A ricotta pumping solution

A unique feature of ricotta cheese is its consistency – it needs to be creamy yet also crumbly and grainy. Unfortunately, this application presents a major challenge for any pump as the fine grains cannot be allowed to be compressed by the pumping process. 

One Italian cheese manufacturer makes a point of investing in technology that can help it improve both its production processes and product quality. 

When the company's existing hopper feed pump for the production of ricotta needed to be replaced, because it was found that the product was coming into contact with an elastomer in the pump, the producer turned to Pumpenfabrik Wangen products for a hygienic and ultra-gentle solution that would also meet its stringent sustainability and energy efficiency requirements. 

Pumpenfabrik Wangen suggested the use of its Vario Twin NG, an additional module for the WANGEN Twin NG which combines a and high-performance pump with a variable hopper and screw conveyor: the system is specifically designed for high-viscosity and non-free-flowing media – making it well suited to use with ricotta cheese. The solution sees the ricotta mass being gently and hygienically conveyed. Thanks to the non-corrugated design of the screw, excess material can simply flow back into the infeed. The energy-efficient geometry of the Vario Twin NG screw ensures low energy consumption – another requirement for this application. 

The module is installed directly under the filter mat for the ricotta and pumps the cheese mass through the twin screw pump into various tanks for further processing. As the length of the hopper can be designed in increments to meet requirements, the flexible Vario Twin NG can be adapted precisely to each process. Two separate motors ensure that the medium is pre-delivered independently of the pump – the speeds can be coordinated for optimum transport of the ricotta mass to be gentle on the product.

The combination of the WANGEN Twin NG pump with the Vario Twin NG additional module offered a good ricotta cheese handing solution, proving that it is well suited to use in applications that contain sensitive food products. High-viscosity and non-free-flowing products, in particular, can be transported reliably and in an energy-efficient manner using the system. Sensitive and shear-sensitive textures, like the fine-grained and yet creamy ricotta cheese, are handled gently to ensure the a consistent final product.