Jongia Mixing Technology is active within various fields with a great number of process solutions. One of these fields is starch gelatinization. This process, extensively applied in the food industry, is used for producing a versatile thickened gel that can be used in products like sauces, pudding, cream, and candy. Jongia Mixing Technology has supplied agitators to a high number of projects related to starch gelatinization. In this article, we explain how Jongia Mixing Technology was able to optimize the process line of a candy manufacturer.
Joining hands to optimize mixing process for candy manufacturer
Jongia Mixing Technology was approached by a customer, (a candy manufacturer that produces marshmallows ) with the question whether they could offer a solution for their mixing process. This customer was using second-hand mixing equipment, which apparently seemed also a Jongia product, and although these were of sufficient quality, the agitator was not fully designed for the job. The customer wished to upscale their mixing process, which was impossible with that equipment. In order to optimize the process, the customer teamed up to share knowledge and experience with Jongia Mixing Technology.
The starch gelatinization process
There are not too much ingredient used for marshmallow production. To produce marshmallows, the basic material is corn-starch, which first needs to be modified. This modification is reached by increasing the corn starch material temperature with hot water to become a gel or a gum. A very important item of this process is that the corn starch is the best ingredient to dissolve the added sugars without these to crystallize and therefor remain homogeneous. The gelatinization process is further being modified with enzymes to turn into a syrup of glucose. Next, dextrose, flavouring such as vanilla, and colouring are added to the process.
A very important step in this process is the mixing of starches in water and modifying these into Glucose syrup. If the agitator is properly designed, the mixing process will save a lot of production time and provides you a with very high-quality product.
From laboratory to test scale to find right agitator
In the search for a solution, all ingredients applicable in the marshmallow production process were first tested on lab-scale and later-on at pilot-scale in Jongia’s Technology Centre.
In this case, the best design for the agitator was to choose a tank geometry which has a spherical bottom and a length which is 3 times the diameter of the tank. The agitator needed to be positioned at 1/3rd of the tankdiameter and equipped with a very powerful axial flow turbine in the bottom of the tank. To ensure sufficient top-to-bottom flow, a hydroprop mixing element was placed at seventy percent of the tank’s height. This hydroprop mixing element feeds the axial flow to the axial turbine. The turbine mixes the starch and the fluid into liquefied corn starch.
With the agitator positioned at 1/3rd of the tank diameter, no baffles are required inside the tank. This makes the complete mixing installation very easy to clean and therefor highly efficient and ready for the next batch of production!
Want to know more?
Like all mixing processes, the mixing process of starch gelatinization requires a specific approach. Jongia Mixing Technology possesses all expertise and experience to give broad advice regarding this product. Are you active in the food industry where starch plays an important role? Jongia Mixing Technology can help you optimize your process by performing various tests at pilot-scale. Feel free to contact us for more information.
Tutorial: starch gelatinization – from raw starch to glucose syrup
Around the world, Jongia Mixing Technology has initiated numerous mixing processes using its agitators to produce modifications from raw starch and convert them into usable products. An example of a product where raw starch is one of the constituents is
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