Pumping chocolate at low temperatures

Did you know that on average every UK person eats more than 11 kg chocolate per year!

In most cases, a chocolate filler is required in order to produce chocolate. This filler can, for example, consist of chocolate, vegetable fats, nut paste and flavouring.

Before the chocolate filler can be processed, it has to be heated to the correct temperature. In this process, the filler is cooled under shear and then heated slightly. This ensures that it has a smooth texture and is stable in storage after it sets. The heated filler is poured into a block mould and then stored for a week at 12°C.

For further processing, the solid chocolate filler must be heated in a warming room at 28°C for approximately one week. After that, the soft block is homogenised and plasticised in a mixer with additives such as nuts or raisins. This mixture is now fed into the extruder, a task often performed manually by mobile transport containers. Finally, the chocolates are injection-moulded on a conveyor belt by the extruder, coated with chocolate and decorated, then cooled and finally packaged.

Using Knoll MX pump technology, it is possible to process solid chocolate filler even at 12°C and to eliminate the warming room and the holding time from the process. This makes the production process more flexible, timesaving and efficient.  There is no longer any need for long transport routes between the cooling and warming rooms – and for the warming room as such. One of the important factors here is that the system is a fully integrated, closed-loop system which meets the highest hygiene standards. It is also worth highlighting the possibility for continuous production where previously only batch mode production was possible. Given that Knoll pumps deliver high pressures, even large distances can be bridged. On the pressure side, solids such as nuts and raisins are admixed homogeneously on the conveyor line by static mixers.

Depending on the how chocolate products are produced, Knoll can provide the manufacturer with an optimal solution which will streamline – or even bypass – time-consuming stages of production.