Licorice cooker
When producing liquorice and other sticky or viscous food products, during the cooling or heating process, components in the product might stick to the machine surface. This leads to fouling and loss of heat exchange, which is inefficient and should be avoided for obvious hygienic reasons.
Using scraper blades to ensure transfer of heat when cooking liquorice
The MCE Cotator from Mattoc Confectionery Engineering is a food safe, scraped surface heat exchanger to cook, pasteurize or cool viscous masses like liquorice, fruit paste, caramel, mashed potatoes or marshmallows. It is designed with stainless steel scraper blades and a stainless steel heat exchange surface that comply with hygiene standards. At the start of the process, the product is pumped into a heat exchange tube where there is a rotational shaft carrying blades that scrape the tube surface. A geared motor drives the rotor to match the viscosity of the product. For heat exchange, a second tube surrounds the first and contains either steam or oil for heating or water for cooling that travels in the opposite direction to the product. The blades continuously remove the food product from the wall of the tube to ensure a thorough and even transfer of heat from the heating or cooling medium to the food. The food exits from the opposite end of the tube via a temperature probe and pressure control valve to maintain the correct heat exchange conditions for the process.
The machine is available in 600, 1,200 and 2,000 mm length, depending on the desired production capacity. It is designed to handle both viscous and heat sensitive products at rates between 100 and 2,000 kg/hr with motor powers between 3 and 15 kW.
Benefits
- Rotating scraping action can vary in speed and diameter to match product demands
- Can be installed horizontally or vertically
- No chrome plate on the heat exchange surface to comply with European food safety standard EC 1935/2004