Krones has opened a new fully-equipped R&D centre for ideas of the future in Neutraubling, Germany, dubbed the ‘Process Technology Centre’, and designed to support customers in their product development and processes.
In the Process Technology Centre, Krones’ customers can take their products to a new level, using ultra-small production batches to develop, compare and optimise processes, parameters and recipes.
Krones itself will use the new technology centre to more closely analyse the effects of various process parameters on different products, with the results then going into further developing and refining Krones machines and lines.
The technology centre is divided into two sections – process technology and water design.
On the process technology side, various process and treatment steps can be realistically simulated on a pilot UHT system, which makes it possible to compare the thermal impact of indirect heating using a shell-and-tube heat exchanger versus direct heating.
For this, customers can choose between two processes – steam injection and steam fusion.
For other trials, the facility is also equipped with systems for mixing, flash pasteurisation, deaeration, homogenisation and filling. The results are then evaluated in-house.
In the field of water design, customers can fine-tune the flavour of their water by adding just the right amounts of minerals and flavour compounds.
The technological possibilities include daeration, carbonation, electrodeionisation, ionisation, mineral dosing and filling.
A water sommelier provides support throughout the trials, and customers also have access to Krones’ extensive network of experts, with engineers in a variety of disciplines, including food and process engineering, to collaborate on transforming product ideas into real products.
