Agglomeration of Instant Foods

Agglomeration, the process of binding particles into larger granules, plays a key role in enhancing the properties of powders, especially for instant products. This technique improves solubility in liquids—a crucial feature for instant beverages—and also enhances flowability, which minimizes dust and reduces health and safety risks in production environments. Good flow properties are essential for precise dosing in vending machines and for ease of handling, transport, and unloading from silos.

Agglomeration also prevents separation of ingredients after mixing, maintaining consistent quality and bulk density from production to the consumer. With a uniform, homogeneous product, packaging units are reliably filled with precise volumes every time. This consistency enhances product quality, benefiting both manufacturers and end users.

The Hosokawa Flexomix is a compact, continuous mixer and agglomerator that produces raspberry-shaped particles from 0.2 to 1.2 mm in size. With capacities ranging from 50 to 25,000 kg per hour, the Flexomix operates through a controlled dosing feeder, ensuring a precise intake of powders and liquids. Within the mixing chamber, intense blending binds particles into granules, whose size is dictated by the powder-to-liquid ratio and specific process conditions. The granules are then typically passed into a fluid bed dryer and cooler, sieved, and packaged. Hosokawa Micron also manages de-dusting and process control, ensuring seamless operation.

The Hosokawa Flexomix features a vertical rotor with high-speed mixing elements inside a chamber with flexible walls that are continuously massaged to prevent buildup. This unique design keeps the mixing chamber clean, ensuring process stability and consistent product quality. With a fill rate of only a few percent and a brief particle retention time of 0.2 to 1 second, the system delivers efficient, high-speed processing. The rotor, mixing elements and flexible chamber can be made of various materials to suit specific applications.

One of the standout features of the Flexomix is its ability to process multiple powders and liquids in a single step. Energy consumption is carefully controlled by adjusting rotor speed, and the system minimizes energy use due to the short mixing time. With easy access for inspection and cleaning, the Flexomix is an efficient, flexible solution for producing high-quality instant powders.

Our Test and Process Development Centre in the Netherlands offers unique possibilities for testing your product to determine the most efficient process, system or plant prior to final design. We can provide laboratory-level as well as production-sized trials.

Whether you wish to test a single machine or a complete powder processing system, the same skilled and experienced staff are here to help ensure that your requirements are met, and that you are entirely satisfied with the results.

We offer process equipment and technologies from individual units to large scale bespoke system solutions. Our principle is to deliver high performance yet affordable solutions that meet our customers' demands and long term challenges.