Reliable handling of viscous fruit concentrate
Fruit juice manufacturer SOKO Gorica has increased the efficiency of its production process by replacing a pump that failed to transfer highly viscous peach concentrate with reliable Bredel 25 hose pumps.
SOKO produces over 30 million fruit drinks a year with a process based on high-capacity automatic equipment and certified with an ISO 22000 quality management system. However, due to a pump from another manufacturer being unable to handle the viscosity of the peach concentrate, SOKO had to revert to manually transferring the product, adding water and reprogramming software to adjust the recipe. This slowed the process at SOKO’s production site in the Republic of North Macedonia as more time was spent preparing the production and the recipe.
Peach concentrate of 32Bx (degrees Brix) and a volume of 1,14kg/m3 was not being pumped from the aseptic drum, because the viscosity was too high for the pump size to handle.
Unhappy with the support it received from the pump manufacturer, SOKO contacted Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions (WMFTS) to discover what alternative pump solutions it could offer. WMFTS recommended a Bredel 25 peristaltic hose pump with an F-NBR food contact hose (compliant with EC1935/2004 and FDA 21CFR177.2600 and meeting 3A standards) for the application of unloading fruit concentrate and puree from an aseptic drum to a production process tank. This involves a recipe of 20kg of juice concentrate mixed with water and additives (vitamin C, sodium citrate, aroma), depending on what juice is being produced.
Alan Varelija, WMFTS sales engineer for the Balkans region, said: “I wanted to assure the customer that our solution would work, and after consultation with SOKO and our experts, we decided to send one of our demonstration pumps for a trial at SOKO. The trial results were exceptional, so the customer had no doubts about the purchase.”
SOKO uses the Bredel pumps to handle highly viscous peach and banana concentrates (4000-5000cP) and other fruit concentrates (approximately 3000cP). Since purchasing the Bredel pumps, SOKO’s preparation time has been shorter, with better hygienic conditions and a more efficient process than the manual preparation adopted when the previously used pump failed to transfer peach concentrate.
As the peach and other fruit concentrates are now being transferred quicker, SOKO uses less energy and has reduced its energy costs. The Bredel 25 also does not vibrate like the previous pump, which affected the stability of the surrounding infrastructure at the production site.
Nikola Karanfilovski, Technical Manager at SOKO, said: ‘’With the previous pump, we didn’t manage to pump very viscous peach concentrate from drums. This problem meant we had to prepare recipes manually, adding water and reprogramming software to adjust all ingredients. With Bredel, pumping is smooth, and we don’t have the time-consuming manual job. We can now finish recipes with simpler manipulation, with better hygienic conditions, and in a much faster time than before.”
Using direct coupled technology, Bredel combines the reliability of long-coupled pumps with the compact footprint of close-coupled pumps. The Bredel 25 pumps viscous and abrasive slurries and pastes, up to 80% solids in suspension. It has a repeatable volumetric accuracy of +/- 1%, a maximum flow rate of 2,740l/hr and a capacity of 0.3l/rev. The pump’s maximum discharge pressure is 16 bar, and it can handle a maximum fluid temperature of 80°C.
SOKO Gorica Ltd exports 95% of its annual production to 30 different countries, including the US, Australia, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates and multiple nations in Europe.
www.wmfts.com
