Industrial beverages production - VAN DER MOLEN

Process
engineering
for top class
beverages

Industrial beverages production
Today the food industry supplies a very
wide range of widely differing beverages,
from mineral water straight
from the spring, to carbonated
refreshment beverages of all types
to local and national mixed fruit
beverages.
Consumers place high demands
on the taste, colour, homogeneity,
sterility and attractive presentation
which can only be satisfied
with industrial equipment.
Van der Molen has been active
in the beverages industry for
more than 50 years. We supply
the core of production
systems for beverages of all
types. We supply both small
compact systems for low
volume batch production
with an arbitrary number
of recipes and a wide range
of dissolving processes
as well as large systems
designed for the conti-
nuous production of massive volumes
of beverages of all types.
The development of the equipment
over the past few years has mainly
been dominated by four influences:
• The more extensive automation of
all functions
• Uncompromisingly documented
processes and the traceability of
ingredients
• Extensive energy saving, particularly
for all thermal processes
• Extension of the range of recipes
which can be produced by a single
system.
New systems are one way to exploit
the benefits of modern production
equipment. We can also exploit the
potential of your existing system to
the full and modernise it by retrofitting
new components. In many cases
this can be a more sensible investment
method.
Van der Molen’s range of products
and services enables it to cover the
following areas:
• Water treatment, storage and
supply of raw materials
• Sugar solution, filtration, decolouration
and simple syrup production
• Mixing, dissolving concentrates
and finished syrup production
• Mixing, flash heating and pasteurisation
to the finished drink ready
for bottling
• System cleaning / CIP for all parts in
contact with media
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Our systems have a modular design
and are classified by size and capacity.
The fully integration automation
system normally has a decentralised
design which enables it
to support a whole range of different
operating modes which
may occur in actual production
environments with a heterogenic
structure of suppliers and
controllers.
This means that production
can be controlled centrally
from a control
room or individual
units can be
operated decentrally
from
various locations.

Water treatment Storage and supply of
raw materials
Water is an important raw material
in the production of beverages. The
high demands made of it in terms
of taste, appearance and freedom
from germs can only be satisfied by
industrial water treatment systems
regardless of whether the production
process is based on spring,
brackish or drinking water.
Our AQAMOL treatment systems
have a modular design.
They enable all conventional
water treatment techniques to
be used, including flocculation,
filtration, descaling, ion
exchange, ultra and nano filtration,
reverse osmosis, and
UV disinfection.
The precise design and composition
of your water treatment
system is the result of
an analysis of the water
that you wish to treat.
The raw materials used in the production
of beverages must be stored
in suitable equipment and supplied
to the production process. They
include sugar, liquid concentrates,
frozen fruit additives, powdered
additives, etc. Van der Molen can
supply an extensive range of long
time proven open and closed stations
for practically every raw material
and delivery form, including closed
silos, open loading stations, screw
conveyors, suction conveyors, emptying
stations for concentrates with
and without an extractor, shredders
and rinsing equipment for the full
use of valuable concentrates.
Production lines which allow the full
traceability of ingredients to their
source, for example pursuant to EU
Regulation 178 / 2002 with EAN 128
data, must be combined with a clear
system for batch tracing which is protected
from any and all manipulation.
Sugar dissolving, decolouration
and filtration
The basis for all soft beverages and
most fruit beverages takes the form
of clear sugar syrup with a constant,
high Brix level which is made from raw
sugar by dissolving it and, depending
on the origin of the raw materials and
the quality of the sugar, decolouration
and filtration. The production and
dissolving process can be carried out
in a batch process or on a continuous
basis. It can also take place at various
temperatures. Van der Molen uses a
range of equipment for the dissolving
and mixing processes including jet mixing
and mixer units which are highly
efficient with their use of energy.
The extremely successful CONTIMOL
system is Van der Molen’s answer to
the requirement for a modular, efficient
unit for continuous sugar dissolving
which covers every single aspect
of this process.
This module is fully automatic, absolutely
autarchic and also controls the
main units around it such as conveyors,
mixing and storage tanks as well
as filters and decolouration units
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(DECOMOL) which means that it is a
very simple matter to install a turnkey
simple syrup production line which
can supply one or more beverages
production lines with sugar syrup
simultaneously. In addition the
CONTIMOL system suffers practically
no wear whatsoever which
means that it is the sort of highly
reliable system that is required
to achieve high availability rates
for the parallel supply of several
production lines.
It is well worthwhile for many
manufacturers who currently
buy liquid sugar to make an
inquiry to Van der Molen to
find out whether they would
be better off making their
syrup themselves. Most
manufacturers who make
this investment generally
find that it will be amortised
in less than two
years.

Mixing, dissolving other ingredients and
finished syrup production
Drink concentrates may have wildly
differing compositions. In their simplest
form all the substances are
fully dissolved and thus form the
finished syrup. As soon as natural
fruit contents or other solids which
do not readily dissolve are included,
however, it may not always
be possible to have fully dissolved
syrup.
Solids often have to be added
during the production process in
the correct weights or volumes
even though they may settle
again later. If several components
are mixed or dissolved,
the detailed process of
adding them over time or a
fixed minimum mixing time
and the mixing temperature
may be very important
before other ingredients
may be added.
Van der Molen can supply a range of
program-controlled, fully automated
and highly precise multi-component
metering devices from its MASSMOL
range as well as various mixing devices
for concentrates. The range includes
systems for batch production
and continuous systems.
The mixing process may be carried
out using a mixer unit designed for
the application or by equipment
which feature mixing jets. Particularly
when natural substances or additives
are used it may be important to
control the oxygen content or avoid
direct contact with oxygen so that
the concentrate can be guaranteed
to have a long shelf life.
Carbonation, homogenisation and
ready mixed beverages
In the final step before bottling, the
finished syrup is adjusted to the required
concentration of the ready mixed
drink by adding water. Refreshment
beverages are often enriched with
carbonic acid before they are bottled.
Mixes also have to be homogenised
before being bottled to ensure that
sedimentary substances are distributed
evenly. Van der Molen can provide
mixing and carbonation equipment
as well as MIXMOL homogenisers
for this purpose.
Modules from this product group can
be used to carbonate a very wide range
of soft beverages and fruit juice
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concentrates and mix ready mixed
beverages. The control of the mixing
process and the management of the
relevant recipes allow a large number
of widely different beverages
to be produced fully automatically
and with zero losses.
Long time proven links to almost
all conventional bottling systems
rounds off the range of ready
mixed drink treatment systems.

Flash heating and pasteurisation Cleaning / CIP
Industrial beverages production involves
very large volumes of concentrates
and ready mixed beverages.
Even very small quantities of microorganisms
such as those that may
occur in natural raw materials, can
spread very quickly and make the
product unsellable or drastically
reduced its shelf life.
To counteract this, flash heating
equipment is used at various
points in the beverages production
process to extend the shelf
life of the finished products.
Ultra-high heating systems to
achieve almost full sterility
may also be used.
The heat exchangers required for this
are supplied by Van der Molen in the
form of plate heat exchangers or
pipe heat exchangers for all the
heat volumes and temperature levels
required by the customer.
In almost all cases the heat used for
these processes can be recovered
and returned to the process at a different
point. The consistent use of
heat recovery equipment means that
systems today use a good deal less
energy than their counterparts just a
few years ago. Why not ask one of
our engineers to provide a non-binding
quotation for retrofitting heat
recovery equipment to your system?
Industrial systems are fitted with
equipment to clean residues off their
internal surfaces. The cleaning process
takes place in up to five discrete
phases in sequence using a circulation
process on selected units within the
production line.
The details of these cleaning systems
depend on the production line they
are designed to clean. The process
itself can be either manual or automatic.
The complete separation of
sections which hold beverages from
those which are being cleaned is achieved
by an extensive array of sensors
combined with interlocks. The vast
majority of the cleaning products are
reused. Cold cleaning is also possible
in certain conditions.
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For the cold cleaning of the ECAMOL
product group the process of rinsing
with hot detergents is replaced by
rinsing with electrochemically activated
water which is essentially
based on the effects of hypochloric
acid. This method of cleaning
the internal surfaces of a line
can result in massive savings
in heating energy. This type of
cleaning is not suitable for use
in every type of system, however.
The successful use of this
technique depends on a completely
sterile design as well
as tailoring the process to
the type of residues.

Process control and interconnections,
product documentation
Van der Molen provides a long time
proven range of components and
programs for controlling its systems.
Initially all the functions of a manually
controlled machine level are
implemented with all the necessary
safety functions, interlocks and
servicing facilities on the basis of
an industrial programmable logic
controller.
Automatic operating modes
are then added as specified by
the customer. This means that
tailored solutions can be achieved
without any need for highly
complex controllers. A graphic
visualisation system
with process diagrams is
used for the machine level
and process level to make
the operation of the various
sections and the system as
a whole extremely clear.
Complete systems are always fitted
with distributed computer systems to
maintain a high level of overall availability
and reliability. This means that
in the event of faults but also when
parts of the system are out of commission
for service work, work can
continue as normal in the parts of the
system which are not affected. Information
at the control stations can be
largely adjusted to organisational requirements
and the manning levels
used by the customer. User interfaces
are always designed in the local language.
Interconnections to other computer
systems is a particularly important
feature. Since most production plants
contain hybrid structures which have
developed over the course of many
years, we can provide a whole range
of implemented and long time proven
interconnectors to other suppliers.
Simple ask our experts about the
interconnector you require.
System enhancements
It is not always necessary to install a
whole new system to achieve your
production targets. In fact it is often
possible to add a great deal of capacity
by expanding or enhancing an
existing system. The improved use of
energy, generally thermal energy, by
means of various methods of heat
recovery goes a long way towards
enhancing systems. Increase in the
storage capacity of mixing components
for the production of other
types of beverages or batches in vastly
different sizes or the connection of an
additional bottling system are other
examples of frequent enhancements
to existing systems.
Van der Molen has a great deal of
experience in the modification of systems
for beverages production. We are
capable of providing solutions even
in very heterogeneous environments
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which have developed over a number
of years or even decades. We have
also gathered a good deal of experience
in the installation of a wide
range of interfaces between different
control programs.
Special attention has been given
to planning the modifications. All
modifications are always planned
and tailored to the needs of
the customer. By installing redundant
components of equipment
at important points it is
possible to improve the overall
availability of an important
part system to such an extent
that it is possible to maintain
production even whilst the
modification work is being
carried out.

IMBR EN 01
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Contact addresses
In addition to the design and installation
of systems, Van der Molen also
provides services for monitoring operation
including maintenance work
and spare parts.
It is possible to create a suitable
package including the provision of
spare parts, support with troubleshooting
by remote diagnostic and
preventive maintenance work to suit
the availability requirements of the
system. Talk to us. We have a presence
in most regions around the
world.
Van der Molen
Process Systems
Industriestraße 34A
Postfach 1380
D-86438 Kissing
Germany
+49 (0)8233 7927-0
info@van-der-molen.com
VDM SA.
P.O. Box 793
Randburg 2125
South Africa
+27 11 781 839-1
vdmsa@icon.co.za