Floralis Launches New Technology Platform in Field of Rheology: Rheonova
A service offering developed to help companies working in the field of food engineering optimize their manufacturing processes and improve product performance.
A service offering developed to help companies working in the field of food engineering optimize their manufacturing processes and improve product performance.
Rheology is a complex science which demands expertise across a wide variety of scientific fields including: mechanics, fluid mechanics, thermal mechanics, materials science and chemistry. The technology platform currently employs six people, from varying scientific backgrounds, forming the multidisciplinary team necessary to reply to industrial demands. The studies developed by the team can have a profound impact in optimizing manufacturing processes and also in supporting research and development campaigns, thereby helping companies to gain competitive advantage.
Rheonova’s methodology centers on developing highly relevant flow studies replicating the extreme conditions often found in industrial settings. The behavior of materials and the way that they flow plays a vital part in manufacturing processes, with factors such as temperature and pressure influencing viscosity and therefore the way that complex fluids flow.
The strength-in-depth of the platform is further enhanced by its affiliation with over 15 characterization platforms managed by Floralis covering fields as diverse as analytical chemistry, microscopy and electromagnetic studies.
Rheological characterization can often be found at the centre of protocols for quality control in food engineering. Rheonova has therefore made it its objective to develop and implement scientific studies that are not only highly practical from an industrial perspective, but are also quantitative. In other words, Rhéonova aims to precisely communicate the mechanical properties of materials being studied, independent of the effects of any experiments that may have been carried out on them. The acquisition of such data enables not only the continuous analysis of a product, but also the possibility of maintaining a strong link between product development and production.
By means of an example, Rheonova was recently able to implement a quality control protocol enabling the measurement of the visco-elasticity of cheese, a factor that enabled the age of the foodstuff to be analysed correctly. This data enabled the client to not only to determine the impact of the ageing process on the final product but also help provide supporting data for future R&D programmes.
Jeremy Patarin, Technical Manager for Rheonova stated: “The launch of this technology platform marks the final stage of 12 months of collaboration between Floralis and the Laboratory for Rheology and Processes to evaluate and confirm the commercial potential of our technology platform. Delivering a service offering which really meets the needs of our customers is important to us, and we are now working on a further study to prioritize these needs via a questionnaire that can be found on our website. Rhéonova, to our mind, can really help the private sector by replying to its needs across a wide range of industrial applications and helping companies which do not have the expertise or in-house resources to address rheological issues.”