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Normalizing Material Delivery – Dry Ingredients
Batch recipes are generally created considering a fixed amount of dry ingredients and liquids. Many of the dry products which are used in recipes are moist and they feature a measured amount of dry products and water. This creates a challenge for batch operators who are mixing using supposedly known ingredient quantities and qualities.
Source vessels store ingredients and the properties of any individual product can be analyzed and accounted for in the batch automation. Systems like those deployed by ECS Solutions, A Magnum Systems Brand (ECS), provide the capability to use theoretical values as basis for operation. Then, upon receipt or analysis of the ingredient’s moisture, the system can be updated to reflect an actual moisture content. Challenges arise when ingredients are stored for extended periods of time and the moisture changes. Additional difficulties arise when multiple lots of the same ingredient are stored together in a vessel like a silo, each containing a unique moisture content. Upon discharge into a batch, this problem can be amplified as the lots may blend and a close, but not exact, moisture content product is sent to the batch.
ECS utilizes On-Line Near Infrared (OMNIR) sensors to address this situation precisely. This sensor is mounted after the vessel discharge and it provides real-time feedback on the moisture content as product passes by, just before entering the batch. By continuously monitoring the properties of a material being added, the required amount can be dynamically adjusted to provide the required units of the properties desired by the recipe author. With these calculations other materials can be adjusted as well, i.e. adjust the amount of water required, to compensate for water introduced by the monitored ingredient. The operator is freed from having to scrutinize material properties and flow conditions then having to employ “tribal knowledge” adjustments and remediation efforts. The automated adjustments are tightly controlled and meticulously logged to the batch record which can be a significant improvement over how an operator may detail their manual efforts. Also significant is the potential time that an operator may recover from having to monitor potentially many sequential ingredients in this manner.
The primary result is improved product consistency and overall quality. Reduced errors lead to less remediation efforts which provide material and time savings. In cases where lot product consistencies are static, the sensor also aids in product genealogy tracking as it easily identifies one lot from another by pinpointing the boundary layer nature of material flowing.
This solution can be applied to any ingredient and application which feature dry ingredients which are mixed with liquids as part of a batch. This theory can also be utilized on any ingredient which has a quality which can be measured. For example, online refractometers are frequently used by ECS to manage the consistency of tomato paste products by controlling water into the product based on a Brix variable measured similarly. ECS has utilized tools like this in retrofit projects, further dialing in the accuracy and consistency which was created by the initial deployment of an automated batch management system.
ECS has applied this theory to many batch systems covering many material properties. The projects vary in application from sub-kilogram ingredient additions to tons. Their systems are reputed as world class, and it is just this type of experience and technique which sets them apart in the field of material analysis integrated to batch processing.
Posted In: Bakery Industry, Beverage Industry, Blogs, Chemical Industry, Consumer Goods, Distilleries, Food Industry, Metals, Metals Industry