Nuts & Oilseeds
Efficient grinding and dispersing technologies for nut and oilseed products.
NETZSCH offers customized system solutions for processing roasted and unroasted nuts and oilseeds, from nut butters and nut fillings to protein-rich pastes and fine flours. Whether 100% nut, with added cocoa or other ingredients – our machines and systems stand for reproducible product quality with high energy efficiency, hygienic design and compact layout.
Your Advantages with NETZSCH
Continuous processing with reproducible product quality
Compact and hygienic plant concepts
Flexible system solutions depending on application and raw material
Nut Butters
Nut butter is a paste made from ground nuts.
Often, the various types of nuts, such as almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, or cashews, are roasted before grinding to dry them and intensify their flavor. Nut butter is versatile and can be used, for example, as a spread, in smoothies, in sauces, or in baking.
One area that is currently increasing demand for nut butters is the growing market for plant-based milk alternatives such as soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, and others.
Nuts with a high fat content – such as peanuts, almonds, and hazelnuts – be processed with or without the addition of fat or oil on our Zumba or ZumbaPlus line, depending on their moisture content.
Nut Pastes, Nut Fillings with and without Cocoa
Nut pastes differ from nut butters in that they usually contain added sugar or other ingredients, whereas nut butters are typically made from 100% nuts.
Both nut fillings with cocoa and those without can be processed using the same method. For this application, we recommend our Salsa® system line in combination with a MasterCream. Before the nut paste is fed into the MasterRefiner, it is essential to homogenize the batch to ensure a consistent texture.
Nut Flours
Grinding whole nuts with a high fat content typically results in a liquid mass due to the released oil.
Without prior defatting, it is possible to grind almonds down to particle sizes between 800 and 500 µm.
However, recent trials with partially defatted almonds containing 9-13% fat have shown that we can achieve a particle size of d90 = 30 µm. This is done using a two-step process: pre-grinding with our CHM and fine milling with the CSM.
Would you like to learn more?
Our Solutions for Nut Processing
Zumba line: The perfect solution for processing roasted nuts and oilseeds – For 100% nut products
Combining the proven technologies of MasterCream and MasterRefiner, our Zumba line is the perfect solution for processing roasted nuts and oilseeds. This compact system achieves the highest product quality in terms of taste, appearance, and rheological parameters.
Special features:
- The starting product is roasted nuts or oilseeds
- Moisture content ≤ 2%
- Low processing temperatures, ≤ 45°C depending on the product
- Compact system for the highest product quality
With the Zumba line, roasted nuts and oilseeds are continuously processed in two steps:
STEP 1
STEP 2
Pre-grinding with the MasterCream to particle sizes of:
Fine grinding with the MasterRefiner to particle sizes of:
40 - 300 µm
15 - 100 µm
| Raw material | Fat content | Particle size | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | approx. 49 % | approx. 1 cm | |
| Almonds | approx. 53 % | approx. 2 cm | With/without skin, also blanched |
| Hazelnuts | approx. 60 % | approx. 1 cm | |
| Sesame | approx. 50 % | approx. 3 mm | |
| Coconut | 55-65 % | 1-5 mm | Fine grinding with MasterRefiner (2 mm beads) |
| Mixtures | variabel | To save process time and achieve a homogenous product quality before fine milling e.g. hazelnut & brownie as an ingredient in ice cream |
ZumbaPlus: For products with higher moisture content
The upgraded version of the Zumba line, which includes an additional drying step between pre-grinding and fine grinding, can also process unroasted nuts and oilseeds that would otherwise undergo color and flavor changes during the roasting process.
Your advantages:
- No color change, no roasting aromas
- Starting product with up to 8% moisture
- End product with 0.5% moisture, longer shelf life
- Final fineness < 20 µm
The three process steps for processing blanched, unroasted nuts with up to 8% residual moisture are:
Premilling
Drying
Fine Grinding
Salsa® with integrated nut and oilseed milling
The Salsa® system in combination with a MasterCream offers a flexible complete solution to produce fatty compounds. Before feeding the products into the MasterRefiner, the batch must be homogenized to ensure a uniform mixture.
- Product examples: spreads, nougat, gianduja, fillings, compounds
- Integration of MasterCream for direct processing of nuts and oilseeds
Application Literature
Our Partnership
Joining forces to deliver complete process solutions for nuts & oilseeds
