Slurry Preparation Tank Powder Dosing

Maltodextrin is a raw material that requires special design in food processes due to its tendency to retain moisture, its risk of clumping, and its hygiene sensitivity. In this application, the entire system is designed with maltodextrin's flow and product safety characteristics in mind. VOLDE offers process solutions that implement the food industry's hygiene, cleanliness, and auditability requirements fully in the field, not just in theory.

| Hygienic Processes Specific to the Food Industry

In food processes, hygienic design is assessed as a whole — not just by the quality of the materials used, but by surface roughness, geometric details, and manufacturing quality. For raw materials like maltodextrin that tend to retain moisture and stick, these details are critically important for product safety and process continuity. In this application, the entire mechanical structure was approached with the principle of maximum cleanliness and minimum adhesion on product-contact surfaces. The design criteria listed below have been fully implemented to meet the food industry's high hygiene standards in the field.

• Ra ≤ 0.8 micron surface roughness
• Polished interior surfaces with no dead volume
• AISI 304 & AISI 316 stainless steel construction
• All equipment food-grade certified
• Smooth, burr-free, hygienic weld points
• Flow-optimized geometries that prevent maltodextrin buildup and sticking

| Big Bag Discharge and Dense-Phase Conveying

When bringing maltodextrin, which has a high tendency to generate dust, into the process, environmental contamination, product loss, and the risk of moisture absorption are critically important. Maltodextrin is taken from big bags via the VOLDE big bag discharge system completely dust-free and incorporated into the process through an enclosed line. This approach guarantees both product integrity and operator safety.

• Dust-free big bag discharge principle
• Pneumatic damper for flow continuity
• Use of a separate dryer at the compressor outlet to prevent the maltodextrin from absorbing moisture
• Enclosed, hygienic raw material transfer
• Ergonomic system design suited to food production areas

| Safe Conveying of Maltodextrin via Low-Speed Dense-Phase Pneumatic Conveying

Conveying maltodextrin without damaging its particle structure and without segregation is critical for product quality. For this reason, the raw material is conveyed to the bin at low speed and in a controlled manner via the stainless DENSPLUS dense-phase pneumatic conveying system. The AIRPLUS support air kit increases conveying stability while preserving the product's physical properties.

• Stainless DENSPLUS dense-phase conveying line
• AIRPLUS support air system
• Protection against metal contamination with a 10,000 Gauss magnetic separator
• Precise, recipe-based dosing via the weighed system
• Feeding to 2 slurry (bleaching) tanks via rotary valve
• Ensuring the same viscosity and slurry quality in every batch

| ATEX-Compliant Turnkey Solution

Given the explosion risk with fine-grained, dust-generating raw materials such as maltodextrin, the entire facility has been designed in compliance with ATEX directives. From mechanical equipment to electrical infrastructure, from control panels to automation software, the entire structure has been handled within a single engineering discipline. Production is end-to-end traceable and digitally manageable.

• ATEX compliance across all mechanical equipment
• ATEX-certified field equipment and cabling
• AISI 304 stainless main control panel
• SCADA-based recipe and batch management
• Full traceability through ERP–MES integration
• Detailed reporting on maltodextrin consumption, by batch and by quality