CONTINUOUS PROCESSES
Concentration monitoring Both sugar confections and chocolate fillings are often produced by preparing a diluted mixture of the ingredients, with the sugar content then being concentrated to the desired level by cooking and evaporating the water. The final Brix of the mixture is what determines the flavour, consistency, and overall quality of the final confectionery product. Careful monitoring is therefore a vital element of the production process to ensure consistent, reliable product quality. Incorrect moisture content can harm the
physical characteristics of the final product, causing processing problems upstream and affecting final product quality. Excessive moisture can also cause product deterioration by promoting the growth of microorganisms. The Vaisala inline refractometer is able
to continuously measure the Brix level of the cooking solution, which provides real-time information that can be used to determine the end-point of cooking, and also to ensure consistent product quality. It allows confectionery manufacturers to move away from time-consuming and laborious manual sampling and laboratory analysis and to redeploy operators to attend to more important tasks. The refractometer can be installed directly
in the cooker or in the cooker’s outlet pipe. In a batch process, a flush-mounted refractometer is installed at the bottom of the vessel. For continuous cooking, the refractometer is installed at the outlet of the cooker. A flush- mounted refractometer can be installed in a cooker without impeding the action of scrapers or mixers, and the prism is washed with steam or high-pressure water from a wash nozzle which is installed together with the refractometer. A further refractometer can be installed at the pre-mixer to ensure the correct feed concentration to the cooker. Continuous
ANY DEVIATION FROM SPECIFICATION COULD THEREFORE RESULT IN
PRODUCT WASTAGE. WITH THE BENEFIT OF AN INLINE MONITORING SOLUTIONS, ANY PROBLEMS ARE NOW DETECTED IMMEDIATELY ALLOWING APPROPRIATE
STEPS TO BE UNDERTAKEN WITHOUT DELAY
measurement is particularly important to ensure continuous operation of cookers that work under vacuum. The Vaisala refractometer is able to provide
both Ethernet and 4-20 mA output signals which can be used for real-time process control of the process. If the Brix level after cooking varies from the specified value, the refractometer sends a signal to the process controller for valve control. For example, the controller is able to open the valve to recycle the product for re-processing and sends information to adjust the ingredients ratio.
Praline production In a real-life application, a chocolate manufacturer of individually wrapped pralines that contain cherries soaked in a cherry
brandy liqueur and covered in dark chocolate coating, specified the use of Vaisala’s sanitary refractometers to enable them to continuously monitor Brix for final quality control. The manufacturer is using refractometers
for the quality control of the liqueur – checking that production adheres to the recipe. Alcohol is added to the brandy to meet the correct liqueur concentration, and Brix measurements are taken immediately prior to the addition of the brandy to the cherries. Because production areas containing
products with a high level of alcohol are rated at least as ATEX Zone 2, the monitoring devices used in this environment needed to be approved both for sanitary applications and needed to have ATEX classification. In this application, it was necessary for the refractometer to be Intrinsically Safe and compliant with the requirements of ATEX Zone 0/1. Vaisala’s solution combined both 3-A and EHEDG + ATEX zone 2, 1 or 0. Traditionally the chocolate manufacturer
had used a manual testing process, sampling for laboratory analysis. This was a costly and time-consuming task that also incurred a delay in the provision of test results. Any deviation from specification could therefore result in product wastage. With the benefit of an inline monitoring solutions, any problems are now detected immediately allowing appropriate steps to be undertaken without delay.
One technology – multiple applications In contrast with many other liquid concentration methods, the Vaisala refractometer is not affected by particles, bubbles, crystals, or colour, which means they can be employed in a wide variety of solutions for measuring liquid concentration within confectionery and chocolate production processes. Importantly, they adhere to 3-A Sanitary Standards and are EHEDG certified.
APRIL 2026 • KENNEDY’S CONFECTION • 77
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