Armfield

The Armfield FT18-MkII is a small pilot-scale cross-flow filtration system designed to operate with a range of membrane module configurations. It can operate with as little as 5-10 litres of material but still give data that is useful for process scale-up. It can be used over the full range of cross-flow filtration applications from microfiltration through to reverse osmosis. It is the perfect tool to use, following on from flat sheet membrane trials with the FT17, for further process development and scale-up.

The Armfield Cheese Vat is designed to provide practical training in the production of cheese by the traditional method. The Armfield Cheese Vat makes an ideal research facility. When making Cheddar type cheese, approximately 1kg of cheese is produced from a ten-litre batch of milk.

The costs incurred by the length of time taken, the large quantities of raw materials required and the interruption of the production process mean it is disadvantageous to test new products using full-scale production equipment. The Armfield evaporator processes samples as small as two litres under conditions identical to those in production, sufficient to reveal the effect of heating on any ingredients newly introduced to the recipe. As well as investigation of the effect on organoleptic and physico-chemical properties, the equipment can be used to prepare product for taste trials on a daily basis to ensure the quality of incoming raw material is consistent.

Armfield miniature-scale technology is well established as offering developers the opportunity to run small trials, which provide enough information to enable scale-up to larger plant with confidence. The formulations go through similar physio-chemical changes as they would in production plant and real time data logging permits results to be recorded and repeated. The FT25 range of miniature-scale scraped surface heat exchangers has built in control and flexibility with a graphic representation on the membrane technology control panel. The operator can choose the parameters wanted for any particular formulation. The FT25 has a number of configurations according to the use required.