AHRENSBURG, GERMANY — MC Mühlenchemie has a new dryer at its pasta lab in Ahrensburg, Germany, enabling the simulation of industrial pasta production with almost 100% accuracy.

Pasta makers can test how different flour treatments and process parameters affect product quality under realistic conditions.

Pasta production is a complex process that depends on many factors. Adaptations to constantly changing conditions, like new consumer desires, different flours, and growing cost pressure, are unavoidable. In the development of new recipes and production processes, getting the theoretically predicted results in practice is a challenge. Tests at industrial scale are typically uneconomical, since they require large amounts of raw materials.

MC’s new pilot dryer simulates the conditions of a commercial pasta dryer, but at smaller scale. Unlike conventional laboratory dryers, the system offers a dynamic environment that exactly replicates the process flow of industrial pasta fabrication.

The new dryer is designed to be flexible for different kinds of pasta, and enables precise control of the drying process. An integrated scale monitors the drying curve in real time and supplies information on drying progress. This data enables MC’s technologists to individually adjust parameters like temperature, moisture, airflow, and drying time, and so improve the quality and efficiency of production.

In addition, the MC development team can adjust drying times to the specific requirements of its customers. Whether a short 100-minute drying time for short-cut pasta (penne, fusilli etc.) or a longer 180 minutes for long-cut pasta (spaghetti etc.), the new dryer can address these specifications and the drying equipment available to the customer, as well as to the processes used, from classic to modern. It can also simulate traditional drying times of six hours for customers who prefer traditional methods.

“This is an important addition to our pasta lab and part of our 360° service,” said Jana Russnak, leader pasta applications at MC. “With this innovative dryer from Fava, we can precisely replicate the specific conditions of any pasta production, and so get the best possible understanding of the interplay of raw material, ingredients, and production process. Thus, we close the gap between lab testing and real commercial production.”

The dryer is one of a kind, and reflects the collaboration between MC and Fava SpA. The two companies exchange information as partners, and contribute their specific expertise in process technology, flour know-how, and an extensive understanding of ingredients, in order to develop innovative and optimum solutions for the pasta industry.