Corporate Sales Manager
Innovation in food & beverage production increasingly depends on automation, traceability, and energy efficiency. NTE Process, an Italian company with global operations, designs turnkey systems for handling powders and granules.
In this interview, the company shares its technological vision: dense phase conveying, AI-driven efficiency, and customized solutions for each production need.
What solutions have you developed to enhance safety, quality, and traceability in Food & Beverage processes?
NTE Process offers a comprehensive range of process solutions for the food industry, spanning from dense phase pneumatic conveying to dosing and mixing of powders and granules, liquid injection, storage, bagging, in-line formulation, and packaging.
In terms of safety, all solutions are fully compliant with ATEX, MOCA, and GMP guidelines. For quality and traceability, NTE Process integrates advanced digital technologies and state-of-the-art SCADA systems to monitor and record every stage of production, transformation, and packaging.
What does your “turnkey” approach to food industry plants look like in practice?
As a true single-source provider, NTE Process manages every phase internally-from engineering and supply to testing at the in-house Scientific Hub, installation, automation, commissioning, and after-sales support-offering clients a single point of contact throughout the project.
This turnkey model allows for a high degree of customization tailored to the client’s specific production needs. It also includes integrated management of both NTE’s in-house suppliers and any client-selected vendors, ensuring seamless coordination of all activities in compliance with safety standards, timelines, and technical specifications.
How do your technologies help reduce energy consumption and environmental impact in food processing?
NTE Process technologies are designed to maximize plant efficiency, ensuring hygienic handling of food products while preserving their integrity, including organoleptic properties, color, and aroma. A prime example is ECO DENSE-TRONIC®, a patented NTE Process innovation that redefines traditional dense phase conveying.
Equipped with Artificial Intelligence Air Assist® M533, it electronically controls the injection flow and optimal pressure profile (air, nitrogen, etc.) at each point— remotely and in real time-using advanced AI algorithms.
This AI-driven solution not only adjusts conveying speed and air/product ratio, but also delivers up to 40% efficiency gains and 70% energy savings, making the system both flexible and resistant to blockages. Each system equipped with Eco Dense-Tronic® can reduce CO2 emissions by an amount equivalent to planting nearly 3,000 trees per year (based on specific system configurations).
Which of your innovations are directly applied in the Food & Beverage sector?
NTE Process solutions are widely implemented across multiple food segments, including:
• Baby Food & Infant Nutrition: reception and storage of nutrients and supplements, drying, dosing and mixing with Blender M244, in-line recipe formulation, traceability and automation, dense phase conveying with Air Assist ® to maintain bulk density, and packaging lines.
• Dairy Processing: MOCA-compliant and OEB-certified emptying stations for sacks and big bags, dense phase conveying of high-fat milk powders with Eco Dense-Tronic ®, pneumatic mixing in silos with Blender M277.
• Pasta Industry: from tank truck unloading to storage silos, gentle pneumatic conveying of flour and minor ingredients, blending of wholemeal, gluten-free, or ancient grain flours—without segregation— through to packaging.
• Yeast and Starch: dense phase systems and pneumatic mixers for production and handling.
• Rice Industry: clean and gentle dense phase transport of parboiled, basmati, and Thai rice with minimal grain breakage.
• Chocolate Industry: dense phase conveying of abrasive cocoa beans and high-fat cocoa powder; dosing of sticky ingredients like raisins, candied fruit, flakes, and liquids for bar production.
• Coffee Industry: transport and storage of green and roasted beans, postgrind handling, full systems for instant coffee, and a unique JetMixer ® M531 degassing and mixing solution using vacuum and nitrogen for CO removal.
• Gelato and Cake Premixes: blending of semi-finished ingredients and delivery to packaging or silo, with minimized batch segregation risk.
• Supplements & Instant Drinks: pneumatic conveying, dosing, and either batch or continuous mixing.
• Confectionery: gentle dense phase suction transport from hopper to coating machines with patented Air Assist ® to minimize breakage.
• Confectionery, Biscuits & Snacks: handling of various ingredients, with minimal impact on fragile items; batch recipe management without cross-contamination and fast sack changeovers.
• Spices & Seasonings: turnkey solutions from silo or sack station transport to receiving hoppers, precise dosing and gentle mixing, and packaging lines.
What are the key needs of food manufacturers today, and how is NTE Process addressing them?
In processes where extreme flexibility and batch-to-batch contamination reduction are critical, NTE Process offers Wonderbatch ®, a revolutionary technology for rapid changeovers in inline formulation using bulk bags, sacks, and IBCs.
This solution complements the patented Eco Dense-Tronic ® dense phase system, which ensures energy savings and full compatibility with Industry 4.0 and 5.0 standards. It also works alongside the Air Mixer M244 and JetMixer ® M531, pneumatic mixing systems that are easy to clean and capable of handling solid and liquid additives, ideal for frequent recipe changes in both small and large batches.
NTE Process’s extensive process knowhow is further strengthened through collaborations with international partners specializing in drying, spray drying, granulation, and grinding.
Additionally, the company offers an exclusive inline blending process using the VACUCAM ® ejector system, the most efficient method for dispersing powdered ingredients without mechanical agitators.
This system enables the seamless mixing of whey, milk proteins, gelatin, pectin, gums, starches, sugars, sweeteners, thickeners, and other dry ingredients— ideal for sauces, desserts, ice cream, and other foods requiring smooth, homogeneous formulations.
