrer, but in addition to that it is equipped with a seal cap and a vacuum pump. Feedstock is cooked in a vacuum unit under the reduced pressure for 10-15 minutes, and then is cooled under the increased pressure for 10 minutes. Straight after that, the pressure is reduced again and boiling continues for the second time.

During the process of cooking fruit preserves the solids content in syrup is continuously monitored. The weight of solids in the finished product (after sugar completely diffuses into fruits) should be in the range of 68-70% (including the weight of fruits and berries at 40-55%).

There is an increased demand on the market for gelatinous products made from processed fruits and berries, such as jam and jelly. Requirements for the raw material for their preparation are higher than for preserves. Ideally, fruits and berries should contain more than 1% of pectin and at least 1% of organic acids. If there is not enough pectin in the raw material, then it is added as a dry powder or jellifying juices out of gooseberry, quince, or apple.

Jam is prepared in a cooking boiler or a vacuum unit, equipped with a paddle stirrer. The preparation technology provides for a single cooking with boiling until the concentration of solids reaches to 69-73%. Prepared fruits or berries are loaded into the machine, fill with water or a mild (10%) sugar syrup and blanch until the raw material gets soft. Then a concentrated sugar syrup or sugar is added and the cooking process continues until ready. Jellifying juice is added into the vessel 15-20 minutes before the end of boiling. In order to prevent jam from becoming crystallized during storage, it is added with the citric acid or 15% of sugar in syrup is substituted with molasses.

Jelly differs from jam by a more dense consistency and the presence of small pieces of fruits. For its preparation vessels are used with the capacity of not more than 150 liters. During the process of cooking, when the concentration of solids is about 55%, pectin is introduced into the feedstock and the process continues until the concentration of solids in syrup reaches about 60%. Boiling is done pretty fast (up to half an hour), due to which the product better preserves the vitamins, flavor and the aroma of fruits. Citric or tartaric acid is added into the vessel a couple of minutes before the end of cooking, bringing the concentration of acid in jam up to 0.8-1.3%.

Fruit paste is produced by boiling the pre-prepared puree with sugar in a cooking boiler or a vacuum unit equipped with a paddle stirrer. Fruit paste has a jelly-like consistency and a sour taste, which is due to the addition of pectin and citric acid (tartaric acid) into puree. If fruit paste is prepared from a sulfited feedstock, then puree has to be pre-boiled without sugar until the solids concentration gets to 15%, whereupon you add sugar in the amount determined by the recipe and continue boiling  till the product is ready. If the initial puree has a thick consistency, it is boiled with half amount of sugar till the solids concentration is 45%, and then you add the remaining sugar and proceed until the product is ready. If liquid puree is used as a raw material, then puree and the whole amount of sugar are poured into the cooking vessel simultaneously. The cooking time of fruit paste should not exceed 50 minutes. Exceedance of this limit will impair the quality of the final product.

If a vacuum apparatus is used, puree with sugar is warmed up at atmospheric pressure for a few minutes, then cook at the reduced pressure until done. If the raw material requires desulfurization, it is first pre-conditioned in open apparatuses, then sugar is dissolved and the substance is brought to boiling, after which boiling continues under the reduced pressure until ready.

At the end of the jam cooking process the pressure in the vacuum unit is increased to the atmospheric for a short period of time, and the temperature is brought to 1000С.

The quality of the finished products equally depends on the quality of raw materials and equipment being used. The GlobeCore food containers are made of high-quality stainless steel and equipped with reliable paddle mixers. Small containers with a capacity of 100-300 kg per cycle are intended for the production on a small or medium scale, or testing recipes at large enterprises. For a large production available cooking vessels with a capacity up to 5000 kg/cycle. The GlobeCore equipment stands out for its high efficiency, small technological losses of raw materials, small time spent on cleaning the vessels, and a low energy consumption.

Modified bitumen emulsions and production equipment

Road construction industry,

Bitumen is a unique blend of hydrocarbons and their derivatives that are widely used in construction, from residential and industrial structures to highways and runways.  While bitumen can be replaced with materials of similar composition, replacing it with something of similar cost is virtually impossible.  Bitumen has been used in construction for centuries.  During this time, due to its excellent binding abilities, builders have come to greatly appreciate bitumen’s qualities.  These qualities are defined by the crude oil used to make bitumen and the method and quality of the oil refining process.

Modern petrochemical industry professionals attempt to maximize the yield of light oil products and extract most of the paraffin-naphthenic fractions from the bitumen.  This reduces its flexibility at low temperatures and reduces the softening point at high temperatures.  Most modern bitumen will lose elasticity at approximately twenty degrees (20oC) and begin to soften at between +45oC to 48oС.  The use of non-modified bitumen therefore, in both road construction, which requires a binder with a temperature range from -40oC to +70oC, and for roofing materials, which are often subjected to temperatures up to 90oC, is not efficient.  Fortunately, there are ways to change and improve the properties of bitumen by mixing it with various additives.  This is best achieved in special bitumen modification units such as the GlobeCore UVB bitumen modification system.

The least expensive method of improving bitumen’s useful temperature range is to add a large amount (15% or more) of mineral filler such as chalk or talc.  The result is a very thick product mostly used as a mastic.

It is far more popular to modify bitumen using byproducts of other processes, such as rubber pellets from used tire processing or rubber resin ataxic foam propylene.  Unfortunately, the technology of mixing such filler with bitumen requires temperatures above 180oC.  Such high temperatures will disintegrate the structure of the rubber resin and oxidize the bitumen.  The result is a modified bitumen with a high softening point, but with low ductility, elasticity and high brittleness at low temperatures.  This makes it difficult to use in road construction.  The alternative to high heat is to introduce more components (swelling accelerators, plasticizers, and adhesives), thus significantly increasing the cost of the modified bitumen.

A better solution is found in a separate group of modifiers known as polymer additives.  They include ethyl vinyl acetate and its graft copolymers, as well as high and low pressure polyethylene.  These additives are more convenient to use than mineral ones.  They significantly increase the useful temperature range especially at the high side of the range without increasing the brittleness characteristics of the bitumen.

Polymer modified bitumen has been used with great success as a sealant or mastic in roof construction and waterproofing, but its use in road construction is limited by to temperatures above -15oC which reduces it use warm seasons and very mild winters.

The most widely used bitumen modifiers today are the so called “styrene rubbers” such as styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS).  These additives improve the elasticity of bitumen at all temperatures and provide high ductility.  The “Brittle Point” drops to -24oС, making bitumen modified with SBS and SEBS useful in road construction and repair even during cold winter months.

Introduction of small amounts of other additives, such as polymeric petroleum resins, improves surfactant properties of modified bitumen for the production of excellent primers, mastics, and gluing compounds.  The use of polymeric petroleum resins as a primary modifier increases hardness of bitumen and its softening point.

If you are in the market for bitumen modification equipment, we recommend that you contact GlobeCore’s specialists.  The GlobeCore UVB units incorporate versatile assemblies for preparation of various types of modified bitumen.  The units include two reactors with vane agitators, colloid mills, heaters and precise portioning systems for both bitumen and modifiers. These bitumen modification units produce excellent bitumen products based on any modifier and additive, thereby giving your products a wide and stable market.

GlobeCore Makes Equipment Presentations in Bulgaria

News,

A number of presentations of GlobeCore products were made to representatives of the Bulgarian road construction industry from 18 to 24 October 2015.

The events were held in Sofia, Plovdiv, Ruse, Blagoyevgrad and other important Bulgarian cities.  GlobeCore representatives provided the attendees information on both the company and on the products such as bitumen emulsion production unit UVB-1, polymer bitumen modification units UVB-2 and bitumen laboratory equipment.

The high interest of Bulgarian industry professionals in GlobeCore products is not accidental.  First of all, the demand for bitumen emulsion and modified bitumen in Bulgaria is growing constantly.  Second, a bitumen modification plant, made by GlobeCore, has been in operation in Varna since 2009.

The presentations were attended by technical specialists as well as managers of road construction companies.  After concluding the formal presentations, the participants had an opportunity to get full answers to the questions that had been raised during the presentation made by GlobeCore’s Design Engineer.

Here at GlobeCore, we would like to thank our Bulgarian colleagues for their interest and warm welcome. We are confident that these meetings will transform into fruitful cooperation in the future.

GlоbeCоre Begins to Manufacture New Equipment for Peanut Butter Production

News, ,

In the first quarter of this year, GlоbeCоre announced the start of the production of new lines for peanut butter preparation.

More than 4 million tons of peanut butter are produced in the world annually because of its high demand in the cooking and baking industries, cosmetology, confectionary and pharmaceutical industries.  The xport and consumption of this product however, differs considerably in different countries due to the peculiarities of the different production techniques used in each country.  For example, even a slight temperature deviation from the set value during the nut meat processing can lead to the loss of valuable raw materials.  Shortcomings of the preliminary preparation process can lead to the bitterness of the finished product.

Not all businesses have equipment that can meet all the production requirements needed in order to produce a high quality and a cost competitive  peanut butter.  With this in mind, GlоbeCоre has developed a new line for the production of peanut and other pourable food products.  This new equipment line includes units for raw material grinding (colloid mill), powder drying (drying cabinet), metering and blending with additional components (blending machines).  These lines are fully automated and energy efficient.  They provide for high quality peanut butter production in accordance with the original formula.

In today’s competitive food market, a colloid mill is the most effective device for grinding and preparation of dispersed systems.  It can simultaneously disperse, homogenize and grind the source material down to the size of five (5) micron particles.

The blending system operates according to the principle of hydrodynamic impact that causes a cavitation effect to achieve the desired results.  The main advantage of such equipment is the possibility to blend in one pass up to 5 liquid additives as well as the peanut powder.  The final product possesses stable taste qualities, is transportable and can be stored.

Colloid Mills for Water Bitumen Emulsion Production

Colloid Mill, Road construction industry,
CLM-4.1-colloid mill GlobeCore

Water-bitumen emulsion is highly appreciated by building and road construction companies.  This is due to  its ease and safety of use  in comparison with the mixtures based on solvents of and from petroleum products such as kerosene.  As a rule, water-bitumen emulsion is obtained by blending liquid bitumen with water  and special emulsifiers and acids.

Having years of experience in designing and building blending machines and bitumen emulsion units, GlоbeCоre is one of the most reliable manufacturers of modern equipment for production of water-bitumen emulsions anywhere in the wolrd today.

A colloid mill is considered to be the heart of any bitumen emulsion production equipment where bitumen is grinded into  small droplets and is then evenly distributed in water.  In the past, manufacturers of equipment used blending equipment such as dispergators and ultrasonic homogenise that perform the wet grinding of the dispersed  phase of bitumen production.

GlоbeCоre Colloid mills for wet grinding can produce highly-stable dispersed systems from two or more  mutually insoluble  substances.  Bitumen emulsion units (depending on the desired size of bitumen droplets) use three groups of colloid mills.

The first group of colloid mills provides 90% of droplets with a size of less than 5 microns (a minimum size of a droplet of 1-2 micron).  They are used  to manufacture polymer-modified emulsions, bitumen emulsions for surface treatment ( “chip seal”), recycling, soil stabilization, grouting, tack coating and similar technological processes.

The second group of colloid mills provides 90% of droplets at the outlet with the size of less than 10 microns (a minimum size of a droplet of 4-5 micron).  The areas of its application include: simple slurry mixtures, surface treatment, tack coting, recycling, and grouting.

The third group of colloid mills produces bitumen emulsions with a minimal size of a droplet of more than 5 microns (no more than 10% of droplets are larger than 10 microns).  Such bitumen emulsions are used  for surface treatment, tack coating and grouting.

Since colloid mills are mostly mounted in line with continuous blending units, components are supplied directly to the unit.  As a rule, the water phase is prepared in advance to withstand the required temperature, PH level and emulsifier metering.  Then the water phase and warmed-up bitumen are supplied to the input of the colloid mill to be  dispersed.  If necessary, the viscosity of bitumen is reduced by injecting  flux  to the feed line.

The ratio of components is maintained automatically by metering pumps in accordance with the program or by temperature control of the source components, by measuring the temperature of bitumen emulsion at the outlet (as a rule it is 85-94°С)  and  the subsequent flow adjustment.

If required (depending on the formula), the colloid mill may be supplied with latex that allows for modified bitumen emulsion production.  At the outlet of a colloid mill, there is a three-way valve that provides recycling of water solution of emulsifier, mill flushing or discharge of the finished bitumen emulsion product.

GlobeCore‘s continuous bitumen emulsion equipment has a wide range of benefits that include; (1) a rapid change of the type of emulsion produced; (2) no impact of reagents on the staff; and (3) low operating costs.

Homogenizer vs Colloid Mill

Colloid Mill,

Chemical, food, construction and many other industries cannot do without the preparation of different suspensions, emulsions and colloid solutions.  They include lubricating oil emulsions, fuel emulsions, polymer modified bitumen as well as a wide range of food fat emulsions.  Additionally, many kinds of gels, creams, and pastes are included in this list, so the list is virtually endless.

To obtain high quality homogeneous multi-component mixtures and colloid solutions, the production facilities use special blending units that consist of a dispenser.  The dispenser is used for superfine grinding of solid and liquid components.  If the  production method requires a grinding down of the liquid fraction and evenly distributing it in a liquid basis, (dispersed  medium) or requires preparing the suspension with a small amount of a solid phase, they routinely use a homogenizer.

The emulsion’s segregation  resistance  must be determined, first of all, by the  size of the dispersed phase.  For example, in a stable water-fat emulsion, the droplet size should be no more than 5 microns which can be produced by a modern centrifugal (rotary) homogenizer.  A rotary homogenizer is used  to reduce the droplet size of the emulsion to between 1 and 2 microns, also known as the so called secondary homogenization.

Many years ago, valve homogenizers were widely used and accepted as standard within industry.  Now the preference is given  to  the centrifugal (rotary) homogenizers due to the following benefits:

(1) Reduction of the processed materials down to 1 micron; (2) compact size of the equipment; (3) low power consumption; (4) simple design; and (5) high degree of reliability.

Depending on the model, the homogenozer’s rotor speed varies from 2,000 to 18,000 rpm.  The intensive vortexing and micro cavitation processes ensure the homogenization and stability of the mixture.  If the technological process or recipe requires the production of a suspension with a large content of a solid phase (up to 40%) or a high stable emulsion, or a fine suspension, then solid and liquid  substances are mixed in a colloid mill (dispergator).

A colloid mill allows not only for the intensive blending of particles and droplets in a suspension or thick emulsion, but also for grinding solid fractions of the suspension (emulsion droplets) down to the size of between 1 and 2 microns producing high-quality suspensions and emulsions.

In terms of design, colloid mills resemble rotary (centrifugal) homogenizers.  The wet method is the basis for the grinding of solids in a colloid mill.  The main working body of a colloid mill, as well as a homogenizer, is constituted by a pair of drives.  One of the drives serves as a stator and another as a rotor.

The linear velocity of the rotating drive surface can work up 125 m/s.  This high speed provides the intensive turbulent processes in the intradiscal space that contributes to the effective grinding of the dispersed phase.  It ensures even distribution in the processed and dispersed medium.

The practice has shown that modern twenty first century colloid mills  can provide the highest degree of dispersion and emulsification that meets the  requirements of the majority of industrial technological processes.

GlobeCore: Modern Brand Name Colloid Mills

Colloid Mill,
CLM-4.1-colloid mill GlobeCore

GlobeCore is a leading  manufacturer of high quality equipment used for regeneration, restoration and production of bitumen emulsions and all possible polymer-modified industrial liquids.  GlobeCore equipment has enjoyed  sustained demand in more than seventy countries around the world.

Annually, GlobeCore produces several hundred units for emulsifying, dispersion, wet grinding and blending of solid and liquid substances.  Each blending line or a separate machine delivered to a customer, is tested before leaving the factory.

A wide range of units and machines are designed and produced by GlobeCore.  The line includes machines for fuel blending, vortex layer machines, units for transformer oil regeneration with Fuller’s earth reactivation, bitumen-emulsion equipment, and machines for  fuel decoloration and  blending.

One of the undeniable benefits of GlobeCore equipment is that it is customer-oriented and is manufactured to meet the needs of the customer.

A colloid mill for wet grinding and a homogenizer are considered to be very important units of industrial blending machines that are produced by GlobeCore.  The volume and the quality of colloidal solutions, emulsions and suspensions depend on the  technical specifications  and performance  of colloid mills and homogenizers.  GlоbeCоre engineers do a great job to improve this small, but an important industrial unit.

With the help of modern software, engineers  make the hydraulic calculations and design the working surfaces of a rotor and a stator, the two essential parts found in modern colloid mills (homogenizer).

Due to modern metal-working machinery and based on a high tech digital software, each part of the colloid mill corresponds to the drawings with all tolerances and fitted pieces that were provided by the designer.

If the design of a working chamber of a colloid mill requires lathe work  with the need for subsequent milling of the blades, CNC mills are applied.  Robotic plasma cutting machines provide the accuracy and the purity of the surfaces that are made of sheet metal  A laser guded welding center  ensures  high-quality welded joints.

Generally, the use of the modern  metal processing  equipment  along with the high quality staff allows GlobeCore not only to hold the position as a leading industrial manufacturer of equipment in the hi-tech market, but also garners attention and respect from its customers.

Colloid Mill for Chemical Industry: Paint Production

Chemical Industry, ,

Paint is a binder or a paste, dispersed in a dispersed medium.  The production of paints and varnishes includes the following stages:

1. raw material purchasing;

2. raw material processing;

(a) pre-mixing;

(b) dispersion – blending of particles to the desired consistency of the product;

(c) letdown stage; and

3. Packing.

The most complex and energy consuming stage of paint production is the blending of components and pigment dispersion in film forming agents and their solvents.

GlobeCore has developed an advanced technology that provides for grinding and dispersion, realized in the KLM colloid mill.  This unit is designed for processing and homogenizing of suspensions, emulsions and paste-like materials.  The desired degree of fineness is provided by an adjustable gap between the mill rotor and the stator.

The production of paints and varnishes with the help of colloid mills allows you to:

  • get a high degree of product homogeneity; and
  • to ensure effective production.

The required degree of the pigment’s fineness is achieved not only by high angular velocity and small gaps, but also by the friction force.  The irregular surface of a rotor and a stator creates increased turbulence which breaks downthe particles of a product.

Bitumen Emulsion Production Units

Road construction industry,

As a rule, bitumen emulsion is made by colloid mills, but many industries apply other units that allow for dispersion.  In colloid mills, the mixture of hot bitumen and water phase are passed between a rotor in full motion and a stationary stator.  There are special claws and slots on the surface of the rotor and stator that provide for turbulent flow.  There may be batch and continuous bitumen emulsion units.

Batch units require two production stages to be performed:  (1) water-phase preparation; and (2)  production of bitumen emulsion phase.  The water phase is prepared in a special container with the metered components added.  The resulting solution should be thoroughly blended.  At the next stage, the bitumen and previously prepared water phase are supplied to the colloid mill.  Precise metering of components is essential to obtain a high-quality bitumen emulsion.  Production units with semi-automated and automated controls help to reduce the possibility  of operator errors.

The continuous production process includes such procedures as water heating and the in-line metering of components provided by metering pumps for each component.  This production process doesn’t require batch containers.  The water-phase feeding system may be adjusted to ensure sufficient time for the chemical additives to react.  They are neutralized and dissolved untl the water-phase is mixed with the bitumen.  The continuous production process requires special flow meters for metering all necessary components except for the acids.  The acid is added based on the rate of acidity measured in the water-phase.  Additionally, modifiers such as latex and SBS-polymers may be also applied.  The unit should be equipped with a special block device since latex is very sensitive to external influences that may cause its break-up and the subsequent clogging of pumps and pipelines.

If SBS-polymers are used, the emulsion is let out at a temperature higher than the boiling point of water (100C/212F.  The product therefore, should be produced at excessive pressure and must be sufficiently cooled down before it is supplied to the storage tank.

Modified Bitumen Production Units

Road construction industry,

UMB-6

The application of polymers makes original bitumen available for application under unfavourable climatic conditions and heavy loads.  Often, the so-called SBS-polymers (styrene-butadiene-styrene) are used for bitumen modification.  By its nature, they are caoutchouc (rubber).  Interacting with bitumen, SBS-polymers increase their flexibility, elasticity and strength.   Such polymers reduce the binder’s sensitivity to extreme temperatures and allows for significant improvement of its performance characteristics compared with unmodified bitumen.

The compatibility of bitumen and polymers is essential to obtain a high-quality final product.  In such a case, the polymer is able to absorb oil components of the binder, preserving the network structure.  Due to the modification process, bitumen is turned into an elastomer that possesses better elasticity.

Practice shows that modification of bitumen improves its performance characteristics between 10 and 20 times.  It is desirable to use special equipment to reach such results.

GlobeCore units designated as UVB-2 produce the modified bitumen necessary to make asphalt-concrete layers,  treat road surfaces, make sealing mastics and create roofing materials.

GlobeCore technology produces bitumen with highly desired physicochemical performance characteristics that fully comply with the rules and regulations of the road construction industry.