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Process Engineering

Process Engineering supplies stand-alone installations and processing lines for customers in the dairy, food, brewery, beverage, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

A comprehensive group of companies makes up the division – each a leader in its field, and each committed to meeting the customer’s exact requirements.

Decades of experience, innovation and dedication to testing and development enable the GEA Process Engineering Division to offer the market’s widest range of technologies and applications. A full range of engineering services supports the division’s activities.

GEA’s advanced processing technologiesare making a difference around the world:

• Consider the starch industry: The world’s largest evaporator – constructed by GEAWiegand – is helping save fossil fuels and reduce carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions through the economic production of power alcohol.
• Meanwhile, Tuchenhagen’s compact new pipe work system, called ECO-Matrix, is preventing brewery product losses and optimising manufacturing space.
• IFD™ Spray Drying Technology, Niro’s novel spray drying concept, is delivering superior powder quality in less factory space and making it easier to protect facilities against fire and dust explosions.
• And the challenges of coating hygroscopic and oddly shaped tablets are being solved by Niro Pharma Systems’ SUPERCELL™ Coating Technology, a breakthrough for the pharmaceutical industry.

Applied Technologies

The Process Engineering Division supplies a complete range of process systems and services based on the following technologies:

• Liquid processing
  GEA’s supply of liquid processing systems includes CIP/SIP units, UHT and pasteurizers, membrane filtration systems and process integration and automation systems.
• Concentration and pre-treatment
  For concentration and pre-treatment, the Process Engineering Division offers crystallization, evaporation, freeze concentration and solids/liquid extraction technology.
• Drying
  The Process Engineering Division offers a range of contact and convection type drying technologies, including spray dryers, fluid bed dryers, freeze dryers, flash dryers, ring and rotary dryers, and vortex disintegrator dryers.
• Powder processing and handling
  Cutting-edge solutions for manufacturing granulates and agglomorates include agglomerators, coaters, containment handling and dispensing systems, granulators, pelletizers, tablet presses and power handling and packing systems.

With companies and representatives in more than 50 countries, the Process Engineering Division is a strong global partner – and one that goes to great lengths to meet customers’ needs. For example, the division’s financial experts have access to an extensive network of local and international banks and financial institutions. By securing funds and/or guarantees, the Process Engineering Division can help customers implement their projects, especially in markets where access to investment capital is limited.

Tailored to individual product specifications

Every single technology solution is carefully designed to meet individual product specifications and comply with official standards. Superior hygiene and safety are, of course, integral features of every modern plant the Process Engineering Division supplies. With project management one of the division’s core competencies, efficient planning and contract execution is also a given.

Headache-free delivery, installation, commissioning

When a project is ready for installation, supervisors from the Process Engineering Division inspect the individual plant components and are on site to ensure a smooth start – and finish.

The division’s project engineers are present during mechanical commissioning and startup to optimise operating conditions, demonstrate guaranteed performance and train plant operators. The Process Engineering Division companies are all committed to and known for staying with a project until it meets the customer’s
expectations in every respect.

Optimal product and process development

Designing the optimal processes for manufacturing specific products and developing
new products or production methods is the job of the Process Engineering Division’s
product and process specialists. Pilot plant facilities are also available for test processing and manufacturing product samples.

Advanced product testing facilities

In recent years, the Process Engineering Division has heavily invested in providing test facilities in Switzerland and Denmark. The NPS Test Centre in Bubendorf, Switzerland is licensed to produce medical products by Swissmedic (The Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products) – a license which is recognised throughout the EU. It provides a one-stop GMP environment in which pharmaceutical companies can use the whole range of NPS process technologies to develop new solid dosage pharmaceuticals. In Denmark, the new GMP Spray Drying Test Station is approved by the Danish Medicines Agency for the production of drugs for clinical trials. It provides an unrivalled opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to test pharmaceutical processing technologies under controlled and repeatable conditions.

The Test Centre for Food and Chemical Products in Denmark is one of the world’s major competence centres. This cutting-edge resource offers food and chemical companies the possibility for making tests on various types of extraction-, evaporation- and drying technology.

Global after-sales service network

A global network of local companies, offices and service centres provides all the support customers need, including: plant and process optimisation, capacity increase, retrofitting and upgrading, plant safety evaluation, training programmes, technical service and spare parts supply. GEA’s Process Engineering companies represent all the Process Engineering Division’s technology centres locally and provide a onestop- shop for customers requiring any combination of products, systems and services available within the division. There are currently GEA Process Engineering companies in the following countries: The Netherlands, France, Italy, UK, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, China, India and Singapore and the United States, which serves the USA, Canada and Mexico.

* Rounded figures excluding trainees and apprentices at June 30, 2008.