Stable emulsion

“The term is self-explanatory: a homogenizer ensures a homogeneous product,” explains Maïté Bauduin, Sales Engineer Flow Components and Homogenizers at GEA Belgium. “By applying high pressure, particles in fluids are made homogeneous, creating a stable emulsion.” 

“There are numerous applications, such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, personal care and certainly also dairy food products. In the food & beverage and dairy industries, there are many, many advantages: enhanced stability, longer shelf life, less need for additives or stabilizers and better and more controllable quality, making standardization possible. But this technology also greatly improves mouth feel and flavour, which are important aspects that consumers ask for more and more these days.”

Ice cream turnover tripled

“One excellent application, in my view, is the ice-cream sector. In the article about the company Mestdagh in Belgium, for example, you can read about how, together with our client, we succeeded in making an authentic product even better. So good, in fact, that Mestdagh closed a deal with one of the top five wholesalers in Belgium at the end of 2016. This will triple their turnover for that particular product range. I think it’s just great that we played a part in making that happen. With our affordable and accessible One Series, it’s not only the ‘big boys’ that reap the benefits; we can also do a lot to really help the business of artisan ice-cream makers.”

Limitless potential for paper manufacturers

The high pressure homogenization technology gives the advantage of formulating new added value products increasing the physical stability over time and allowing optimization of recipes. The close collaboration with customers to implement innovative and tailor-made solutions permits GEA to maintain continuous product development and to guarantee efficient operations and excellent results on the final products. 

“Paper manufacturers are going through tough times,” says Maïté. “In recent years the global paper industry has been particularly hard hit by digitization. Here, too, innovation and applied research in the field of homogenization offer a solution. Thanks to nanocellulose, we can extract cells from renewable plant sources. These cells can then be used as raw materials for all kinds of applications. Scientists believe that this technology may mean that we will eventually no longer need fossil (i.e. non-renewable) resources.”