Symrise Invests in Extrusion Technology for Encapsulated Flavours

The most important benefit of encapsulated flavours is their ability to preserve the optimum flavour of foodstuffs until the very moment of their consumption.

Jul 21 2011 --- A twin screw extruder from Coperion GmbH, Stuttgart/Germany, formerly Werner & Pfleiderer, went into operation at Symrise AG, Holzminden/Germany, at the beginning of the year for the encapsulation of flavours. The extruder, a ZSK MEGAvolume PLUS with a screw diameter of 76 mm, is used for the mixing of various liquid flavours into a carbohydrate based matrix. The most important benefit of encapsulated flavours is their ability to preserve the optimum flavour of foodstuffs until the very moment of their consumption. Encapsulated flavours will also have a longer shelf life, are better protected and can be further processed more easily.

Compared to other processes for the encapsulation of flavours, the ZSK twin screw extruder offers many technological and economic benefits. Particularly advantageous are the co-rotating twin screws, which ensure an extremely fine dispersion and complete encapsulation of the flavours in the highly viscous matrix material. There is no need for any high-cost, time-consuming and possibly harmful downstream drying process. Moreover – unlike spray drying with diluted, sprayable mixtures – the temperature control of the extrusion process is independent from the necessary drying temperature, which means that the choice of the matrix material is subject to only a few limitations. Symrise uses the ZSK extruder for the production of flavour granules of a grain size as small as 0.6 mm. These tiny granules can be readily wetted with water during further processing steps.

Symrise’s decision for the ZSK 76 MEGAvolume PLUS was preceded by decades of positive experience with Coperion twin screw extruders at its production facilities in Germany and the USA. Nevertheless, Symrise carried out extensive tests in Coperion’s Food Test Lab prior to purchasing the machine. Dr. Ingo Reiss, Supply Chain Director NFP at Symrise, comments on the results as follows: “Coperion fully understood our requirements, both with regard to the quality of the encapsulated flavour granules and with regard to the necessary throughput rate of the extruder. The company was prepared to cooperate with us exhaustively in adapting the design of the centric pelletizing system ZGF 70 exactly to our needs.”

The ZSK extruder at Symrise is installed in a production facility that complies with very high standards of hygiene. The entire extrusion system meets hygiene requirements of a much higher standard than is normally applicable in the food industry. It goes without saying that all parts of the system that come into contact with the product are manufactured from food-grade materials. Thanks to the extruder’s WIP (Wash In Place) design, washing and flushing can be performed in the shortest possible time without any need to dismantle the extruder process section. Also easy to clean are the sectioned stainless steel supporting frame and the fully stainless steel cladding. Operation of the entire extrusion line is fully automatic, which means that the presence of employees in the clean room can be limited to an absolute minimum.

As the necessary space for the installation and commissioning of the extruder was extremely restricted at Symrise, the ZSK MEGAvolume PLUS was completely assembled at Coperion’s production facility in Stuttgart for a factory acceptance test and then dismantled again for delivery to the customer’s factory at Holzminden, where it was finally re-assembled and successfully put into operation.

Symrise introduced TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) into its production facility a few years ago. This continuous improvement process has its beginnings in the automotive industry. An essential feature of TPM is the proactive involvement of the designated machine operator in the entire investment project from the outset. TPM ensures that a purchased machine, already optimized prior to installation, will give satisfactory, zero-loss service on a continuous basis.