The leading process innovator in beverages since the 1960s
Formerly known as Miteco, we are now incorporated within Tetra Pak, providing best practices, processing solutions and innovation for the beverage industry. As well as supplying individual pieces of equipment, we can deliver complete production solutions and plant designs for large projects within beverage applications.
Our first hallmark innovation came in the late 1960s with the introduction of the radial jet mixer technology to the beverage industry. Cleverly eliminating the need for any moving parts inside the tank, the Tetra Pak® Radial Jet Mixer is now a core component in almost every piece of our equipment for beverage applications. It accelerates mixing times and improves the mixing effect while significantly reducing maintenance needs. In the following decade, we introduced continuous production in beverage industry processing, enabling unprecedented economies of scale. The Tetra Pak® Continuous Sugar Dissolver (formerly known as Contisolv) made customers’ production more dynamic while saving space in their plants. And our syrup – and later also beverage – blending offer with patented recirculation technologies meant they could manufacture beverages in different ways.
Our multiblender was another breakthrough. Originally designed to solve one particular customer’s problem, this product is now in use all over the world. It can comprise up to four blenders in one unit, thereby cutting down the number of line components from eight to five and instantly delivering 20% savings.
Never a company to stand still, in the 1990s, we complemented the Tetra Pak® Radial Jet Mixer with a patented coaxial injector. By introducing powder into the zone of maximum turbulence, this injector overcomes the two key challenges when dissolving powders: obtaining sufficient wetting and avoiding clogging.
Injectors are positioned in a loop circulating from the mixing tank and back again. This solution enables greater flexibility in plant layout and enables the separation of safe working areas from hazardous ATEX zones.
More recently we came up with Tetra Pak® Agitator IBC, which solves the problem of mixing small volumes of concentrates inside an Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) with only a small opening for access. The Tetra Pak® Agitator IBC has proved so successful that major beverage producers are now specifying it for use with their concentrates.
In 2021, we introduced the next generation of the Tetra Pak® Mixer RJCI: the Tetra Pak® Mixer RJCI 4X. The “4X” stands for four exciting technologies which are completely new to the beverage industry:
- Ingredient Loop Extension (ILE): allows multiple injectors in a recirculation loop.
- Wet feeding function: switch between wet and dry intake at the push of a button.
- Auto Mixing Device (AMD): a new technology to dissolve gums, stabilizers and thickeners.
- Extraction & Recovery System (ERS): recovery of dust at the point of entry to save waste.
Also in 2021, we unveiled the Tetra Pak® Preparation System B, a modular island solution that revolutionises final syrup and beverage preparation by making production faster and more sustainable and facilitating simple line upgrades if product needs change.
These examples from our remarkable history of innovation illustrate why the portfolio we offer the beverage industry has so many unique processing and mixing solutions. So, next time you’re considering a plant investment, why not put these innovations and our expertise to work? We’ll ensure you get the optimal design and equipment for your application whatever it may be. Let us demonstrate how we deliver valuable paybacks to your business in the form of high reliability and low total cost of ownership.
Our history of innovation in the beverage industry
2022 – today:
- Wet feeding and liquefier technology (patented)
2021:
- Introduced ground-breaking new line solution for beverage and final syrup preparation (Tetra Pak® Preparation System B)
2010-2020:
- New Auto mixing device (AMD) (patented)
- New benchmarks for blending and carbonation
- Most effective agitator for liquid container in the market (patented)
- Different advances in sugar treatment
- Improved cleaning concepts for the soft drinks market (patented)
- New injector technology with higher efficiency (patented)
- New safety connection for manual operated flow plates (patented)
- Innovative suction check valve for suction lances (patented)
- Dust extraction system with product recovery (patented)
- Twin-stage mixing nozzle for highest efficiency (patented)
2000-2009:
- Invented continuous decolouration of sugar (patented)
- Revolutionary single line solution
- Invented solution for deaeration, blending and carbonation on one machine (patented)
1990-1999:
- First low-temperature carbon treatment of sugar
- Coaxial injector revolutionizes sugar transportation (patented)
- Universal carbonation unit
- First simultaneous production of minimum two beverages with one machine continuously (patented)
1980-1989:
- First continuous production of CSD (patented)
1970-1979:
- Continuous sugar dissolving invented (patented)
1960-1969:
- Radial jet mixing technology applied (patented)