KROHNE Group provides measuring equipment that is precisely adapted to each customer’s individual needs. They offer a global team of industry experts with extensive application knowledge and local contacts for instrumentation projects in more than 100 countries.

Ryan Kromhout, global industry division manager at Krohne, shares his views about how flow measurement technology saves money and increases production uptime.

Kromhout leads the Global Industry Division for the food and beverage segment, always with a focus to increasing efficiency in sustainable foods production.

 Krohne is known for precision measurement instrumentation since 1921. How has the company adapted itself to a changing market, particularly in plant-based proteins?

KROHNE operates in many different industrial sectors with very dedicated requirements in order to provide a customized solution. Customers benefit from our broad experience in process measurement. The challenges of plant-based production are comparable to other food manufacturing processes, and we can also offer upgrades or redesigns from our learnings in other sectors, such as pulp measurement in the paper industry. Most of the time we help to tighten production tolerances and enhance product quality. The challenging and most rewarding projects are about improving the manufacturing process, where our products can create a proven added value.

What are the main challenges that plant-based ingredient manufacturers currently face and how can KROHNE add value to that?

One challenge is to increase production efficiency without compromising the texture of the final product – the key to consumer acceptance. Maintaining all ingredients in precisely the right proportions, while maintaining the right density, the correct cooking or cooling temperature and the required operating pressure is what KROHNE is best at.

How does your flow measurement technology best benefit customers?

Coriolis flowmeters by KROHNE offer a range of advantages for producers, including the weighing of pasty mixtures in the extrusion processes. Thanks to the EGM™ technology (entrained gas management), KROHNE enables inline measurement that overcomes the challenge of fibres, solids or air entrainment. The flow measurement technology allows enhancement from conventional, interruption-controlled batch/batch cycle, which is controlled to absolute values, over to this continuous proportional inline type of production. Instead of manual weighing and blending processes, which are time consuming and costly, all required ingredients are continuously blended precisely in the requested ratio right in the process piping. The result: a free of interruption and scalable production process that is significantly more efficient, all without compromising quality.

How do you see the future of plant-protein processing?

The choice of meat and fish alternatives is constantly growing. Whether soy, peas or seitan, food manufacturers use a variety of protein sources to imitate meat products in terms of taste and texture, and with a high emphasis on the closest ‘bite feel’.

Here you can find more information about KROHNE measurement solutions for plant based food production: https://cmp.krohne.com/new-food.