Mühlenchemie and partners invest $6.5m in upgrading flour technology center
The businesses – all part of the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe – have extended their technology center in Ahrensburg, near Hamburg, to 3,000 sqm. The facility includes a laboratory, dough rheology department and trial bakery.
Stern-Wywiol Gruppe said the enlarged test center and bakery would enable mills, bread factories and manufacturers of pastry goods or pasta to simulate processes and the effects of enzymes and other active ingredients.
“We are now able to reflect all the stages of the production process from the grain to the baked product with the latest technical equipment,” added Stern-Wywiol Gruppe managing director Lennart Kutschinski.
This would result in individual solutions that could be implemented on an industrial scale in a short time, added the business.
Industrial milling
New equipment in the center includes: an automatic grinder that enables grain samples to be ground into flour in a similar way to industrial milling; a rotation oven and two shock freezers; a computer-controlled mixer for preparing the dough, and several multideck ovens.
The rheological laboratory has been enlarged and fitted with Brabender and Chopin instruments.
Mühlenchemie specializes in flour standardization, improvement and fortification, and exports its products to more than 120 countries. Solutions developed at the company’s technology center include enzyme preparations Alphamalt, Powerzym, Sternzym, Pastazym and Tigerzym.