AZO LIQUIDS – Solids meets Liquids

AZO at ACHEMA 2018

The AZO Group, with the three specialist firms AZO SOLIDS, AZO CONTROLS and AZO LIQUIDS, designs and builds complete turnkey plants for fully automated processes with solid and liquid materials. Thanks to its wide-ranging experience of the food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and plastics industries, the company has acquired very extensive knowledge in the field of raw materials handling.

AZO LIQUIDS’ customers in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industries rely above all on the dependable and reproducible production processes of our plants. Maximum flexibility, efficient use of energy, fully automatic controls and consistent quality features are what set products from AZO LIQUIDS apart. Added to these advantages is our comprehensive industry expertise in all aspects of raw materials handling, from deliveries of raw materials to output and metering, mixing and controlling. AZO covers all areas of production and develops bespoke solutions for its customers.

Above and beyond this, you can expect AZO LIQUIDS to provide professional plant engineering, taking full account of your particular requirements, and to collaborate closely with you in developing solutions for your process.

Batch vacuum processing plants type zoatec® BG:

mixing, dispersing and homogenising – Fresh power for your liquid processes

The modular vacuum processing plants type zoatec® BG structured in assembly groups can be used everywhere that dry powders and liquids, or liquids and liquids, have to be mixed, dispersed and emulsified. As a result, they cover a wide product spectrum for liquid to semi-solid applications in the food industries. In addition, they are characterized in particular by short batch times.

AZO LIQUIDS processing plants stand out from all conventional plants with their ingenious design. Complete processing plants are assembled from standardized modules. The modules are independent from the process parameters, and can be adapted to your requirements with great flexibility. The entire series is designed according to similar geometrical principles, thereby making scale-up considerations much more precise. As a result, it is possible to concentrate on the actual process parameters in the planning phase, in order to make realistic predictions. Furthermore, the design offers major advantages in the areas of production, cleaning and maintenance.

The vacuum processing plants in our portfolio range from 10 l pilot plants through to 12,000 l production plants; and from 100 l/h up to 5000 l/h in the case of plants for continuous production processes.

Ingenious modularity provides the flexibility to satisfy every requirement

• Modular, consistent machine design – scale-up from lab operation to large-scale production. Separation between production and technical area.

• The agitator/s modular design allows a combination of stationary and moving vortex breakers. Other agitator elements can be integrated on a custom basis (e.g. dissolvers, jet mixers, propeller agitators, etc.).

• All components at the process hopper are easily accessible from outside for simple operation, cleaning and maintenance. The dispersing and pump mode for adding and mixing lumpy materials is available as an option.

• All plants can be adapted to meet process requirements. AZO LIQUIDS designs your system according to hygienic standards as HACCP, EHEDG and 3ASSI.

Low-Shear powder wetting

In continuous processes and in semi-batch processes, solids are introduced using fast-rotating tools (homogenizers, pumps, etc.) in the current state of the art. In many cases this leads to a loss in quality of the suspensions or solutions thus produced.

AZO LIQUIDS’ new method of powder wetting can disperse solids (very carefully) with low impact, so that the structure of the solid particles is retained. This leads to high-quality suspensions, which can be safely processed in the subsequent stages.

With the method described, soluble and insoluble dry materials are processed perfectly at variable shear rates. A number of solids can be dispersed into the carrier fluid and several liquids can be metered in – all in all, a highly flexible system for a wide range of solid / liquid applications.

Logistics for precise dosing of solid – Solids meets Liquids

Agitator vessel (stirred-tank), vacuum mixers, coating lines, reactors, horizontal mixers, dough kneading machines, extruders, etc. are the core apparatuses in the production of food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Crucial for the quality of the end products, which are taken from these core apparatuses, is the highly precise and reliable dosing of liquids with different properties.

AZO LIQUIDS supplies the entire logistical systems for storage, dosing and temperature control of bulk liquids from large storage tanks, standard containers such as IBCs, drums and canisters down to the metering of very small quantities.

In conjunction with the solid expertise of AZO SOLIDS we are able to supply our customers with "All-round care packages" without the usual interfaces between solids and liquid handling.