Problem Solving
Gentle bulk material handling for milk powder and baby food
In the production of milk powder and baby food, delicate, spray-dried agglomerates must be handled gently throughout the entire process. AZO combines pneumatic dense-phase conveying, hygienic silo storage, and flexible filling solutions into a seamless bulk material handling system. This ensures that the product can be reliably transported from the spray tower to the filling station without subjecting the sensitive agglomerates to unnecessary stress.
Continuous milk powder conveyance without product damage
The AZO®MULTIAIR dense-phase conveying system gently and without damage transports spray-dried milk powder agglomerates up to 60 m into the buffer silos. Tandem pressure vessels enable continuous conveying. This ensures that the output from the spray-drying process is reliably transferred to the subsequent process steps without unnecessarily compromising the product structure during transport.
Flexible Storage and Feeding for the Filling Line
The hygienically designed buffer silos enable safe temporary storage of milk powder. Ventilation membranes ensure reliable product discharge; ventilation can be provided using compressed air or nitrogen. Load cells monitor the fill level. In addition, the product can be conveyed directly from the spray tower to the filling area as needed. This allows process control to be flexibly adapted to the continuous spray-drying process and ensures a reliable supply to the subsequent filling stage.
Separation-free transport and safe big-bag filling
The AZO®SaugPlus dense-phase conveying system is used to transport material from the buffer silos to the bagging or big-bag filling stations. This gentle, segregation-free transport ensures consistent product quality all the way through to filling. During big-bag filling, the pre- or post-gassing system also enables controlled inerting with nitrogen. The oxygen monitoring system only authorizes filling once the oxygen content falls below the defined threshold. This specifically protects the milk powder from oxygen and helps extend its shelf life.
Hygienic plant design and comprehensive process documentation
The special ViwateQ finish supports the hygiene requirements of milk powder and baby food production and, in particular, facilitates wet cleaning. At the same time, the AZO process control and visualization system controls and monitors the entire plant. Process data is fully documented, enabling tracking and tracing of the manufacturing process. This allows hygiene requirements, process monitoring, and traceability to be integrated into a single, end-to-end plant solution.
