Which contract mixing and testing options do pilot plants in Germany offer for food and non-food powders?
Pilot plants are technical trial centres at semi-industrial scale and, in Germany, form the central interface between laboratory trials and the industrial series production of food and non-food powders. They offer contract mixing and testing services with which formulations, processes and products are developed, tested and underpinned for scale-up under near-production conditions.
Tasks and benefits of pilot plants
Pilot plants serve as the link between product-oriented development and large-scale production. Their most important tasks are feasibility testing, process development, process optimisation and scale-up assurance.
They allow parameters such as mixing time, rotational speed, fill level and energy input to be determined and adjusted for the transition from the laboratory to production scale. At the same time, companies can outsource production steps without having to invest in plants themselves, for example for pilot batches, market launches, peak loads or special processes.
Access to a pilot plant reduces investment and start-up risks, shortens development times and prevents the company's own production lines from being blocked by trial series.
Typical services
Feasibility studies and formulation development
It is examined whether different bulk materials can be mixed, for example cohesive, free-flowing or hygroscopic powders. To this end, process parameters such as mixing time, rotational speed, tool geometry, fill level and the order of the components are defined, and the mixing quality as well as the tendency to segregate are assessed.
Scale-up and scale-down trials
Laboratory formulations are verified in semi-industrial plants and transferred to larger scales. Geometrically similar mixers are used for this purpose, and dimensionless characteristic numbers as well as similarity theories are applied in order to adapt rotational speed, energy input and mixing time to scale.
Process engineering operations for powders
Typical processes include dry mixing, wet mixing, granulating, coating, spray agglomeration, fluidised bed processes, vacuum mixing, vacuum contact drying and inertised mixing as well as sieving, classifying, milling and compacting.
Available mixing technologies
For contract mixing and testing tasks, pilot plants usually have various mixing systems available. These include batch mixers such as ploughshare, free-fall, drum, conical or vertical mixers as well as continuous mixing systems for high throughputs.
In addition, intensive mixers are used to break up agglomerates, and gentle mixing processes are used for sensitive products. The appropriate type of mixer for the particular formulation and the later production scale can thus be selected.
Accompanying analysis
The quality of the mixing processes is often secured by comprehensive analysis. This includes particle size analysis, bulk and flow properties, moisture and drying analysis as well as mixing quality and homogeneity testing.
In the food sector, microbiological and sensory examinations are added. In the non-food sector, chemical, physical or safety-related testing tends to be to the fore.
Hygienic and safety-related framework conditions
Increased hygienic and regulatory requirements apply to food powders. They include EHEDG-compliant design, hygienic surfaces, good cleanability, FDA-compliant materials as well as HACCP and frequently IFS or BRC requirements.
With non-food powders, wear protection, chemical resistance and explosion protection are to the fore. Depending on the application, ATEX concepts, inertisation, earthing, dust extraction or containment solutions are added.
Conclusion
Pilot plants in Germany enable companies from the food and non-food sectors to develop and test new powder products and processes and bring them to production readiness with low risk, high data density and under realistic conditions.
The amixon® pilot plant: trials, scale-up and process optimisation with the original product
35 test units in Paderborn alone
At its Paderborn headquarters, amixon® operates a pilot plant with 35 test units of various sizes. Processes can thereby be represented realistically from small scale up to pilot scale, so that robust statements for the production scale are possible even with limited product quantities. Pilot plants in Japan, India, Thailand, China, South Korea and the USA are additionally available worldwide.
Real conditions instead of paper values
Mixing processes such as mixing, homogenising, granulating, agglomerating, moistening and coating are examined, as are drying and reaction processes such as vacuum drying, thermal processes and syntheses. The trials run with the original product, within the intended temperature and pressure range, with real fill levels and batch sizes and the planned energy input.
Mixing quality, product protection, energy input, cleanability and reproducibility in later series operation are assessed. This not only confirms laboratory values but anticipates the actual process conditions of later production as far as possible.
Joint execution, evaluation and documentation
The trials are carried out, evaluated and documented together with amixon® experts. The aim is to select the optimum apparatus and the appropriate process parameters for the specific application, including formulation development and process optimisation.
The result is a robust basis for decision-making before the investment. The process parameters are confirmed under real conditions, product quality and economy are assured, and technical as well as economic risks are markedly reduced.
Seamless transition into production
Because trial and production mixers work with the same mixing principle and amixon® has a finely graded range of sizes, the pilot-plant parameters transfer very well to the target machine. This is particularly valuable because amixon® can additionally underpin scale-up calculations with test units of 3 m³ capacity and thus also represents larger batches realistically.
After commissioning, amixon® also supports product changeovers, scale-up questions, process engineering, product development and process optimisation.
Manufacture in Paderborn as the quality foundation
amixon® develops and manufactures exclusively at the Paderborn works with a high depth of manufacture and all components from Germany. As a certified welding company with European, Japanese, Korean and American qualifications, amixon® designs every apparatus as a one-off on the basis of the operator's URS, and quality control remains entirely in-house without gaps. This manufacturing autonomy also secures long-term supply, since every component can still be re-manufactured reproducibly decades later.
Although the amixon® pilot plants are not contract mixing operations, amixon® supports customers where required in bridging delivery times or bottlenecks with suitable test mixers from the pilot plant.
Service across the entire life cycle
After commissioning, amixon® remains at the operator's side. Regular inspections and preventive maintenance secure availability, on request supplemented by predictive maintenance. Selected wear parts are supplied together with the initial delivery, most spare parts are held at the Paderborn site, many more at the service bases in Japan and the USA. A lifetime spare parts service thus remains possible even where original suppliers cease to exist.
Many amixon® machines have been in daily use for more than 30 years, some for more than 40 years. Modernisation and retrofitting keep them at the state of the art.