Tuesday, 26 June 2012 14:50

Unique sprayer dryer opened

Written by 

A new spray dryer facility, New Zealand Food Innovation Waikato, was officially opened at Waikato Innovation Park by the Economic Development and Science and Innovation Minister, Steven Joyce.

The $11 million product development spray dryer facility is the only one of its type in New Zealand and is the Waikato component of the Government-sponsored New Zealand Food Innovation Network.

Finance for the spray dryer came from Innovation Waikato Ltd debt and a Government grant of $3.95 million. Its capacity is one-half tonne/hour, making it one of the smallest commercial spray dryers in the world.

Construction of the facility was completed in late April 2012 and took just eight months to take it from a bare paddock to a fully operational plant. Commissioning and testing was completed over the past month, with the first fresh milk converted to powder on May 25.

Fifteen Waikato companies have contributed to the project. NDA built the spray dryer and Hendl and Murray built the baghouse – the two largest components of the facility.

Other local companies contributing to the spray dryer include: Apollo Projects, Bedfords, Clearwater, Tetra Pak, HPS, Ideal Construction, Intelectric, Brick Block Waikato, Resitech, GMR Holmac, Emersons, Aurora and civil works consultant, Sam Pemberton.

Auckland company, Technopak, developed the packing line inside the plant. The packing line is the first of its type in the world and is a showcase for the new technology's efficiency, compactness and speed.

Hamilton-based Dairy Goat Co-operative has committed to using the plant for part of the dairy season and up to eight new Dairy Goat Coop staff will work on site. The company is using the dryer facility as extra capacity to meet expansion requirements.

NZ Food Innovation Waikato is now looking for commitments from additional companies that want to research and develop new spray dried food products in the pilot plant.

Derek Fairweather, CEO of NZ Food Innovation Waikato and the Waikato Innovation Park, says his team is talking with specialty milk producers as well as companies looking to spray dry fruit and vegetable extracts.

"Our message to the market now is that we are open for business. This unique facility offers potential for specialty milk producers, in particular, to innovate. The facility creates opportunity for companies who are ready to scale up a new spray-dried product to commercial production," says Fairweather.

The long-term strategy for the plant is to expand the spray dryer's capability to manufacture infant formula.

-

At A Glance:

Only independent product development dryer in NZ

$11 million project

Capacity of one-half tonne/hour

8 months to complete construction

Initial focus on manufacturing whole milk powders

Long-term, the dryer will manufacture infant formula and fruit and vegetable powders

The dryer is the Waikato component of the NZ Food Innovation Network

Other NZ Food Innovation Network centres: Manukau, Palmerston North and Christchurch

More like this

Dairy goat farm soon to be NZ’s largest

New Image's partner goat farm Oete Farms at Patumahoe will be the biggest in New Zealand when it grows from 2400 to 3000 goats next season, says Auckland-based New Image Group Ltd general manager Guy Wills.

$5m FoodWaikato spray dryer expansion

THE WAIKATO Innovation Park will use a $3m equity injection from Callaghan Innovation to kick off a $5m expansion of the FoodWaikato spray drying facility this month.

Unique sprayer dryer opened

A new spray dryer facility, New Zealand Food Innovation Waikato, was officially opened at Waikato Innovation Park by the Economic Development and Science and Innovation Minister, Steven Joyce.

Featured

Horticulture exports hit $8.4B, surge toward $10B by 2029

A brilliant result and great news for growers and regional economies. That's how horticulture sector leaders are describing the news that sector exports for the year ended June 30 will reach $8.4 billion - an increase of 19% on last year and is forecast to hit close to $10 billion in 2029.

National

Machinery & Products

Farming smarter with technology

The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

110,000 visitors!

OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.

Sticky situation

OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter