Compact temperer meets changeover demands, says Lloveras

24-Feb-2010 - Last updated on 24-Feb-2010 at 11:02 GMT

Related tags Chocolate

A new continuous chocolate tempering machine has a small footprint and reduces energy consumption by up to 30 per cent on standard tempering equipment, claims Spanish supplier Lloveras, who showcased a prototype at Pro Sweets this month.

The Barcelona based machinery manufacturer said its AAVC temperer has a pre-cooling tank of 200 litres with an agitator from which the feeding pump delivers the product into the tempering unit itself and the reduced scale of the unit enables a reduction in heating requirements but does not impact on output.

The AAVC is divided into different zones, continued the supplier, with the temperature of each totally controlled, and this enable quick transfer of cold to the mass causing the Beta crystals to form and the chocolate to be then tempered. It added that the water temperature in the three sections is very accurate due to the close and pressurized water circuit.

Jordi Torres, sales and marketing manager at Lloveras, said market demands for flexibility in product changeover, quality of end product as well compact design were key drivers in the development of the AAVC temperer, which took two years to bring to market.

“Our main customers are medium sized volume confectioners who do not have a huge output but instead have plenty of product variables to enable them compete effectively on the market.

As such they need tooling that enables quick product changeover and the AAVC allows chocolate makers to switch from say milk chocolate to dark chocolate with only 30 to 40 minutes downtime involved,” he said.

Torres said that the temperer also has an easy-access design to facilitate maintenance and includes a de-seeder to allow for de-crystallization of the returning mass.

Torres said that there are four models of the new tempering equipment available with output capacity ranging from 250kg to one tonne per hour and, he continued, the AAVC can guarantee shelf life of 12 months on tempered chocolate products, but added, that this timeframe obviously depends on the quality of the input ingredients.

Following the presentation at Pro Sweets, Torres said that Lloveras has signed deals to supply the 250kg and 750 kg per hour models to three confectioners based respectively in Romania, Poland and Algeria.

And he explained that the Spanish company is focusing on emerging markets such as these because they show the greatest growth potential coupled with the fact that the more developed European countries are saturated in terms of confectionery equipment installation.