Development of a pressurized low-temperature tablet press for a carbon dioxide flash frozen ice confection

Abstract

This document details the conception, design, and testing of a series of prototype powder-pelletizing devices for use with an ice confection powder produced using a CO2 spray freezing process. The device must function at a temperature of 233 K and at pressures of up to 12 bar(a) and must produce at least 500 pellets for use in consumer testing. Design considerations include stress analysis for critical parts, minimization of powder flow path length, formulation of requirements of thermal management system, implementation of the powder compression methods, examination of various agitation methods, and the testing of the prototype apparatus. Trials proved the concept sound as several dozen pellets could be produced using the final prototype. However, ensuring sufficient powder flow for the consistent and continuous production of full-sized pellets is the key difficulty in the implementation of this device. As such, further work should be devoted toward understanding and quantifying the flow properties of the CO2 flash freezing powder.