Sonic wave technology targets brewing
food industry will look to build on a successful year by focusing
on new developments in the brewing sector.
Pursuit Dynamics, which invented the increasingly popular PDX Sonic wave processing system, said it wanted to develop a range of PDX products for brewers and expected the first significant revenue from this move in 2007.
Popularity of the PDX technology has grown in the food and drink industry over the last year, as producers look for ever more efficient processing tools.
Pursuit Dynamics said sales for the year just ended were £1.4m, up from £90,000 in 2005, largely thanks to its food and beverage business.
PDX Sonic claims to save processors time and money by heating, entraining, mixing and pumping mixture - achieved by accelerating steam to three times the speed of sound and subsequently sending a supersonic shockwave through the processing chamber.
Pursuit Dynamics said one of the world's top brewers had commissioned its PDX wort boiling technology for a full-scale trial in the UK.
"We anticipate that this trial will confirm energy savings in excess of 30 per cent, which were consistently demonstrated in earlier trials," the group said. It has been working on the project alongside the UK-based Brewing Research International body since 2005.
Initial projections suggested the high-profile brewer involved in the trials had estimated energy bill savings of £1.5m.
Trials like this have helped Pursuit Dynamics to grab attention in a food industry feeling the strain of soaring input costs.
The firm also claims its PDX technology can be used right across the food industry, from liquid food to soft drinks. By November 2005, top firms from Europe and America, including Coca-Cola's UK arm, had placed orders.
