Freeze Concentration Technology on Show at ANUGA Food-Tec
GEA will be presenting its new GEA Messo PT IceCon® freeze concentration technology at ANUGA Food-Tec in Cologne from 24-27 March, 2015. IceCon® reduces the cost of freeze concentration by up to 40 per cent opening up new markets across the globe. The reduced cost makes freeze concentration technology a realistic proposition for many beverage manufacturers allowing them to provide high-quality concentrates to the beverage market for the first time.
Many beverage manufacturers need to concentrate their products for economic transportation or better processing. IceCon® converts part of the water of aqueous solutions into pure ice crystals. Complete separation of these ice crystals without any product or aroma losses results in specific removal of water at very low processing temperatures. The result is unprecedented product quality.
Although freeze concentration has always been recognised as achieving the best result, with virtually no change in product taste when reconstituted, the cost of the process has put many beverage producers off in favour of other concentration technologies. For example, evaporation is less expensive but does have a noticeable detrimental effect on taste due to the application of heat. By reducing the cost of freeze concentration, GEA has made the technology much more accessible to a wide variety of producers.
The reduction in cost of the GEA Messo PT technology has been achieved by simplifying its design and significantly reducing the number of moving parts in the equipment. This has a positive effect on the sale price and operational costs. Besides the lower price tag and lower energy consumption figures it also reduces ongoing maintenance costs and enhances the reliability. The merits of the freeze concentration process, however, remain unchanged creating high-quality concentrates for premium (intermediate) products, in markets such as for dairy, beer, wine, fruit juice, coffee and cider.
“The lower price tag puts freeze technology into the hands of companies that found it attractive in the past, but could not justify the capital expenditure,” said Xavier Hollander from GEA. “Freeze concentration produces a superior product compared with other traditional concentration technologies.”
GEA sales and technical staff will be on hand to answer visitors’ questions and discuss specific applications at ANUGA Food-Tec: Hall 09.1; Stand A080/E089. GEA Messo PT will also be presenting a seminar on 25 March (12:00 – 12:30 p.m.) as part of ANUGA’s Speaker Corner entitled ‘Taste explosion for dairy products, low temperature processing with IceCon®’. Although the presentation will focus specifically on dairy applications, IceCon® can be used effectively for a wide range of aqueous food products.
