Strong Together: Coperion, Coperion K-Tron and Gabler Engineering at Interpack 2023

Stuttgart, March 2023 – At this year’s Interpack (4-10 May 2023, Dusseldorf), Coperion, Coperion K-Tron and Gabler Engineering will jointly present their efficient process solutions for food manufacturing. New at booth 4D25 in hall 4 at this year's Interpack is Gabler Engineering. With the acquisition and integration of Gabler in 2022 Coperion expanded its food manufacturing portfolio. For over 115 years, Gabler Engineering has represented the perfect combination of experience and innovation, offering machines and systems for the development, construction and manufacture of complex, tailor-made processing systems for the confectionery and pharma industries. The company provides innovative technology and highly flexible machinery such as extruders, molding lines, coating machines and spray cabinets. At Booth 4D25, Gabler will exhibit the KM-40 extruder for manufacturing viscous masses, used for the manufacturing of chewing gum or chewable candy.

Visitors can also learn about the technologies and process expertise for manufacturing plant-based meat substitutes. Coperion’s ZSK Food Extruder in Hybrid Design provides one solution for manufacturing various TVP and HMMA-based meat substitutes on a single machine. Together with high-accuracy Coperion K-Tron feeders and efficient bulk material handling solutions, Coperion offers not only the ideal technical foundation for the production process but also supports companies in developing new recipes using various proteins.

Additionally, Coperion will be showing products for gentle and hygienic conveying of powdered ingredients with the WYK dual channel diverter valve as well as the ZRD 150 rotary valve. The rotary valve is equipped with intelligent RotorCheck 5.0 technology which provides reliable contact monitoring for greater safety in the conveying process. Coperion K-Tron will present two intelligent feeding solutions for high-accuracy ingredient feeding into the process: the QT20 twin screw loss-in-weight feeder as well as a representative of the new vibratory feeder line.

Extruder for manufacturing viscous masses

The Gabler Engineering twin screw extruder is ideally suited for manufacturing and molding high-viscosity mass strands, such as those used in chewing gum production. Each extruder is developed according to individual customer requirements to ensure the best possible process and resultant high product quality. Depending upon the product, Gabler extruders achieve throughputs between 5 and 5000 kg/h (11-11023 lb/h). In chewing gum production, the KM-40 extruder’s output typically achieves about 40 kg/h (88 lb/h). Every process section can be opened manually or automatically for cleaning, allowing for rapid product changes as well as flexibility in screw handling. The extruder conforms to the GMP requirements of equipment design, featuring smooth surfaces and fulfilling the food industry’s hygiene standards. Depending upon the application, the extruder can be integrated into a complete line or be used as a standalone machine.

Proven components and innovative technology for more safety in the conveying process

At this year’s Interpack, Coperion is presenting the proven ZRD 150 rotary valve outfitted with intelligent RotorCheck 5.0 technology. With this functionality, Coperion offers manufacturers reliable contact monitoring for rotary valves. This solution avoids unwanted contact between the rotor and the housing to reliably prevent metallic abrasion and thus any possible contamination of the product being conveyed. Thanks to its flexible control, the device can be modified to accommodate changes in production conditions. The device’s parameters can be adapted to different product characteristics or varying cleaning cycles with no difficulty at all. Food manufacturers with high product quality and safety demands will especially benefit from this add-on solution for Coperion rotary valves.

In addition, Coperion will be showing its proven WYK dual channel diverter valve, optimized in numerous ways and suited to meet the highest demands in the food industry. It is ideal for conveying powders with high hygienic requirements, such as powdered milk, lactose, and infant foods, and is CIP (Clean-In-Place) capable. Even with no additional disassembly or manual intervention, it is absolutely clean following wet cleaning and free of impurities, saving time, effort and costs. The diverter valve’s compact design and its high surface quality are further advantages. All materials in its construction fulfill EU1935/2004 food regulations and are FDA compliant.

Gentle, high-accuracy feeding solutions

With the K3-HD-CL-SFS-V100 vibratory feeder, Coperion K-Tron presents a solution for gentle gravimetric feeding of sensitive bulk solids. Coperion K-Tron K3 vibratory feeders use an innovative patent-pending drive system. This new generation of loss-in-weight feeders with vibratory trays provides gentle bulk material handling, higher feeding accuracy, and shorter changeover times which in turn lead to less waste, shorter downtimes, and higher product quality, and markedly higher process efficiency. K3 vibratory feeders are modularly constructed and are available in Standard Design, easy-to-clean Hygienic Design, and a specialized Pharma Version.

For the ever-increasing demands of manufacturing processes in the pharmaceutical industry, Coperion K-Tron is showing its K3-PH-ML-D4-QT20 twin screw loss-in-weight feeder in combination with a P10 vacuum sequencing sanitary receiver for refill. Thanks to the trapezoid scale shape and significantly smaller footprint, the K3-PH loss-in-weight feeder line is optimized for multi-feeder clusters around a process inlet. The D4 platform scale with high-accuracy Smart Force Transducer (SFT) weighing technology, together with the latest generation of controls, ensures high feeding accuracy. Furthermore, the modular “Quick Change” design simplifies and accelerates recipe modifications, cleaning and maintenance.

The Coperion K-Tron P-Series central receivers for vacuum sequencing are intended for conveying a broad palette of bulk materials; they fulfill the strict hygienic requirements of the food and pharmaceutical industries. All of the P-Series models are constructed of stainless steel and feature steep cone angles for reliable product discharge, as well as band clamps for quick disassembly.

To offer comprehensive solutions for food manufacturers, Coperion has created the Food, Health and Nutrition Division. Since October 2022, the LINXIS Group is part of this division. The LINXIS Group's six industry-leading brands - Bakon, Diosna, Shaffer, Shick Esteve, Unifiller and VMI - will also be at Interpack in hall 4, booth C23, directly opposite the Coperion booth. Peerless Food Equipment has been part of this group since December 2022.