Product development usually focuses on the optimisation of successful products. That means improved effectiveness and storage, safer handling and easier dosing. Glatt, a German specialist in particle design, process development and plant engineering, is among the companies that offer fluid bed and spouted bed technologies to address these challenges. The almost unlimited possibilities of process design are provided by flow-mechanical and thermodynamic properties that facilitate processes for optimising powders and liquids, and refining them almost without restriction. Both concepts make it possible to thermally dry and functionalise raw materials economically in a single process step – batchwise or continuously, in single- or multi-stage processes, under protective gas as well as nitrogen. Drying and product design are thus possible in one process step using the same apparatus. Dr Michael Jacob, Head of Process Technology Food, Feed & Fine Chemicals at Glatt Ingenieurtechnik, looks at the use of fluid bed and spouted bed technologies in crop protection. / originally published in: Speciality Chemicals Magazine September 2019 issue (TRMG Ltd., UK)

Sprühagglomerierte Inhaltsstoffe lassen sich in heißem Wasser restlos auflösen und auch mit kalter Milch zu einem Shake mixen. Auch gesundheitsbewusste Verbraucher greifen zum schnellen Genuss: Sprühagglomeration in der Wirbelschicht hilft, Pulver für Instantprodukte schneller löslich zu machen und alle Eigenschaften exakt einzustellen. Hinzu kommt der Aspekt der Wirtschaftlichkeit, der insbesondere bei kontinuierlich arbeitenden Anlagen ins Gewicht fällt.

Weltweit steigen in nahezu allen Branchen die Anforderungen an die Funktionalität und Lebensdauer von Produkten. Die benötigten Hochleistungsmaterialien stellen die Material- und Werkstoffentwickler und damit auch die Pulverhersteller vor neue Herausforderungen. Materialien der Zukunft bedingen immer spezifischere Eigenschaftsprofile. Die Glatt Pulversynthese setzt Maßstäbe bei der Herstellung neuer Pulverwerkstoffe für Hochleistungskeramiken, Batteriewerkstoffe, Katalysatoren oder Spezialpigmente.

Der Anlagenbauer Glatt Ingenieurtechnik ist dank seiner technologie- und prozessorientierten Innovationskompetenz ein international gefragter Entwicklungspartner für Forschungsinstitutionen und die Industrie. Das Technologiezentrum ist der Hub für Partikeldesign: Hier entstehen aus F&E-Ideen neue Verfahren, Produktmuster, marktreife Pulver, Granulate und Pellets. Dr. Michael Jacob ist Leiter Process Technology Food, Feed & Fine Chemicals und Prokurist bei Glatt Ingenieurtechnik in Weimar. Er zählt zu den prägenden Köpfen des Spitzenclusters Wigratec+ (Wirbelschicht-Granuliertechnik) Sachsen-Anhalt/Thüringen, des Verbundprojekts Pades (Partikeldesign Thüringen) und engagiert sich im Hochschulnetzwerk.

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