Conveying Food Powders, Ingredients & Products

In May, UniTrak will be exhibiting at the International Powder & Bulk Solids Conference and Exhibition in Rosemont, IL, May 3-5, 2016. In advance of the show, our Leadership Blog will feature a series of articles on topics that will be of interest to show attendees. This week’s blog on conveying food powders and ingredients kicks-off our International Powder & Bulk Solids Conference and Exhibition blog series.

Selecting equipment for conveying food powders and ingredients requires a consideration of process requirements and the characteristics of the material to be conveyed. At UniTrak, we offer a range of equipment solutions, described below, for conveying these materials.

Conveying Food Powders, Ingredients and Products: Foodstuffs and Bakery

Ingredients for foodstuffs and bakery products include common materials such as salt, sugar, ground pepper and spices, flour (including semolina, besan (chickpea) flour, and rice flour), and oat flakes. These materials can be sticky, abrasive, and dusty, presenting significant conveying challenges as a result.

Depending upon process requirements such as batch versus continuous and throughput, different equipment solutions will have to be considered. For example, for conveying dry free-flowing food powders, Powderflight aeromechanical conveyers are the favoured equipment choice in many facilities. These conveyors aerate and fluidize the material, rapidly moving it through the conveyor to the discharge outlet.

On the other hand, when conveying spices in batch production, the UniFlex Easy-Clean flexible screw conveyor is a preferred solution as the conveyor can be easily wet-cleaned between production batches involving different spices.

TipTrakTM bucket conveyors are an excellent equipment selection for the continuous processing of abrasive and dusty food powders, such as ground pepper and flours. The fully enclosed and wear-resistant designs of TipTrakTM PEC or Monocoque models can easily handle these difficult-to-convey materials. TipTrakTMconveyors can also be supplied with designs and options which reduce the risk of an explosion resulting from fugitive dust emissions when handling dusty food powders.

Conveying Food Powders, Ingredients Products: Snack Foods

Snack food production presents some interesting conveying challenges, involving the handling of a diverse array of materials such as granola, potato chips, pork scratchings, pita chips, roasted peanuts, and coated candies. Successfully conveying these materials requires choosing equipment that can readily handle irregular shapes and materials that can be fragile, oily, greasy, or sticky.

In applications involving the conveying of snack food products and ingredients, TipTrakTM bucket conveyors are an ideal equipment choice. With their rubber beltchain drive system and fully interlocking bucket assemblies, TipTrakTM bucket conveyors are renowned for their gentle handling of fragile products. TipTrakTMconveyors can also be fitted with flow aids, such as a bucket knocker, that alleviate the problems associated with conveying materials that are sticky. In addition, TipTrakTM conveyors can be supplied with a Clean-In-Place (CIP) system that addresses the equipment cleaning challenges associated with conveying oily or greasy products.

If you have an application that involves conveying food powders or ingredients, UniTrak is your preferred conveying equipment partner. Our extensive experience in solving the challenges associated with conveying food powders and ingredients in facilities the world over allows us to craft solutions for the most demanding applications. To find out how UniTrak equipment can address your food conveying needs, please visit us at the International Powder & Bulk Solids Conference and Exhibition, booth 2425, or contact our sales department directly