Inline chilling, an established technology, is new again. Far from being limited to flour, these systems can be set up to cool virtually any ingredient including sugar, spices and dry mixes, according to Scott Fischer, director of sales and marketing, Shick, Kansas City, MO.

Partnering with Linde North America, Murray Hill, NJ, Shick offers a proprietary injector system that precisely controls the amount of cryogenic gas — usually carbon dioxide (CO2) — put into the conveyor tube to instantly chill dry ingredients as they flow to the mixer. 

In an inline conveying/chilling system, resistance temperature detectors measure the temperature of the ingredients downstream and regulate the flow of cryogenic gas to chill the ingredients to within ±1 F° of the set point.

“The goal for the baker is to consistently make quality products, and tighter incoming temperature control adds another layer of consistency and reliability,” said Ed Cordiano, Linde program manager for bakery and prepared foods. “While it is difficult and often impractical to test this cryogenic chilling system in a baking operation without installing the entire system, now processors can simply ship their product to Shick’s lab with flow parameters and temperature targets, and a system can be tested and properly sized before it’s installed.”

The chilling system can be used on either pressure or vacuum ingredient handling systems, and existing systems can be retrofitted with this technology.

Inline chilling with cryogenic gases has been around for a number of years; however, the technology is going through a rebirth through the partnership with Shick and Linde, Mr. Fischer added. These systems make the most sense for companies already using cryogenic gasses for freezing. Yet the technology also can be beneficial to bakeries making frozen dough products or other doughs, such as for pastries, which require chilling for processing.