Flavourtech Processing Technologies for Aroma Recovery, Extraction, and Evaporation

Flavourtech provides companies worldwide with aroma recovery, evaporation and extraction technology, which allows clients to differentiate their products. Its high-quality processes help meet consumer taste preferences naturally, easily and with maximum flexibility.

Using low temperatures and short processing times, Flavourtech’s technologies help ensure natural flavours and active ingredients are protected while high-quality products are produced. The company’s turnkey solutions can also lead to streamlined processes, lower costs of production and higher market share.

Complete processing lines for RTD and instant tea and coffee

With more than 90 installations in the coffee industry, Flavourtech’s Spinning Cone Column (SCC) is the ‘gold standard’ for aroma recovery during the production of instant coffee. It is also used in the tea industry to capture distinctive varietal tastes, assisting producers in product differentiation.

Flavourtech has built on this success and now offers turnkey solutions, such as the Integrated Extraction System (IES), which lends itself to both ready-to-drink (RTD) and instant tea and coffee products. The automated system both efficiently and cost-effectively separates volatile aroma and flavour compounds from slurries of tea and coffee, while producing a high-quality extract, which may then be concentrated or dried.

Flavourtech’s solutions can be applied throughout the whole coffee or tea production chain, from milling to powder formation. The company’s Rotating Disc Column (RDC) may now also be integrated into an IES line, offering soluble coffee manufacturers a revolutionary alternative to traditional multi-cell extraction systems. Built to customer’s requirements, the IES is compact, flexible, easy-to-use and offers advantages such as process and energy savings, maximum flavour retention and high-quality end products.

Aroma recovery in fruit, vegetables, and juice

Flavourtech’s SCC is used by companies worldwide for the gentle extraction of natural flavours from fruits and vegetables. The SCC’s aroma recovery technologies are capable of processing materials containing a high proportion of suspended solids such as slurries and purees. This capability allows the SCC to extract natural essences and oils prior to damaging thermal processes such as juicing.

The SCC is also used to recover natural flavours from various streams of fruit juice production, including pulp and evaporator condensates. These flavours may then be added back to the final juice product or sold as separate revenue streams for flavouring other products.

Flavourtech’s Centritherm® evaporator technology is used for the concentration of high-value or viscous juice products for maximum flavour and colour. The high-vacuum model removes agricultural residues from citrus oils commonly used in beverage flavouring.

Dealcoholisation of alcoholic beverages

Flavourtech’s SCC was originally developed for desulphiting single strength grape juice in the wine industry. Today, wine applications include alcohol adjustment by 1% or 2% to reduce the warmth of high-alcohol wines and the removal of alcohol for the production of reduced or zero alcohol wines, as well as the recovery of flavours from grape juice, wine and waste streams.

The SCC helps retain delicate flavours without damaging characteristic top-notes. Low-temperatures allow the amount of alcohol removed to be controlled and flavour to be protected.

In the beer industry, the SCC has been used for a number of years to produce Low Alcohol Beer (LAB) containing aroma from the original feed material. In conjunction with the SCC, Flavourtech’s new Resin Adsorbing Column (RAC) is now facilitating the production of No Alcohol Beer (NAB) that incorporates aroma recovered from the original full strength beer. This allows for a more flavoursome zero alcohol beverage while avoiding the requirement to add and potentially declare external flavours on a product label.

Finally, with the growing popularity of Kombucha beverages, the SCC is gaining recognition as the preferred method for removing alcohol generated during the Kombucha fermentation process. This enables manufacturers to comply with alcohol content legislation while preserving the valuable probiotic component of the Kombucha.

Evaporator for concentrating extracts from bio-active compounds

Flavourtech’s Centritherm evaporator is an ideal unit for the concentration of extracts containing bio-active compounds. It allows for one second product contact time on the heating surface at low operating temperatures of approximately 40°C to 50°C. This means the evaporator helps protect valuable products and it has been specifically designed to meet various pharmaceutical industry requirements.

Viscous products can also be concentrated with the Centhitherm evaporator, with a low hold-up volume resulting in less waste. This flexible machine has a clean-in-place (CIP) functionality and can operate at various temperatures and flow-rates for processing multiple products.

Removing flavours and concentrating proteins in the dairy industry

Flavourtech can assist dairy companies’ processing requirements in two ways:

• Installations of the SCC are used to reduce levels of unwanted animal feed or transport flavours often found in cream and milk. This application may also be used to remove storage or process (UHT) induced flavours
• The Centritherm centrifugal evaporator concentrates dairy proteins without damage. Various dairy proteins, such as WPC85, MPC85, and Colostrum can be commercially concentrated without any protein degradation to solid levels not possible in traditional evaporators

Flavourtech’s customers include market-leading domestic and multinational companies. Its technologies allow clients to differentiate the flavour and scent of products while providing flexibility and quality.