National Starch’s Process Technology Group interfaces between our product developers and manufacturing personnel to determine the methodology to:
- accelerate new product development and manufacture
- optimize processes
- modify processes and
- develop and maintain quality control methods
The group, which includes process, mechanical and chemical engineers and chemists, operates a 10,000 sq. ft. (900m2) Process Innovation Center (PIC) at headquarters in Bridgewater, New Jersey (USA). In the PIC, our people have the resources to scale down every manufacturing step at our global network of production facilities. They work with all our common starch sources including corn, waxy maize, tapioca, sago palm, rice and more.
Here is just a sample of the equipment and processes you will find in the Process Innovation Center:
- Corn wet milling system
- Starch slurry reactions
- Starch dewatering and drying
- Cold water swelling starches via drum drying and spray cooking
- Dry thermal treatment of starches
- Blending
- Separation processes (e.g., filter press, membrane separation)
The benefits these resources bring to our customers include a faster stream of new product innovations, the development of specialized products to meet customer-specific needs and consistency of quality, and consistency from plant to plant.