Miniature Plant Trial Services

Miniature Plant Trials are conducted at our facility where you can formulate and process products at conditions ranging from hot-filling to Ultra High Temperature (UHT) processes (for aseptic and extended shelf life products). During each test, processing conditions are recorded using computerized data acquisition, enabling you to review them for each batch separately. This data is extremely useful in fouling studies where burn-on of different process tests are compared so formulas can be modified to optimize their quality and run time. Processing conditions can be selected to represent general industrial conditions, or arranged confidentially to imitate your specific process. With our Miniature Plant Trial Services, you can arrive with a concept and leave with a tested and proven formula.

Attended and Mail-In Plant Trials Available!

Attended Plant Trials

Some of our clients want to participate in the plant trial. This enables them to prepare their formulas, and witness the processing of their products. Based on the quality of the processed products, they may then have the ability to update their formula, and process these updated batches, enabling them to improve their product through iterative changes. These attended plant trials also provide our clients insight to the processing in real-time and to see our capabilities.

Mail-in (Remote) Plant Trials

Most clients choose to use our plant trial services remotely. This can greatly reduces costs and scheduling much easier since there is no travel involved. After working out the details with our technical staff, our clients send us their ingredients, we batch them according to their instructions, then process the product. The processed samples are then sent back to them.

In both cases, incoming ingredients and outgoing samples are sent using overnight carriers such as Federal Express so we can track them and ensure they reach their destinations safely.

Available Heating Styles

Tubular
Steam Injection
Plate In Frame
Microwave

DOWNLOAD SPEC SHEET

Minimum Batch:

1 to 10 Liters*

Maximum Batch:

378 Liters or More*

Tests Per Day:

5 – 20*
*May vary depending on product and process

Available In-Line Operations

Homogenization
Ultra Clean Filling
Custom Processing
Specialty Hold Tubes
In-Line Sampling
Deaeration
Starch Hydration

Aseptic Steam Injection with Downstream Homogenization

Aseptic Steam Injection with Upstream Homogenization

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Process Small Batches

Develop a functional formula quickly and easily; without the challenges of full-scale plant trial. Small batch sizes (minimum 1-10 liters depending upon product and process) allow many ingredient and process variables to be tested, allowing you to learn how your product will perform during processing.

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Accelerate Product Development

Our programs accelerate your product development by providing accurate processing results, and by relieving the scheduling, disposal, and cost restrictions of conventional plant trials.

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FDA Registered & FSMA Compliant

Our Miniature Plant Trial Services provide the benefits of our equipment without having them at your own facility. We help eliminate the unknowns and make processing a tool, not an impediment to R&D.

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Scaling Services

At MicroThermics, you don’t scale up the product, we scale-down the process. We’ve combined the flexibility of our laboratory scale processing systems with the latest techniques developed to measure the impact of continuous thermal processes. After satisfying the necessary confidentiality requirements, we evaluate your detailed process data, and select laboratory scale processing conditions to match them. With Scale-Down Services, you can use our laboratory scale processing systems, or the services discussed above, to accurately reproduce plant conditions and qualify developmental formulas before plant trial.