The Food Innovation Xperience center will serve as a development and technology hub where customers and ANDRITZ experts team up to turn visions into reality.

The test center is equipped with the latest milling, extraction, de-watering and drying technologies from ANDRITZ, enabling customers to conduct feasibility studies, pilot plant tests for scale-up or R&D activities under food-grade or ATEX conditions. Covering a total area of 850m2, the center is available to customers in the food and feed industries as well as to research and development organisations.

Developing new, sustainable food ingredients and food manufacturing processes has become particularly important today as food and feed producers must respond to the fast-changing market and consumer demands, governmental regulations and environmental requirements, ANDRITZ said.

"In this context, it is essential to act quickly and scale-up new ideas, make existing production processes more efficient and reduce operations' environmental impact, like freshwater consumption or CO2 footprint," said Marco Buis, managing director at ANDRITZ Gouda BV. "Our Food Innovation Xperience center offers customers the opportunity to determine the best possible manufacturing process for their need, building on latest technologies and line solutions as well as expert support from ANDRITZ."

In addition to the original test portfolio around drying and de-watering, the center offers various tests in the area of alternative proteins, traditional food and feed, as well as trend-setting extraction.

The center has been built next to the existing pilot and research facility at ANDRITZ's Waddinxveen site, where customers can perform tests for by-product processes and wastewater treatment.