SE Asia’s first deoiled lecithin plant on the anvil
The new facility will claim to be the first in South-east Asia, with a first-phase capacity of 4,000 tonnes per annum. Its designers expect it to meet all ISO, GMP and HACCP requirements once production starts in the second quarter of this year.
Andreas Reith, managing director of Berg + Schmidt in Hamburg, said that the new plant will be as much for distribution as production. “With our new location in Singapore we can make better use of logistic advantages in the procurement of raw materials and in exports, for the benefit of our customers around the world,” he explained.
At total world consumption of some 250,000 tonnes, vegetable lecithins have become one of the most important natural emulsifiers. form. And according to the company’s regional managing Director in Singapore, H.V. Bhawe, the growing demand is as a result of lecithins’ threefold effect of supplying the metabolic system with essential nutrients, increasing the digestibility of fat and serving as powerful emulsifiers.
However, viscous lecithins, with their large proportion of crude oil, which runs at around 35%, are no longer concentrated enough for many applications. Hence the need for increased production from the new plant.
The facility, once it is operational, will boast storage tank capacities and separate production lines so that both GMO lecithins and IP/non-GMO lecithins in powder and granulated form can be manufactured to meet a number of international requirements.
