An existing Admix customer making confections needed to develop a new process for making gummy-type candy. They were using an old Cowles-type mixer in one tank and a small prop mixer in the other tank. Unfortunately, they could not properly mix the contents because there was very little water, some corn syrup and a lot of powder.
The powders included: Sugar, Pectin, Starch and Xanthan gum. It would take hours to get the tank mixed, and the final mix was not very good at that. There was a lot of powder hung up on the walls of the tank, as well as clumps of gum that were the size of golf balls. Additionally, more powder was being wasted and taken out by strainers when the product was pumped out of the tank. As a result of lower powder concentration, the downstream product then needed to be cooked more to drive off the excess water. This process not only took a long time, but also required a lot of energy.
Confident they would not have to search far, the customer called upon their local Admix Rep knowing that we would provide a solution to their newest mixing challenge. The first step was to send samples to the Admix Applications lab for testing. Our scale-up techniques are the most comprehensive in the industry and ensure similar performance from benchtop testing to full-scale production models. Guaranteed!!
After a successful 4-liter test performed with the BenchMix high shear lab mixer, we were able to accurately scale up to a 1000-liter production unit.
Now the processor is making high quality gummy products in minutes instead of days!