The leading process innovator in soft drinks since the 1960s 

Formerly known as Miteco, we are now the Centre of Expertise for carbonated soft drinks within Tetra Pak providing best practices, processing solutions and innovation for the CSD category. As well as supplying individual pieces of equipment, we can deliver complete production solutions and plant designs for large CSD projects.

Our first hallmark innovation came in the late 1960s with the introduction of the radial jet mixer into the beverage industry. Cleverly eliminating the need for any moving parts inside the tank, the radial jet mixer is now a core component in almost every piece of our equipment for CSD. It accelerates mixing times and improves the mixing effect while significantly reducing maintenance needs.

In the following decade, we introduced continuous production in CSD processing, enabling unprecedented economies of scale. Tetra Pak^® Continuous Sugar Dissolver (formerly known as Contisolv) made customers’ production more dynamic while saving space in their plants. And our syrup – and later also beverage – blending offer with it patented recirculation technologies meant they could manufacture CSDs in different ways.

Our multiblender was another breakthrough. Originally designed to solve one particular customer’s problem, this product is now in use all over the world. It can comprise up to four blenders in one unit, thereby cutting down the number of line components from eight to five and instantly delivering 20% savings.

Never a company to stand still, in the 1990s, we complemented the radial jet mixer with a patented coaxial injector. By introducing powder into the zone of maximum turbulence, this injector overcomes the two key challenges when dissolving powders: obtaining sufficient wetting and avoiding clogging.

Injectors are positioned in a loop circulating from the mixing tank and back again. This solution enables greater flexibility in plant layout and enables the separation of safe working areas from hazardous ATEX zones.

More recently we came up with Tetra Pak^®  IBC Agitator, which solves the problem of mixing small volumes of concentrates inside large containers with only a small access hole. Tetra Pak IBC Agitator has proved so successful that major beverage producers are now specifying it for use with their concentrates.

In 2021, we introduced the next generation of radial jet mixer: Tetra Pak^® Mixer RJCI 4X. The “4X” stands for four exciting technologies which are completely new to the soft drinks industry:

• Ingredient Loop Extension (ILE): allows multiple injectors in a recirculation loop.
• Wet feeding function: switch between wet and dry intake at the push of a button.
• Auto Mixing Device (AMD): a new technology to dissolve gums, stabilizers and thickeners.
• Extraction & Recovery System (ERS): recovery of dust at the point of entry to save waste.

Also in 2021 we unveiled Tetra Pak^® Preparation system B, a modular island solution that revolutionises final syrup and beverage preparation by making production faster and more sustainable and facilitating simple line upgrades if product needs change.

These examples from our remarkable history of innovation illustrate why the portfolio we are able to offer the soft drinks industry has so many unique processing and mixing solutions. So, next time you’re considering a plant investment, why not put these innovations and our expertise to work? We’ll ensure you get the optimal design and equipment for your application whatever it may be. Let us demonstrate how we deliver valuable paybacks to your business in the form of high reliability and low total cost of ownership.

Our history of innovation in the soft drinks industry

2021:

•  Introduced ground-breaking new line solution for beverage and final syrup preparation (Tetra Pak® Preparation system B)

2010-2019:

•  New benchmarks for blending and carbonation

•  Most effective agitator for liquid container in the market (patented) PAT-04670*

•  Different advances in sugar treatment

•  Improved cleaning concepts for the soft drinks market (patented) PAT-04673*

•  New injector technology with higher efficiency (patented) PAT-04825*

•  New safety connection for manual operated flow plates (patented) PAT-04831*

•  Innovative suction check valve for suction lances (patented) PAT-05068*

•  Dust extraction system with product recovery (patented) PAT-05247*

•  Twin-stage mixing nozzle for highest efficiency (patented) PAT-05255*

2000-2009:

•  Invented continuous decolouration of sugar (patented) PAT-04672*

•  Revolutionary single line solution

•  Invented solution for deaeration, blending and carbonation on one machine (patented) WO2009CH00217 20090624

1990-1999:

•  First low-temperature carbon treatment of sugar

•  Coaxial injector revolutionizes sugar transportation (patented) CH19900003666 19901119

•  Universal carbonation unit

•  First simultaneous production of minimum two beverages with one machine continuously (patented) CH19980000703 19980325

1980-1989:

  First continuous production of CSD (patented) CH19880001086 19880322

1970-1979:

  Continuous sugar dissolving invented (patented) CH19820006561 19821110

1960-1969:

   Radial jet mixing technology applied (patented)

*Active patents