Miniature Plant Trials
Our programs accelerate your product development by providing accurate processing results, and by relieving the scheduling, disposal, and cost restrictions of conventional plant trials.
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.
Process Small Batches
Develop a functional formula quickly and easily; without the challenges of full-scale plant trial. Small batch sizes (minimum 1-3 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.
Miniature Plant Trials
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.
Available Heating Styles
- Tubular
- Steam Injection
- Plate In Frame
- Microwave
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 Operatoins
- Homogenization
- Ultra Clean Filling
- Custom Processing
- Specialty Hold Tubes
- In-Line Sampling
- Deaeration
- Starch Hydration
Overnight Plant Trials
Overnight Plant Trials are used as a follow-up to our Miniature Plant Trials. They are nearly the same, with one major exception. You do not need to attend these plant trials. Your samples are sent to us using appropriate services (i.e. overnight couriers, etc.). We assemble and process the product to your specifications. Processed samples are overnighted on ice back to you, with a report containing process data, and our observations. This service has two advantages. First, it eliminates travel costs but more importantly, these Overnight Plant Trials eliminate travel schedules. They can be conducted on short notice, and turned around quickly.
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.