The Armfield FT110 Benchtop Rapid Extractor is used to extract the active constituents from small (one litre) samples of materials.

The Armfield FT141 and FT142 are versatile batch processing vessels, the FT142 having UHT capability. They are suitable for high shear mixing, dispersing, homogenising, emulsifying, evaporation and vacuum deaerating.

The Armfield FT18-MkII is a small pilot-scale cross-flow filtration system designed to operate with a range of membrane module configurations. It can operate with as little as 5-10 litres of material but still give data that is useful for process scale-up. It can be used over the full range of cross-flow filtration applications from microfiltration through to reverse osmosis. It is the perfect tool to use, following on from flat sheet membrane trials with the FT17, for further process development and scale-up.

Armfield miniature-scale technology is well established as offering developers the opportunity to run small trials, which provide enough information to enable scale-up to larger plant with confidence. The formulations go through similar physio-chemical changes as they would in production plant and real time data logging permits results to be recorded and repeated. The FT25 range of miniature-scale scraped surface heat exchangers has built in control and flexibility with a graphic representation on the membrane technology control panel. The operator can choose the parameters wanted for any particular formulation. The FT25 has a number of configurations according to the use required.

A vital stage in the preparation of a food product is the accurate addition and correct mixing of the various ingredients that make up the recipe. It is usual that heat will be required, subsequent cooling and chilling are often needed for preservation. The Armfield Multi-purpose Processing Vessel is able to carry out these actions with very small quantities of ingredients. The facilities to mix, emulsify, heat, pasteurise, incubate, cool, chill and cure are all built into this purpose-designed unit. As well as preparation of food products for further processing, the facilities allow production of finished products in batch sizes from five to 20 litres.

The Armfield FT66 Neutraliser/Washer/Bleacher is a floor-standing batch processing vessel capable of performing the pre-refining stages on small quantities of crude edible oils and facilitates practical research and development.

The FT74XA is compact, mobile and easy to install. It has an integral pressurized hot water generator and requires only electricity and cooling water to operate making it ideal for confined spaces with limited services such as laboratories. Operation with either plate or tubular heat exchangers means a wide range of product viscosities can be handled. A progressive cavity feed pump ensures that flow rates are independent of viscosity / backpressure changes and allow a maximum operating pressure of 10 bar. Typical processing flow rates are 10-20 L/h with holding temperatures up to 150°C. At pasteurization temperatures flow rates of up to 60 L/h are achievable. Cleaning is in place (CIP) using the feed pump in high flow rate mode and there is a centrifugal pump CIP option (FT74-52) which generates very high cleaning velocities to deal with products that are particularly difficult to clean. Sterilization (SIP) of the system is controlled from the touchscreen. System sterilization time and temperature are defined and key temperature sensors are monitored to ensure the entire system satisfactorily completes the SIP cycle. Automatic pre-heat control (FT74-46) offers an independent hot water circuit and the product pre-heat temperature is set via the touchscreen. The system is well instrumented for both process and services with all sensors displayed on the touchscreen and recorded values can be seen graphically and saved to USB datastick for further analysis.