All-stainless motors selected for fruit juice processing

David Berryman Ltd of Dunstable is the UK's largest independent blender of fruit juices and fruit juice bases, supplying customers around the world. The company is at the forefront of its field and is very much involved with the introduction of new products and fruits to the drinks market. Current examples include work with such fruits as Goji and Acai berries and the production of juice drinks for Julian Graves, the health food company.

This is in addition to the company's involvement with around 30-40 per cent of the juice and soft drinks products found on the shelves of the UK's supermarkets. Remarkably, this work involves both small-batch production, such as initial sample quantities that can be produced on a laboratory benchtop, and production runs of up to 28 tonnes. In between these two extremes is batch mixing, in a 1200kg vessel. This is where a large proportion of David Berryman's fruit drink bases are prepared, adding such ingredients as pectin, ascorbic and citric acids, preservatives and, more recently, pre-biotics (a form of healthy bacteria).

While it is relatively easy to achieve effective mixing of ingredients in laboratory-size quantities and blending of juices in high volumes, efficient mixing of ingredients that include dry powders can present problems. These include effective distribution through the mix, and component agglomeration. To eliminate these problems David Berryman has invested in a new, all-stainless steel high-shear mixer, complete with stainless steel motor, from Ytron-Quadro.

Homogeneous mix

Called the Ytron-Y ByPass, this mixer incorporates an integral feed chute that delivers ingredients directly to the mixing head below the liquid level. This ensures ingredients are instantly wetted, suspended or dissolved to achieve a truly homogeneous mix. It is equally effective for both dry ingredients and liquids - including high-viscosity liquids - with the negative pressure created by the rotating mixer head helping to draw the ingredients into the mix. Notable features of the Ytron-Y ByPass mixer are a special mixer head to help the high-shear mixing action and a stainless steel motor from Marlin Stainless.

According to Dudley Bradley of Ytron-Quadro, the Marlin stainless motor is a 'natural' partner for his mixers: "With total corrosion resistance and no paint to flake, the risk of batch contamination is eliminated completely. Being smooth-bodied means there are no crevices to harbour material, facilitating easy hose-down cleaning – which is no problem with the motor being IP66 rated."

He also adds that, even for applications where a stainless steel shroud for a conventional motor might be considered as an alternative, there is no cost benefit, plus airborne material can be sucked into the fan cowl to cause a potential contamination risk.

When asked how important stainless steel equipment was for David Berryman, Nick Eckert, Managing Director, says: "Extremely. With everything we do, hygiene is paramount. So this totally stainless mixer-motor package is an ideal solution for our needs. It performs really well, achieving effective mixing of all ingredients quickly and quietly, and is easy to clean with a high-pressure hose."