To meet consumer demand for nutrient- and flavor-packed drinks, beverage processors are adding vitamins, amino acids and other powdered ingredients to their recipes. But adding ingredients to a recipe increases the risk of air entering the mixture, which can cause foaming, clogging and lumps. The introduction of air also can hinder added powders from being fully dissolved.
Taking the Air Out of Drinks
APV®, an SPX brand, combats the problem with a simple solution. The APV Flex Mix Instant®, an inline batch mixer, uses vacuum pressure to draw powder under the liquid, minimizing the amount of air that enters the mix.
The equipment is well suited for processing milk and juices, as well as food products such as baby food, ice cream and sauces — products that increasingly include additional powder ingredients to boost taste and nutritional value.
Flex-Mix Instant batch mixers are currently in use by a number of beverage makers around the world. One, a company in France, uses Flex-Mix Instant to improve the dispersion of added ingredients in its energy drinks.
For a dairy producer in New Zealand, using the technology to exclude air from its ice cream product accelerates run time and consequently, helps to increase the capacity of the ice cream plant itself.
Flex Mix Instant batch mixers are just one of the solutions available from the APV Flex-Mix line of mixing equipment. APV’s experienced application engineers can also assist customers in developing new applications or customizing equipment to meet specific application and production requirements.