Internationale Partnersuche

Innovation & Technologie Angebot

Non-invasive and real-time analysis of fluids in food & beverage industry

Country of Origin: Sweden
Reference Number: TOSE20200518002
Publication Date: 25 May 2020

Summary

A Swedish company is offering a completely non-invasive technology, based on active acoustic spectroscopy, to measure fluid properties (solid content/density/viscosity) and facilitate the analysis of process sections for an eco-friendly and a more efficient production. The company seeks a commercial agreement with technical assistance, ideally with breweries or dairies based in Europe, to verify the system in a Proof of Concept where it can be used in e.g. fermentation and thickening processes.

Description

The company is a progressive high-technology company based in Gothenburg, Sweden, producing and selling an innovation originating from ABB. The solution provides non-invasive and real time measurements of fluid properties based on Active Acoustic Spectroscopy in order to optimize processes for a greener and more efficient production. The company started in 2009 and is run by 13 employees with different backgrounds and competences.



The company's main focus has been the Pulp & Paper industry, where the reference list of customers contains all of the larger corporations in the Nordic market, in total close to 50 instrument installations. The potential of the solution was further highlighted upon receiving a grant from Horizon 2020 in 2019, aiming to strengthen and diversify the solution within the Pulp & Paper industry, but also to expand into additional market segments. Since the technology is never in contact with the analyzed fluid, the solution is a perfect match for other industries, especially the Food & Beverage industry. 



There are several applications within the Food & Beverage industry, e.g.:

1) Brix measurements.

2) Fermentation levels.

3) Thickening processes, e.g. cheese curdling, coagulation, fluid reduction, pectin additions.



It is also possible to identify possible problems in process sections, e.g.:

1) Distinguish between different product qualities and thereby shorten transition time and reduce the amount of mixed fluid during transition and cleaning.

2) Detect unwanted substances, dissolved and/or undissolved, which could activate a refiner.

3) Detect thickness and speed of scaling in pipes to optimize washing cycles.



The main objective with the technology offer is to select one or a few partners for a Proof of Concept and test the solution on a new industry application, which earlier have mainly been used in other industries. Partners are sought for commercial agreement with technical assistance.

Advantages and Innovations

The company offers a unique solution, which has several advantages over existing measuring methods. For manual inspections and lab samples the offered solution will:

- Reduce manual labour which could be utilized elsewhere.

- Remove deviations in sampling and analysis procedures if there are several people involved from time to time, ie the quality of the results will increase.

- Avoid safety concerns if operators handle hot and hazardous samples during production.

- Provide real time measurements, i.e. reactions to process changes will be quicker, resulting in improved product quality.

- Optimize the production time, i.e. increase productivity.

- Reduce cost in case of overdosage of ingredients.



Examples of existing solutions on the market are refractometers which are optical instruments that use invasive sensors. There are also several other instruments using other types of invasive sensors, such as Viscometers, vibrating and rotating instruments etc. Compared to these, the offered solution will:

- Remove the risk of contaminating the product and thereby be forced to scrap the batch.

- Increase productivity by eliminating production stoppages during installation as well as during maintenance, which may be caused by scaling or wear and tear of the sensor.

- Eliminate the need to install secondary infrastructure e.g. pipes for steam cleaning sensors.

- Add the possibility to diagnose critical process sections and predict problems before they are evident and cause massive downtime.

- Add the possibility to monitor up to 3 parameters per instrument instead of buying and installing 3 separate instruments.

Stage Of Development

Already on the market

Stage Of Development Comment

The current solution has been available since 2015, but mainly installed in the Pulp and Paper industry. A feasibility study has been made for the dairy industry which concluded that the solution is well suited for the Food & Beverage industry considering the sensors are placed on the outside of the pipe or tank and thereby do not contaminate anything in the process. The study was made with a large Swedish dairy producer and later verified with other dairies as well as a supplier of process equipment for the dairy industry. 

One positions for the solution could be in curdling tanks where it today is difficult to analyse and describe the coagulation process of the curd. On-line analysis of the coagulation process can increase the understaning of the process and how different factors will affect it, which provides new possibilities to actively optimize parameters such as protein, fat content, rennet, temperature and pH. Other identified applications were:

- Measurement of fines levels to increase the exchange and reduce scrap.

- Viscosity in Yoghurt and similar products.

- Keep the fat content in cream as close to promised level as possible.

- Protein content.

- Air content.

Prestudies of applications in breweries and sugar mills have also been conducted with the possibility for several applications.

Requested partner

Partner with large scale production, who sees a benefit in having continuous monitoring in an automated production process. There should be a clear problem description and a willingness to make necessary investments. 



Before agreeing on an installation, below info must be provided to evaluate the feasibility of an installation:

1) Properties to be measured

2) Estimated range

3) Accuracy

- Desired 

- Acceptable

4) Lab procedure

5) Pipe

- Material

- Diameter

- Wall thickness

6) Type of fluid 

- Temperature

- Alignment



Expectations on the partner:

1) 230 V outlet for the Signal Unit at the measuring area.

2) Ethernet cable to the measuring point (can be excluded in testing phase).

3) A physical platform in place where the installation of the instrument can be set-up.

4) Access to laboratory to make correlations of sound spectrum measurements with lab samples of the fluid in the process.

5) Dedicated personnel for lab sampling and transfer of lab data.

Dissemination Countries

Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden