The future is
continuous...

Sobatech is a family business specialized in continuous dosing, continuous mixing, and continuous proofing of all kinds of foods (literally all kinds). Sobatech truly believes the future of industrial food production is continuous. Therefore, we strive to replace traditional batch processes worldwide with the very best in continuous dough processing. Benefit from the technologically advanced and fully automated equipment of Sobatech and constantly deliver a consistent food quality to your end-consumer.

Continuous dosing and mixing is one of the first stages of the entire (food) production value chain. This means that the moment you tackle this step well, you enjoy it throughout the entire production process. For example, due to improved dough homogeneity, weighing can be done more accurately. This results in less waste during dough make-up and packaging.

NEW - (automated) Cleaning in Place system by Sobatech - [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urrvWLznHb4[/embed]

Another continuous project completed! - Dear community, We are happy and excited to present you the latest project performed by Team Sobatech. The production line consists out of a continuous dosing and mixing system producing 1.500 kg of short dough per hour. The system doses four liquid ingredients continuously via the Sobatech homogenizer (phase 1 mixing) in the continuous mixing chamber (phase 2 mixing). The customized mixing tools generate the exact kneading intensity determined during trials executed prior to the launch of this project. The liquid ingredients flow through a tube that is supplied with energy by a fixed vibration. When a liquid passes through this tube, the mass flow momentum will cause a change in the tube vibration. This means that there is no need to compensate for changing temperature, viscosity and pressure conditions. The solid ingredients are dosed via a gravimetric weighing belt and meet the liquid ingredients inside the homogenizer - a non-mechanical way of blending the liquid and solid ingredients before they enter the actual mixing chamber. The mixing chamber and corresponding customized mixing tools are there to bring in the necessary shear force - all geared to the specific energy needed to develop this product. Please see below for a variety of pictures showing Sobatech's continuous design. Proud regards, Geneviève Lekner [caption id="attachment_1633" align="alignnone" width="444"] Sobatech continuous dosing pumps incl. storage tanks[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1631" align="alignnone" width="444"] Sobatech continuous mixer[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1629" align="alignnone" width="444"] Sobatech customized cinch-seals[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1640" align="alignnone" width="444"] Continuous mixer lit[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1646" align="alignnone" width="445"] Sobatech - Allen Bradley controls[/caption]

Mass homogeneity - Dear Sobatech community, As you might know, Sobatech always proclaims to be thé specialist in creating homogeneous masses. Put differently, we claim to constantly deliver a consistent product quality. But what is homogeneity and how do we actually measure constant consistency? Evidently, there are multiple ways to measure mass homogeneity. During trials at our demo center we sometimes simply dose a few drops of liquid coloring into the mass to see how the coloring diffuses into the product. Please see the picture below. [caption id="attachment_1379" align="alignnone" width="300"] Mass homogeneity Sobatech[/caption] Another way to measure mass homogeneity is to take a small amount of product and put it in between two oval glasses. The product is pressed in between the glasses and hold against bright day-light. This allows to closely analyze the mass, its texture and possible lumps or other inconsistencies. To show you the effectiveness of this measure – we executed a small experiment. A liquid dough consisting of water and a premix of solids was created. Thereafter we treated the mass with three separate mechanical forces: 10 minutes on a batch mixer A pass through a Sobatech continuous mixer including low shear tooling A pass through a Sobatech continuous mixer including wing-shaped tooling (high shear) Please see below pictures for the results. [caption id="attachment_1592" align="alignnone" width="300"] Picture 1: result of 10 minutes in a batch mixer[/caption] The darker spots show lumps of product and/or other inconsistencies. [caption id="attachment_1595" align="alignnone" width="300"] Picture 2: result of one pass through a Sobatech continuous mixer incl. low shear tooling[/caption] This picture shows less darker spots and/or inconsistencies compared to picture 1. [caption id="attachment_1598" align="alignnone" width="300"] Picture 3: result of one pass through a Sobatech continuous mixer incl. high shear tooling[/caption] This picture shows limited to no inconsistencies. All in all, we can conclude from this experiment that the best blender is actually a kneader. Put differently, mass homogeneity is all about shear force. Shear is needed in order to disclose lumps (pieces of flour capsulized by liquid ingredients). For exactly that reason, Sobatech designed a new type of (extreme high shear) tooling. This tooling is called the wing-shaped tool and is all about maximizing shear force. This tool design, in combination with the general advantage of a continuous mixer that explains the relatively large contact surface inside the mixing chamber, results in a remarkable shear force. Do you want to learn more about this topic? Please visit our website or contact us on info@sobatech.com. [caption id="attachment_582" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sobatech's patented high shear mixing tools[/caption]

Team effort - Thanks to our team for their flexibility and efforts during this time of crisis. Together is the only way forward. #tulips #thankyou #sobatech #teameffort

COVID-19 - Dear Sobatech community, During these exceptional times of crisis, please trust that our entire team is taking every step possible to support you and your business. Sobatech is tracking the COVID-19 situation closely and is taking all necessary pre-caution measures to on the one hand, ensure the health and safety of our team and on the other hand, ensuring the continuity of existing and future projects. Whilst travel is in most cases not possible, we try to help you remotely and are here for you in case of questions or uncertainties. Wishing you, your family and team members a lot of strength in these difficult times. Be safe. -The Sobatech team [caption id="attachment_1565" align="alignleft" width="687"] Team Sobatech[/caption]