The European projects ‘HighTech Europe’ and ‘FoodMicroSystems’ co-organized together with the Dutch Dairy Association (NZO) a workshop on Innovative Processes and Analysis Methods for the Dairy Industry. The workshop took place on 7 June 2012 at the Restaurant of the Future in Wageningen.
In the first session two presentations were given about separation, structuring, and pervaporation. First lecturer was Cees van Rijn from Aquamarijn who gave information about SiN membranes with very well defined pores (100 nm and up) which are used to sieve components from milk or beer or in a reversed process to make emulsions of e.g. oil droplets in water or foams of e.g. aerated desserts. Because of the very high uniformity of the pores, the thinness of the membranes and the unlimited control over the shape of the holes, the characteristics of the end product can be controlled to a very high extend. Remarkable are the relatively high throughputs (40 -100 x higher flux, when compared to conventional filtration). Filtration units on industrial scale are already commercial available for the beer industry.
Frans Velterop from Pervatech presented their ceramic membranes with very small pores (less than 1 nm). They are typically used for dehydration and removal of small molecules from larger mw Dalton solvents. Contrary to dehydration, Pervatech offers also organophilic membranes to remove organics from watery streams. These membranes can be used to extract specific molecules from the product stream (e.g. aroma’s, off-flavours, etc.). The intermediate products in the manufacture of the ceramic membranes for dehydration can be used also for emulsification, were the desired pore size can be set from 1 nm up to 100 nm. Indicative experiments show potential of the ceramic membranes for the reversed process to produce emulsions.
In the following discussion it was mentioned that it must be considered that the introduction of new technologies must not be so cost-intensive that the product prices increase. Helpful might be an added value for consumers like longer shelf-life or additional advantages like improved sustainability of downstream processes.
In the second section Aart van Amerongen from FBR spoke about sensing and detection. He described the Nucleic acid lateral flow immunoassay (NALFIA). The use of carbon nanoparticles enables detection limits of low picomolar levels and the method works in different matrices like faeces, blood, milk, etc. To be used on farms PCR equipment is necessary which costs around 3000 €. However, it is necessary to have an easy automated sample in – result out function. This way, early detection and fast treatment e.g. of organisms in faeces causing animal diseases would be feasible. Another interest of the sector was the detection of specific compounds in milk to distinguish between milk of grass-fed and hay/concentrate-fed cows.
The third session comprised the lab on a chip presentation given by Karin Schroën from Wageningen University. She gave a scientific overview of emulsions and presented the opportunities of microfluidics for emulsification which include the production of encapsulation systems with very specific release characteristics. However, the up-scaling is still a problem and connected with high investment costs. At the same time the special advantages provided by the technology are mostly not needed in the food sector.
