Tailor-made Powders – powder structure and properties are of major importance

The world market for simple powder products is still strong. The simple products, where a solution, suspension or paste is trans¬ferred from a wet product into a dry powder, and where the dryness and powder appearance are the major qualities, are still important.

However, these products have undergone a considerable development during the years. Today, the largest market is for well structured and well defined powders for food ingredients.

These tailor-made products are also undergoing major changes. They are required to have very exact compositions with specific physical and physiochemical properties which allow for built-in higher value, higher costs and more advanced properties.

Technologies for Powder Production

The conversion of wet food ingredients into final dry composed products with specific properties still require known technologies such as tray drying, hot air spray drying, spray cooling, extrusion, vacuum belt drying, roller drying, micro wave drying, freeze drying, blending, agglomeration, granulation, coating, etc. But excellence in the technique itself is not enough:

it’s the excellence in the applied technology that is the main key to development and success. Mastering this technology requires familiarity with the know-how in your own company and that of the partners in your network of co-operation.

Pin Point your Product Quality

You know that you have full control of the products you make today for existing customers, and you know the capability of your tech¬nologies.

You also know that competition is driving prices down for standard bulk products all of which begs the questions:

• How do I keep my market share for my standard products?
• How do I optimize the profit for my basic production?
• Do I have to take in other products to stay in business?
• Do I have to develop new technology or can I buy it in?
• Do I have to make major investment in technologies?
• etc. etc. – all the standard questions.

If your answer to these questions lead you towards the production of tailor-made powders, the selection of activities and the network you employ will be key to your success.

Tailoring the Product

When a new product is identified, after contact with the clients, the product must be specified and designed.

Let us take a new baby food as an example:

Is the baby food a basic one, which must contain all or most of the basic amino acids, minerals, vitamins, lipids, calories, and fibers, or is it more an appetizer or a tranquillizer? Detailed information must be collected from dietitians and the correct composition and selection of specific ingredients chosen.

The first choice will be to create the correct nutritional composition. There is a great deal to consider: the digestability, allergic reactions, the way of feeding the baby must be clear, taste and flavour must be correct, and all regulations from the authorities must be included.

The next task is to build in the right physical properties: texture, dosing, dispersibility, solubility, a free-flow¬ing nature, and long shelf-life of chemical, micro¬biological and physical properties.

After this, the first real cost analysis and feasibility study can be made. New components are selected and new pilot products made using traditional production processes.

This begins the iteration cycle during which product qualities are optimized and the production processes designed and tested. The contact with suppliers of process tech¬nologies and process designers is very important during this phase.

Analytical methods must be adjusted and used for the requested quality procedures and for final quality assurance.

The pilot products must be released for pharmacological tests and then released for actual testing on people.

Dosage and recommended size of packages must be decided. Selection and design of the final packaging material must be made.

Several circles of communication with the designers, customers, the marketing and production people will take place, Then finally the standard production can start.

For good baby food all nutritional, structure, taste and flavour properties must be correct. The baby must like it too if he is to grow and be happy. It must also work for the parents: the right texture, be easy to dissolve or mix or dose or get out of the jar or bottle. This is where the final tailoring is essential – and this is where we can help you.

The Network

Making tailor-made powders is a complex process so a good network is required. This is where your external partners can provide support as:

Specialists in tailoring the physical properties of the powder
particles.

Specialists in spray drying, spray cooling and freeze drying.

Specialists in making powders with a low dust content, by limiting the proportion of fine particles.

Specialists in making agglomerated products that flow well, wet easily and disperse or dissolve quickly.

Specialists in coating products to protect sensitive ingredients or to create special surface properties.

Specialists in developing gentle processing to pro¬tect sensitive ingredients thereby sustaining nutritional qualities in the recipe.

Specialists in producing samples for pilot testing.

Specialists in designing the production processes for you.

Specialists in the supply of necessary production lines for spray drying, freeze drying, agglomeration, granulation, as well as coating, and supply equip¬ment, from the ingredients intake to the final bagging off - all from one member of your network.

Companies with skill in the supply of process lines for very different products, and the development of technologies for support in a wide range of processing applications from the basic raw food material up to pharma¬ceutical standard including procedures, validation and QA.

For information about how Niro A/S can help you by becoming part of your network, contact – food.dairy@niro.dk - or take a look at www.niro.com.