Care For Capability – AberInnovation Performs Soft Market Testing For Liquid Processing

Soft market testing is often viewed as the ‘secret weapon in the procurement professional’s toolkit.’

Recently at AberInnovation, we have carried out a soft market exercise in order to gain advice for the market on its liquid processing activities, demonstrating our commitment to positioning our Innovation and Enterprise Campus as a leader in the biotech, agritech, food and drink sectors.

AberInnovation carried out this soft market test in order to engage with potential suppliers and designers who could advise on the establishment and commissioning of a bespoke small-scale liquid processing facility as part of the new Future Food Centre on the AberInnovation Campus at Gogerddan, Aberystwyth.

This soft market test is designed to help us assess the potential solution via the marketplace, and to understand the ways in which a solution could meet our requirements. The information gained through this exercise will better inform future procurement, and aid us in attracting the interest of relevant organisations. The exercise will enable us to finalise a lasting future service specification.

Our state-of-the-art Future Food Centre will provide a food-grade environment for the testing, validation and improvement of existing and novel foods including nutritional content, advanced compositional analysis, shelf life and consumer preferences.

(https://aberinnovation.com/en/working-with-us/facilities/future-food-centre/)

The design requirements for our activity include:

• Reception facility (130m²; capacity: 1 - 500 litre batches).
• Processing capabilities thermal processing and separation of raw milk and liquids (1 - 500 litre batches) allowing pilot scale pasteurisation, filtration and other treatments in batches (up to 1000 litres) and continuous mode (5000 litres/day).
• Cheese, cultured milk products, butter and frozen product manufacturing (capacity: 1 - 100 litre batches) – capacity to run replicated samples to study a range of products simultaneously.
• Adaptable to multiple applications allowing for a diverse range of novel studies, easy link up system from delivery to final process.
• The ability to process a wide range of liquid products: Dairy, Plant and Juice based.
• Fast turn-around between batches in relation CIP system and programs.
• CIP system that copes with a wide range of products and cleaning demands required for differing liquid types and viscosity.
• All equipment to be designed and commissioned by the supplier.
• After sales support.

Our food production lines and processing expertise will also link with the food-grade Downstream Processing and Fermentation Units within the Biorefining Centre, allowing food materials to be easily transported between each zone - this capability will be considered as part of the tender.