GEA Provides Inspiration For Beverage Industry At drinktec 2017

GEA invites beverage industry representatives to visit Hall A3, Booth 313, at drinktec, the leading global trade fair for the beverage and liquid food industry in Munich from September 11-15, 2017. This year the technology company will present innovations and developments under the motto "Inspiring Beverage Solutions": Covering everything from fruit juice, milk, wine and beer production, GEA uses project-based and standard solutions to help customers prepare for the future. GEA focuses on customer needs, including high quality products providing absolutely reliable and safe production, flexibility in the face of demand fluctuations, improvements to internal productivity with ever lower operating costs and a sustainable ecological balance. Tailoring its engineering know-how to the service of its customers, technology leader GEA develops solutions beyond mere components, accompanying the whole line life cycle. These three GEA innovations premiere at the fair:

Continuous brewing, just-in-time production technology and digitalization: “Brewery 4.0”
GEA puts strong focus on the future of beer production with the release of its “Brewery 4.0”: This concept is a vision of continuous brewing and fermentation, placing strong demands on tomorrow's technology and IT infrastructure. Another pioneering feature is the linking of beer production – the continuous mash separation in double decanters, fermentation and maturation processes as well as quality assurance – with just-in-time production technology and flexible processing of digital data. Large quantities of data are processed as these production steps are digitalized and allow for analysis of mid- and long-term trends, increasing the system availability. Customers can thus use Brewery 4.0 to prepare for competition in the coming years and generate the greatest possible flexibility throughout the supply chain. Simultaneously GEA takes into account sustainability with regard to yields, energy consumption and space usage of the plants. At drinktec 2017, GEA will meet with industry representatives to discuss the elements of a semi-continuous process variant and the advantages and challenges facing beer production.

Launch of the highest performance high-pressure homogenizer in the world
A new chapter in high-pressure homogenization systems from GEA is being opened with the market launch of the GEA Ariete Homogenizer 5400: It provides throughput of 80,000 liters an hour with 120 bar of pressure creating the largest capacity a five-piston homogenizer has ever provided, setting new standards in terms of reliability, product safety and operating costs.

GEA ABF Technology (Aseptic Blow Fill) for sustainable beverage bottling
At the drinktec GEA will also present GEA ABF, composed of an aseptic rotary blow molding machine with an integrated aseptic filling and aseptic capping systems featuring maximum efficiency for processing sensitive beverages into PET bottles. The aseptic blow molding process reduces the use of chemicals and energy consumptions for sterilizing operations. Innovation GEA Sterilfoil VHP L is a new flexible solution for foil sterilization available for a wide range of applications from ESL to aseptic beverages. Both technologies use a very effective vapor H2O2 based treatment, able to reach over 6 log reductions on both preform or foil decontamination and suitable for High Acid or Low Acid products. Further GEA exhibits at the drinktec shall also include:

Flexibility, efficiency and quality for craft-beer brewers
GEA shows two solutions for the medium-sized specialty breweries such as those on the craft-beer market: The three-vessel GEA CRAFT-STAR™ brewhouse has excellent extract efficiency of 98 percent and helps the customer consistently create prize-winning beers. The GEA ‘Plug & Win’ separator for craft brewers is a multifunctional compact system, performing five processes in a single machine – a benefit in terms of profitability and efficiency. The separator skid reduces the production time by 30 percent while generating up to ten percent higher yields.

Combined GEA innovations improve predictability of beer production
GEA experts have conceived, designed and installed individual components and entire systems for breweries around the world. Their field experience, intense development work within the Group and close cooperation with customers allow them to question the status quo, move forward and set standards for the industry. GEA is also formulating their understanding of today's state-of-the-art technology under the title "Brewery Advanced". The concept is based on GEA's sophisticated technology and a process design, creating significant advantages when it comes to customer capacity and energy consumption. GEA is thus able to increase the number of brews in the lauter tun from 12 to 14 a day, while the evaporation rate has been reduced from the standard four percent to merely one percent. The GEA stand will also display their efficient evaporation technology, the waste-free GEA clearamic BeerFiltration as well the ECO-MATRIX™ piping concept and ECO-FERM™, a technology for homogenizing fermentation tank contents.

Golden sealing avoids ingress of micro-organisms into the product
At drinktec GEA TEFASEP® gold debuts as part of the GEA D-tec® valve line. The hard and inert material compound together with the valve seat seal design allows for a minimized contact area between housing and seal and therewith increases cleanability and process safety. TEFASEP® gold belongs to the D-tec® stem diaphragm valves which are characterized by a high safety protection against contamination.

Energy-saving ceramic cross-flow filters
The GEA rotoramic is an energy-saving filter for beer recovery from surplus yeast, helping brewers achieve maximum yields. The ceramic cross-flow filter uses about 75 percent less energy than standard cross-flow processes.

Modular batch mixing system for non-alcoholic beverages
For non-alcoholic beverage applications the GEA DI-BATCH™ allows for complete control and high flexibility of the production process, featuring accurate dosing, material traceability and parallel operations. As partial amounts can

be taken from the containers by means of a suction lance, manufacturers are more flexible in their production volumes and can purchase their base materials in varying container sizes – all of these are strengths that make DIBATCH™ also attractive for smaller test batches for product launches or research and development.

Live demonstrations of GEA service products for the beverage industry
With GEA Service, beverage manufacturers can improve the life cycle costs of their production plant. Especially for the brewery and beverage industry, GEA Audits are offered, for example, that recognize the hidden potential of components, systems and processes; Optimization proposals are being developed. GEA will also be demonstrating the PerformancePlus concept live: Based on the data from an online condition monitoring system, GEA experts carry out analyzes and recommend measures for the best possible plant operation. Moreover, visitors can test GEA Remote Eye Wear live, a groundbreaking service innovation that enables virtual experts to support machine operators and service technicians in-real time. GEA’s service staff at drinktec will inform customers about all further options of the service concept "GEA Service - For your continuous success" on the stand.

GEA at the drinktec: Hall A3, booth 313