With the aim of reducing water consumption, maintenance effort and energy requirements. State-of-the-art vacuum technology replaces a maintenance-intensive liquid ring solution. 

The Austrian company now benefits from a reliable, efficient vacuum supply in flour conveying and dough production – with a significantly reduced failure rate and lower operating costs.

The Austrian family business WOLF NUDELN, based in Güssing (Burgenland), is now run by the third generation with Joachim Wolf at the helm. The fourth generation, his two sons, are already lined up as successors.

The company dates back to 1890, when the Wolf bakery was founded. In 1956, the bakery started producing pasta with the first variety being the fine, thin "Goldfaden", which is still popular today as a classic soup topping. The company's 50 employees process around 5.5 tons of pasta annually in three-shift operation five days a week. Production is completely CO₂-neutral, as the company's biogas plant covers all energy requirements and is operated with corn and green cuttings from the company's agricultural production and waste material from in-house poultry farming. The manure comes from an independent egg production facility, which has existed since 1968 and continues to supply the company with all the eggs it needs.

Vacuum pumps are used in two manufacturing processes. On the one hand, grains such as spelt, semolina and durum wheat are sucked in and further processed via seven flour suction lines. On the other hand, the vacuum pumps ensure controlled oxygen reduction during dough production in seven dough pots. The vacuum also preserves the colour of the pasta – a crucial quality factor, especially when processing fresh eggs. In the past, WOLF NUDELN relied on eight liquid ring vacuum pumps to operate the dough pots. They were associated with comparatively high-water consumption, increased humidity and considerable maintenance effort in this application. The pumps were housed in a technical room with an open basin, which made the system prone to scaling and occasional malfunctions. The system required regular cleaning and a change of water at the weekend. In addition, water cooling was needed, which significantly increased the use of energy and resources. The company relied on compressed air technology for the flour suction systems. This was often clogged with flour dust, resulting in system failure and requiring complex, time-consuming cleaning. Joachim Wolf became aware of Busch through a specialist article in an industry magazine – and contacted the experts directly.

At the start of 2020, the company began pilot implementation in the dough pot area with two MINK MM 1142 BV claw vacuum pumps. During operation, it became apparent that a switch to the AQUA version of the pumps (which is better suited for humid environments) was necessary due to the residual moisture in the application.

Read the full case study here:

https://www.buschvacuum.com/uk/en/success-stories/vacuum-reduces-maintenance-effort-and-operating-costs-in-pasta-production.html