PLANT BASED DAIRY ALTERNATIVES
Plant-based beverages
increasingly popular
Bringing quality plant-based beverages to today’s
discerning consumers with GEA technology
The rapid uptake in plant-based
foods is keeping manufacturers
on their toes. Plant-based
beverages are gaining a significant
consumer base, driven most recently
by people’s increased focus on health
and sustainability as well as the fact
that there are simply more high-quality
products available for people to explore
and enjoy. “The vegetarian segment is a
key focal area for development at GEA.
Demand is high around the world and
GEA’s extensive project experience and
technology portfolio allow us to support
customers every step of the way,
through to service in ongoing operations,”
says Colm O’Gorman, GEA Business
Manager Plant-Based Beverages.
"The core of the entire process line is
extraction by a one- or two-stage decanter
process," explains Angel Rubio
Domenech, Product Manager Separation,
Plant-based Beverages. "We have
already been active in the market for
plant-based beverages for decades
and have meanwhile developed our
decanter into a lean, mean machine".
The two-stage decanter process increases
the yield by up to ten per cent
(protein in soy, starch in rice and oats)
compared with earlier processes using
the same ingredients. Designed in
a hygienic design for maximum product
safety, GEA decanters also have flexibly
adaptable operating parameters such
as the differential speed for optimized
yields. The robust decanters ensure
long operating times by using wearresistant
parts and convenient service
intervals. The patented hydrohermetic
system reduces foam formation. In addition,
GEA decanters in
hygienic design:
Production of
beverages at
the highest
level and in
reproducible
quality. (Photo: GEA)
the fully automatic control and
regulation system GEA varipond enables
an adjustable pond depth, which
simplifies the processing of different
products.
Turnkey plant for
processing soy
One of China's largest milk processors
expanded its portfolio with a complete
soy processing plant from GEA. The
project included the construction and
installation of components for the pretreatment
of soy products - from extracting
the beans to blending. The new
plant was commissioned in late summer
2019, significantly increasing the
customer's soybean processing capacity
and its position in the plant-based
beverage market.
In this complete turnkey processing
line, the soy beverage is produced in a
stable mixture of oil, water and protein by
soaking the soybeans, then milling and
blending them with water. The okara (soy
pulp) is then strained out with a decanter.
Once the enzymes are deactivated
by heat, the liquid is deodorized, mixed
and homogenized. The soy products are
then pasteurized or ultra-heat treated
and packaged. Reducing the activity
of the lipoxygenase enzyme is an important
step in this process since this
prevents unsaturated fatty acids from
oxidizing and creating an undesirable
off-taste (e.g. bean flavor). Flavor variations
- whether the product has a bean
or neutral flavor - are created by setting
the appropriate parameters during the
extraction phase.
Turnkey plants such as those realized
by GEA require expertise at all levels.
Here GEA designs integrated process
lines from the raw material to the
finished packaged product: Here the
processing technologies for raw material
handling, separation by decanters,
inactivation of enzymes, aroma
control, mixing and homogenization
through to aseptic filling and packaging
flow into a complete solution. The
ability to combine technologies with
engineering knowledge, project management
and commissioning knowhow
and service expertise is new and
unique in the market.
Interested customers can carry
out the process or individual process
stages in one of the numerous GEA test
centers. GEA's new CF 1000 decanter is
suitable for on-site trials and GEA also
offers a webinar about plant-based
beverages at video.gea.com.
September 2020 ¦ international-dairy.com · 11
/video.gea.com
/international-dairy.com
