The CTCPA has access to 4 technology halls located in the region - Avignon : CTCPA hall, Nantes : Oniris hall, Amiens : University of Picardy Jules Verne platform, Auch : CRITT-CTCPA platform.

They each have pilot equipment at their disposal to carry out tests and pre-series on conventional pilots, from product preparation to packaging: crimping machine, heat-sealing machine, capping machine, tray maker, modified atmosphere, up to its heat treatment in rotating autoclaves, with runoff...

In addition, several halls are equipped with innovative equipment, allowing tests to be carried out on a semi-industrial scale: ohmic heating, microwaves, high pressures, pulsed light.

Examples of materials:

• Mixing and separating

Equipment necessary for mixing and separating food products such as mixers, crushers, cutters, dicers, profusioners, mixers, screens, a Morton test mixer and a rotary biscuit factory. It allows the CTCPA to work with any type of food matrix.

cutter/mixer/ cooker	foisonneur	mélangeur	tamis

      

• Transfert

Different transfer pumps (double piston and screw pump, peristaltic pump, pigtail, centrifugal pumps...), a launching tank...

cuve de lancement	parmentière	ébouteuse	pompe emmepiemme
	ligne de légume

 

• Cooking and fermentation

The equipment necessary for cooking and fermenting the products: whiteness, cooking cell, various ovens (convection/steam, sole, pint) and other cooking pots.

blancheur pilote	cellule de cuisson	four air pulsé / vapeur

 

• Heat treatment in the final packaging

A fleet of different autoclaves: multiprocess, microflow, rotary, static as well as a sterilizer.

autoclave statique	autoclave multiprocess	stérilisateur

 

• Continuous heat treatments

Conventional technologies such as several exchangers: plate, annual, scraped surface, tubular. It also has innovative equipment: two ohmic heating lines and a continuous microwave heat treatment line.

échangeur à plaques	échangeur à surface raclée	échangeur tubulaire	pilote de chauffage ohmique horizontal	pilote microondes

 

• Chilling / freezing / freezing / deep-freezing

A freezing cell, a fast cooling cell and a freezing cell.

cellule de congélation	cellule de surgelation

 

• Filling / packaging

The equipment necessary for filling and packaging products such as crimping machines, trays, capping machines, vacuum/gas packaging machines and aseptic isolators allow tests to be carried out until the product is completed. Analysis equipment completes the range: compression meter, éclatometer, O2 permeameters and water vapour....

barquetteuse	capsuleuse	compressomètre / éclatomètre	conditionneur aseptique	isolateur aseptique

 

• Dehydration

A fluidized bed dryer, a cylinder dryer and an atomization tower.

sécheur à lit fluidisé	sécheur cylindre	tour d'atomisation

 

• Analytical equipment

A wide range of analytical equipment, including:

• AWmeter
• crimp control bench
• temperature monitoring centre by optical fibres
• wire assembly for temperature and pressure probing
• farinographer
• GC/FID
• GCMS thermofinnigan, equipped with HS/SPME
• HPLC UV / FLD
• LCMS / MS
• microGC
• onboard sensor fleet (non-radio frequency) temperature / pressure
• texturometer
• thermoresistometer

GCMS thermogfinnigan	HPLC UV / FLD	LCMS /MS	microGC

 

• Miscellaneous
  • calibration bath
  • concentration ball
  • glycol water plant
  • 2 high pressure pilots (3L and 50L)
  • pulsed light pilot
  • vacuum pump

bain d'étalonnage	pilote haute pression 50L	pilote de lumière pulsée	pompe à vide

 

The expertise laboratories have high-performance equipment:

• The microbiology laboratory in Avignon consists, today, of  a microbiology laboratory and a molecular biology laboratory.  The significant equipment in the microbiology laboratory are:  3 microbiological security posts, a horizontal flow hood, a glove boxe, a microplate reader (Tecan), and a flux cytometer (Bactiflow).  The molecular biology part is equipped with a Thermal Cycler (Applied Biosystems), electrophoresis tanks, and a gel analyzer (Biorad). In particular, this laboratory has a unique collection of microorganisms and bacterial spores of more than 800 microorganism isolates coming from the industrial environment.

• The laboratory of nutritional quality for plant products in Avignon is equipped with the principal equipment necessary for analytical development and the nutritional characterization of food products (HPLC chain, equipment for sample preparation…)

• The packaging laboratory in Bourg-en-Bresse offers two types of analytical expertise:
  • i) The study of packaging functionalities through physical, chemical and mechanical approach (material to analyze the resistance of packaging, of barrier properties, specific and unique material to analyze accelerated ageing.)
  • ii) The study of the food compatibility of packaging through a chemical approach with the recent acquisition of LC/MS/MS in order to sharply analyze the migrant polymers in the food matrixes.

 

Technical research and development and analysis activities using CTCPA's technical tools help to improve the competitiveness of companies. By reproducing industrial conditions or using high-performance analytical equipment for analytical expertise services, CTCPA teams meet the needs of agri-food companies in terms of product and process improvement, product quality, environmental protection and sustainable development.