Filtration in the food and beverage industry

Food and beverage production is not the largest market for separation equipment, but it is also a very important part. Before discussing, you must first define what is food and drink. Fortunately, their definition is more accurate, and there are few overlaps with other industries. The most unusual thing is drinking water. In the strict sense, drinking water is the largest market share of beverages. In fact, it is because of its large market, it has become a terminal industry itself, so it is not included in our discussion today. In the drink.

Small problems in classification include the production of fermented ethanol as a fuel or a beverage (or industrial chemicals); and industrial use of animal or vegetable fats and oils.

The terminal applications discussed in this article include:

â—†Processing of meat, fish and related solid products (excluding oils and fats) â—†Processing of fruits and vegetables and related solid products (excluding fats and fruits and vegetables) â—†Processing of animal and vegetable oils â—† Dairy products (milk, cheese, etc.) Production â—† Milling of cereals and manufacture of cereals and starch products â—† Animal feed (ie farm animals and pet food)
â—†Production of bread, sugar, cocoa and candy â—†Production of tea and coffee â—†Production of beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), including fruit and vegetable juices and bottled mineral water

Of course, several of these subclasses are completely dry, while others use large amounts of liquid. The use of a variety of filtration formats (pneumatic, hydraulic and other modes of operation) has made the food and beverage industry the fifth largest filtration and separation market. These process filters and centrifuges are used in the preparation of various raw materials, processing of the products themselves, purification of products, and recycling of waste liquids.

Pressure from around the world

In the ups and downs of the economy, various economic environments have more or less directly impacted the food and beverage industry. This includes unacceptable poverty and hunger in a large number of regions (although there are efforts by Millennium Development Goals and other agencies, there are still 1 billion people in the world who do not have enough food to eat.) Two opposing facts are seen in the poverty of developing countries and the growing problem of obesity in developed countries.

The contradiction between agricultural land and freshwater resources and the demand for food and fuel for land (and developed countries to ensure the safety of their food supplies, even to buy fertile land in poor areas), and for food production The unsustainability of forest vacancies has made the problem of poverty even worse, leading to a sharp increase in major food prices. The depletion of land, especially the reduction of trace elements that can provide nutrients, is a growing concern in many regions.

Industry characteristics

The food and beverage industry (some with considerable intrinsic value) involves a large number of liquid handling processes and therefore various separation techniques are used.

With the population growth and the improvement of living standards in less developed regions, the food and beverage industry has become a stable and mature industry in many aspects.

The production of organic farming and organic food is increasingly popular with safety issues, while chemical fertilizers and growth promoters are the opposite. Other developments affecting the entire industry include:

◆ The emergence of “functional” foods and “energy” beverages meets the general needs of humans to improve their own conditions;

â—†The rapid growth of convenience food;

◆ People's attention to better diet structure and complementary foods, especially the threat of “artificial” sweeteners to the sugar industry;

â—† The continuous reduction of food subsidies issued by developed countries to protect agriculture has not been used so far;

◆ Concerns about “food miles”, the long-distance transport (especially air transport) that food passes before reaching its destination increases their carbon footprint;

â—† Controlling the accumulation of food waste into landfills and the excessive use of packaging materials is another problem faced by developed countries, not poor countries.

One of the most important features of the separation equipment used in the food and beverage industry is that they operate in an absolutely clean environment. The contact surface is usually made of polished stainless steel, and the entire equipment is easy to clean, preferably using an in-line cleaning process.

While food and beverage processing processes require high quality manufacturing materials, the equipment used in this industry does not have to withstand some of the harsh processing conditions in chemical and pharmaceutical production. In fact, the most stringent operating parameters may appear in steam-sterilized or aggressive online cleaning solutions.

In the long run, the market for GM foods may be the biggest development in the food supply sector for a period of time, or the biggest problem (depending on personal opinion).

company situation

In terms of company size, the food manufacturing industry does not have a company that can compete with other industry giants. Nestlé is the largest food producer, with sales reaching $95 billion in 2009 (a lot less than in 2008), but its size is only a quarter of the largest oil companies, such as Exxon Mobil or Shell. (Of course, some food retailers are also much larger than Nestlé, especially Wal-Mart, which had sales of $400 billion in 2009. It is the world’s third-largest company in terms of turnover, and Carrefour’s $130 billion. Ranked second among similar companies.)

The second largest food company is Unilever, with 2009 sales of $53 billion. (Although Unilever also involves a wide range of daily-use products.) Following Unilever is Cargill and Archer-Daniels-Midland, the largest private companies in the United States, both of which are the largest natural product distributors.

Next are ConAgra, Kraft Foods, Danone, Kellogg, General Mills and HJ Heinz. For some time, leading beverage companies have been soft drink makers Pepsi (2009 sales of $ 43 billion) and Coca-Cola ($ 32 billion), far ahead of beer brewers. This situation changed in 2008, as InBev (which recently acquired Interbrew and AmBev) acquired Anheuser-Busch and became a bigger company than Coca-Cola. (but still behind PepsiCo). Now the second largest brewer is SAB Miller, then Heineken and Carlsberg.

Recently, Kraft Foods acquired Cadbury, the “British National Treasure”, to compete with candy maker Mars-Wrigley, which caused quite a stir in the industry. Both companies are about twice the size of rival Nestlé. Kraft returned to the market after dissolving the merger with Philip Morris in 2007. Other mergers in the food industry include the acquisition of RHM by Premier in 2007.

The beverage industry has more mergers and acquisitions, and of course the most important is the establishment of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest beer brewing company in 2008. SAB and Millier merged into SAB Miller in 2002. Allied Domecq was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2005. Heineken and Carlsberg jointly acquired and split Scottish & Newcastle in 2008.

Further alliances in the beverage industry are the performance of major companies competing for the market, as beer is a very regional beverage. As a result, Heineken acquired the beer business of Femsa, Mexico, which has a 40% market share in Mexico and nearly 10% in Brazil.
The mineral water and soft drinks industry is one of the fastest growing segments of the food and beverage market, and the demand for fine filtration is very large. In some major countries, the rate of consumption of soft drinks is very different: France consumes about 105 liters per person per year, but in Britain there are only 10 liters per person, Japan is less than 5 liters, and there are fewer countries with large populations such as China and India. If all countries can increase to even half of France, the market size of clarification and filtration equipment will also be very large.

Filter the size and trend of the market

Sales of filtration and separation equipment for the food and beverage industry in 2009 are expected to be around $3.6 billion. (This number includes all membrane process equipment, which is an important market component)

This figure covers sales of original equipment and spare parts. The sales data for the filter media sold to the filter manufacturer is not separately calculated because the sales of the filter media are already included in the sales of the filter. This part of the filter media is manufactured directly for the end user, ie as a spare part.

The $3.6 billion in sales accounted for 7.5% of the global market for filtration separation equipment, making the food and beverage industry the fifth largest end market. In this ranking, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries account for the fourth, and fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals account for the sixth.

trend

In times of recession, predicting trends is not easy. The filtration industry is used in a wide range of industrial and commercial productions worldwide, particularly in the food and beverage industry. The demand for filtration and separation equipment is clearly growing, procurement expenditures are also increasing, and less important goods and services may be affected far-reaching.

Therefore, it is safe to say that the growth rate of filtration equipment used in the food and beverage industry will be 2-3% higher than the economic growth rate. That is to say, under the influence of the economic recession, although there is no growth in 2009 compared to 2008, it will resume steady growth in 2010. It is expected to grow at around 2%, and the growth rate will rebound to 6-7% by 2013. This growth will continue driven by the growing demand for fine filtration.

Market expectations and opportunities

Many of the factors discussed in this article point to some opportunities for development in the separation equipment industry. Key factors include:

◆ Increase in the consumption of genetically modified foods after the ban is lifted – this will change the processing methods of this industry in many ways;

â—† The benefits of nanotechnology (especially the enhancement of the flavor of nano-scale particulate materials) are enough to eliminate people's concerns about them;

â—† Due to dietary and health considerations, the demand for food and beverage supplements has led to a pharmaceutical trend in the food and beverage industry.

From the discussion (and some actions), one of the main drivers for mitigating global warming and global resource shortages is the recognition that the world needs to work together towards a more sustainable lifestyle. The sustainable development of land and water resources is a problem faced by most countries, and it is expected that future population growth will exceed the current supply capacity of human beings.

The demand for sustainable development in production and consumption means that there is a limit to expansion. In addition, the development of regulations and other mandatory standards will prevent human over-exploitation of natural resources.