Cocoa pilot plant opened
14 April 2011 – Expanding upon its network of innovation centres in North America, Barry Callebaut has opened a special research and development laboratory and pilot plant at its cocoa products factory in Pennsylvania.
The pilot plant – a scaled down cocoa products factory that mimics the production processes that occur on actual full scale product lines in the factory – will enable Barry Callebaut to better serve its industrial customers in the Americas region. Specifically, the company will be able to produce cocoa liquor, cocoa powder and cocoa butter from any cocoa bean blend in small batches, as well as test new products and raw ingredients, prior to producing them on a mass scale.
“With this new applications laboratory and pilot plant, we will be able to create truly unique cocoa products customised specifically to meet our food manufacturing customers’ needs in terms of colour, flavour and performance attributes,” said Hans Vriens, chief innovation officer for Barry Callebaut.
The new pilot plant features a variety of innovative pilot scale equipment, including:
- A winnower, which dehulls and winnows cocoa beans
- Nib and cake alkaliser, which neutralises acidic components in the cocoa
- Nib roaster, which roasts the bits of the cocoa beans that have been separated from their hulls
- Cocoa liquor grinding line, which grinds the roasted cocoa nibs into a fine paste
- Cocoa press, which separates the cocoa paste into liquid cocoa butter and solid cocoa cakes
- Cocoa powder mill, which processes the solid cocoa into a powder
The applications lab also features an automatic cutter, giving Barry Callebaut’s R&D team new production capabilities for developing syrups, sauces, fillings, and ice cream based applications.
