Supporting Australian food and beverage innovation

“To match our growing population, changing climate and evolving consumer preferences, there’s an increasing need to diversify and develop new food and beverages that will be sustainable into the future,” said Dr Michelle Colgrave, CSIRO’s Agriculture and Food Deputy Director Impact. 

With such support available, now is a good time for those businesses looking to provide innovative solutions to today’s food challenges to invest in the best and most efficient technology to support their efforts. Many of these efforts may well involve the processes of fermentation and cell cultivation.

Fermenters and bioreactors are key components

Fermentation is at the heart of many food production processes, and the use of fermenters and bioreactors also plays a key part in cell cultivation in new foods research and development.

Successful cell cultivation and fermentation depend on the ability to create and maintain optimal cell growth conditions. To achieve the greatest possible product yield, with the best possible reproducibility, requires precise regulation of all important parameters such as nutrient concentration, pH, temperature and gas content to optimally support the process.

Burkert has been supporting these applications, working closely for years with Australian food R&D and helping teams achieve new innovations. Burkert's advanced automation solutions provide the necessary precision, control, and reliability to achieve the required outcomes. State-of-the-art control valves, sensors, and controllers ensure accurate monitoring and regulation of critical parameters. Every application will be unique, and the ability to provide a customised solution is essential.

Burkert mass flow controllers for gases

Burkert’s Type 8741 and Type 8742 mass flow controllers for gases offer a wide control range with high accuracy and repeatability, utilising highly-sensitive thermal MEMS sensor technology. Both MFCs support numerous control network architectures and provide analogue (0/4-20 mA or 0-5/10 V) or fieldbus interfaces, while the Type 8741 also has the option of direct industrial Ethernet connection.

Burkert can also customise modular gas mixing units to suit the specific application. The units are supplied pre-configured and pre-tested for tightness, pressure and correct electrical operation. A customised assembly saves on installation costs, simplifies engineering of the bioreactor or fermenter, and does not require the ordering and storage of numerous individual parts.

A broad digital solution

The modern decentralised digital technologies supported by the Burkert MFCs also significantly reduces the amount of cabling complexity, helping to reduce costs and improve maintainability. In addition to the MFCs for gas control, Burkert also offers complete automation solutions to suit all aspects of bioreactor and fermenter control.

Burkert's portfolio of products and services can be customised to suit diverse applications within the food and beverage industry. Whether the application is brewing, precision fermentation, or alternative dairy products, Burkert can provide expertise and experience to provide tailor-made solutions suitable for all fermentation applications. 

Credit: Supporting Australian Food and Beverage Innovation, by Glenn Johnson, originally published in Food & Beverage Magazine, Prime Creative August 2024.