Overview
As powdered products are shipped around the world and are often held in storage for extended periods, there is a real risk of degradation - which might limit the shelf-life of the product. For more than 20 years, GEA has been supplying inert gas packing technology to the food and dairy industries to enable our customers to deal with the logistics of storage and shipping valuable powdered products.
Oxygen sensitive products are prone to exhibiting changes to flavor when exposed to high O2 levels for a prolonged time. In order to reduce the affect of oxidation, inert gas can be added to the product prior to filling and closing. This is performed in several steps.
The powder in the hopper above the filler is pre-charged with nitrogen - usually done during the transport stage when using vacuum to transfer the powder. This reduces the residual oxygen level (RO) to around 1-2%. The filling system pre-flushes the bag with nitrogen before filling with the gassed powder from the hopper above.
Upgrade Option
GEA now offers customers who purchased non-gas packing machines the opportunity to upgrade their plant to take advantage of the benefits of MAP, such as
- increased shelf-life of powdered products
- flexibility to handle a wider range of products
- reduced risk of oxidation
- ability to store products at higher ambient temperatures
- improved flavor during longer periods of storage
All GEA fillers in our current range can be upgraded to include Modified Atmosphere Packing (M.A.P.). In addition to the filler modifications, the upgrade may require additional modification to the powder feed system.
GEA can advise on these and any other M.A.P. requirements.
Downloads
Related Products
HYGiPac R1 – Compact Bag Filler
Fully automatic powder filling for low production capacity plants. The HYGiPac R1 ensures high quality filling of sensitive food powders are rates up to 3MT/hr.
Bag, Box, Drum and Container Handling
GEA container handling includes equipment solutions to meet the varied needs of powder packing plants. These components are selected to provide a complete processing line for filled bags through to the finished product store.
Limited Intervention Powder Fillers
The Limited Intervention Filler range is designed to enable customers to fully automate their powder packing plant from the infeed of empty bags right through to the finished product store.
Automatic Powder Fillers
Our Inline Automatic Filler range has been designed to provide a flexible powder filling solution to suit plants which may need to increase production capacity to meet future demand.
The Inline Filler range comprises a single head model (IBF-450) that can be upgraded to include a single top-up system (IBF-600) or dual top-up system (IBF-800) to ...
GEA Insights
The water equation
Across Europe, drought is a recurring reality – and no longer confined to the south. While water increasingly shapes where industries locate, its value is determined by local context. There are many technological routes to water efficiency in industrial processes, but location, energy needs and other factors are also key.
