Chocolate Pumping

Chocolate Production is one of the critical processes in the food processing. Chocolate has the characteristics like high viscosity, abrasive, shear-sensitive, prone to caramelisation on high temperature, crystallisation or solidification under low temperature.

Therefore, the chocolate production requires significant attention and care while selecting/installing equipments for production line.

INOXPA designed equipments and skids for gentle handling of products such as: SLR Rotary Lobe Pump for Transfer and  Silpig system for Product Recovery.

Rotary Lobe pump is an ideal pump for transfer and gentle handling of the chocolate thanks to its design:

• Chocolate is highly viscous in nature and Rotary Lobe pump design makes it perfect for efficient pumping of the product.
• The transfer of the chocolate requires constant temperature to avoid caramelisation due to high temperature or solidification due to low temperature. Hence, we usually suggest fitting a heating jacket to the front cover or to pump body for maintaining a constant temperature.
• We also offer the solution when a client wants to produce a chocolate with suspended solids such as almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts, etc. In such cases we recommend fittings of the bi-wing lobes to minimize damage to the solids.
• Due to its nature, chocolate is an abrasive, shear-sensitive product prone to caramelising, which means that aggressive pumping could damage both the product and any materials that are in contact with it. For this reason, we recommend low working speeds, always taking into account the type of chocolate and the sealing system being used.

Seals - Guaranteeing that the product is contained within a well-sealed pump is particularly important. For chocolate pumping applications, we offer various options (all in compliance with FDA and EC-1935/2004):

• Lip seal: the most economical option: maximum working pressure of 4 bar. Only recommended for very fluid and relatively non-abrasive chocolates, otherwise the useful life of the seals could be very short.
• Lip seal with automatic or manual lubricator: maximum working pressure of 4 bars.
• Mechanical seal with quench and automatic or manual lubricator: maximum working pressure of 4 bar. It consists of single mechanical seals (SiC/SiC/Viton) with lip seal in the rear chamber.
• Double mechanical seal with automatic lubricator: maximum working pressure limit depends on the pump model.
• The lubricator is a high precision system with electromagnetic actuator, which pressurizes the chambers of the mechanical seals with food-grade grease certified according to USDAH1.
• The flow of lubricating grease can be adjusted according to the requirements of the equipment being lubricated, potentially lasting up to 12 months. Hence, the friction faces of the mechanical seals will always work with clean grease between the contact surfaces rather than chocolate, which is abrasive and can caramelize, leading to rapid wear of the surfaces.
• For the low-pressure options (b and c), either a manual or an automatic lubricator may be fitted. The manual option is battery powered and must be started and stopped by the operator. The automatic option works via an external power supply, hence it is possible to link it directly to the pump.
• For the high-pressure option (d), only automatic lubricators are fitted. In addition, a relief valve is included to eject the grease from the chamber, avoiding any damage occurring due to excess pressure.