The Filling Machines Magazine

Mayonnaise and other viscous sauces filling

fillingtechnics — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:43:35 +0000

A common explanation of mayonnaise’s origin is that the recipe was brought back to France from the town of Mahon in Menorca, after the French victory over the British at the city’s port in 1756. According to this version, the sauce was originally known as Salsa Mahonesa (as it is still known on Menorca), later becoming Mayonnaise as it was popularized by the French.
According to Trutter et al.: “It is highly probable that wherever olive oil existed, a simple preparation of oil and egg came about — particularly in the Mediterranean region, where All-i-oli (oil and garlic) is made.”

Mayonnaise can be made with an electric mixer, an electric blender, or a food processor, or by hand with a whisk or fork. Mayonnaise is made by slowly adding oil to an egg yolk, while whisking vigorously to disperse the oil. The oil in yolks form a base of the emulsion, while the lecithin from the yolks is the emulsifier that stabilizes it. Additionally, a bit of a mustard may also be added to sharpen its taste, and further stabilize the emulsion. Mustard contains small amounts of lecithin.

Filling machines manufactured by Antonio Mengibar S.A. allow to fill sauces (warm and room temperature) even with solid big particles in the product. A bottom-up filling nozzle system (adjustable to accommodate to different bottle formats) permits to reduce the aireation of the product during the filling operation and obtain a correct distribution inside of the bottle, without generating air bubles and contamination

Trigger and Dosing Pumps Placers

fillingtechnics — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:23:16 +0000

In the 1970s, the precompression pump was introduced. It contains a centra accumulator that holds product for dispensing. A piston pressurizes product in the accumulator, which has a passageway to the dispensing point, insuring fine atomization of the product regardless of the velocity of the pump stroke. Early pump tended to dribble or steam if activated slowly.

The first products to benefit from the continuous dispensing feature of the precompression technology were fragances.

Fine-mist dispensers have adopted precompression technology that permits continuous spraying of the product, leading uses in hair sprays, suntan lotions, topical antiseptics, etc. anything that needs a find spray and a dosage of small volumes.

Trigger sprayers often dispense large volumes of product and are equipped with an extended trigger, a lever that gives a mechanical advantage and prevents operator fatigue. There are also foaming devices and nozzles which can be adjusted for the size or quantity of droplet desired. These sprayers deliver large dosages covering a broad area and are ideal for household cleaners, sanitizers and the like.

Lotion pumps are an ougrowth of early pump sprayers that dispensed product as the pump head was pushed down (noncompression technology). They are fitted with and extended dispenser on the pump that smoothly deliver creams, lotions, food products as ketchup and mustards sized for fast-food outlets.

Antonio Mengibar S.A. built its first Pump Capping Machine with Automatic Feeding in early 1.980s. Pump applications were a new and emergent market in the packaging industry and today represents one of the most important areas of specilization of the company, with a complete industrialized program that permits to offer very short delivery times.

During this period Mengibar has developed four different generations of Pump Capping Machines. The fourth generation presented in 2.009 features new designs and solutions based on the accummulated experience of over 20 years feeding, inserting and capping Trigger Pumps, Dosing Pumps and Caps with Dip tube.

The feeding, orienting, inserting and the final Capping is performed automatically for Screw-on, Press-on and Bayonet pumps, regardless whether the dip tube is bended or not. The automatic feeding system features an intelligent jam detection system to stop automatically the machines, clear the jam and re-start automatically without any human intervention.

More information:
Joseph. F. Hanlon. The Handbook of Package Engineering. McGraw Hill, 1984

Liquid detergents and soaps

fillingtechnics — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:25:04 +0000

Although the start of the synthetic detergent industry is not shrouded in the veils of history as were the beginnings of the soap industry, it is nevertheless not easy to pinpoint exactly when the detergent industry, as such, came into being. The primary problem is to decide exactly what is being referred to as a synthetic detergent.

With the years the packaging systems used to fill and cap liquid detergents have experienced the same evolution than the product itself and new applications and solutions have been developed recently.

Filling machines manufactured by Antonio Mengibar S.A. include a new generation of Low Reynolds Filling Nozzles that permit to fill highly foaming products reducing the filling time, number of filling nozzles, maintenance and spare parts.

Mag and Mass flowmeters are also available with continuous self-correction of the dose, control of the foam and integrated C.I.P. design. Capping machine permit to screw-on or snap-on normal caps, caps with dip tube and trigger pumps.

Shampoo and Gel filling

fillingtechnics — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:17:25 +0000

Before the advent of shampoos, people typically used soap for personal care. However, soap had the distinct disadvantages of being irritating to the eyes and incompatible with hard water, which made it leave a dull-looking film on the hair. In the early 1930s, the first synthetic detergent shampoo was introduced, although it still had some disadvantages. The 1960s brought the technology we use today.
Over the years, many improvements have been made to shampoo formulations. New detergents are less irritating to the eyes and skin and have improved health and environmental qualities. Also, materials technology has advanced, enabling the incorporation of thousands of beneficial ingredients in shampoos, leaving hair feeling and better conditioned.

Consumer product corporations will continue to manufacture new types of shampoos. These new formulas will be driven by ever-changing consumer desires and developing chemical technology. Currently, consumers like multi-functional shampoos, such as 2-in-I shampoos, which provide cleansing and conditioning in one step, or shampoos that aid in styling. New shampoos will likely provide improved conditioning, styling, and coloring while cleaning the hair.

Shampoo technology will also improve as new ingredients are developed by raw material suppliers. Some important advances are being made in the development of compounds such as polymers, silicones, and surfactants. These materials will be less irritating, less expensive, more environmentally friendly, and also provide greater functionality and performance.

Antonio Mengibar S.A. manufactures a range of filling and capping machines specially designed to handle this type of personal care products. Filling machines are equipped with extremly accurated mag and mass flowmeters with continuous self-correction of the dose. Capping machines include servomotors for screw-on, snap-on or orienting applications.

More information:
Knowlton, John and Steven Pearce. The Handbook of Cosmetic Science and Technology. Elsevier Science Publishers, 1993.
Umbach, Wilfried. Cosmetics and Toiletries Development, Production, and Use. Ellis Horwood, 1991.

Mix & Fill

fillingtechnics — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:14:28 +0000

This allows product ranges that share the same basic formula but use different concentrates to be mixed in the filling nozzle, guaranteeing at all times that in every container the mix percentages fulfil the client’s specifications from the first to the last drop.

While in traditional processes the product components (such as solvents, colorants, perfumes, flavours and preservatives) need to be mixed in accordance with a specific formula in mixing tanks and stored in a huge final tank prior to the packaging process, the Mix & Fill philosophy allows you to mix these components at the end of the whole circuit in the required proportions, having previously prepared the concentrate and the solvent, which will be common to the different range formulations.

The physical space used previously for making the different mixes is now available for other uses.

In general, the washing times required represent around 15% of the traditional washing times.

The same solvent can be used for cleaning, and then stored for subsequent use when working with this concentrate once again.

Any product loss remaining in the filler at the end of the production run is around 5% of what is left with traditional systems.

The risk of contamination (always taking the usual essential measures) is reduced to 1% of traditional systems.

Cleaning in Place integrated design

fillingtechnics — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:09:59 +0000

The packaging industry is subjected to continuous changes, from time to time new tendencies appear, looking for a technological leap to achieve lower manufacturing costs, improving filling accuracy, lower energy consumption and minor environmental impact.

Actually, production associated costs become more important than a few years ago, especially those related to the cleaning procedures of the machines.

Antonio Mengibar S.A. manufactures filling machines in what has been termed as “Integrated C.I.P. design”, based on a product circuit easy to drain and a 360º fix drain pan located beneath the containers. The combination of is these two new elements permits to reduce the time of the cleaning operation of the circuit and also water and energy consumption.

Energy consumption from water heating: between 14 and 34 kWh

Water consumption: between 0,5 and 1,4 cubic meters

The total angle designed for cleaning is 360º of the whole filling carrsouel, keeping the rest of the machine dry without installing additional elements