Non-dairy Creamer Production Line

Non-Dairy Creamer (NDC) is a milk substitute creamer powder made from vegetable oils, glucose syrups, sweeteners, casein, and emulsifiers by emulsifying, mixing, homogenizing and spray drying process, designed to replace traditional milk or cream in beverages and food applications. It provides a creamy texture, rich flavor, and good solubility without containing real dairy fat. It is widely used in coffee, tea, bakery and dessert products.

The non-dairy creamer processing machines mainly include powder dissolving systems, palm oil or coconut oil storage tanks, syrup tanks, ingredients mixing and emulsifying tanks, high-pressure homogenizers, pasteurizers, spray dryers, powder sieve screens, non-dairy creamer filling and packing system, CIP cleaning system, RO water treatment system and auxiliary machines such as boiler, cooling tower, air compressor.

The capacity of the non-dairy creamer production line is from 1 ton per hour to 10 tons per hour. The end products can be filled into 25kg bulk bags, sachets, or bottles.

All the non-dairy creamer production machines are made of food grade SUS304/SUS316L material, and the whole production line will also equip a CIP cleaning system to ensure hygiene conditions for production.

The production process of non-dairy creamer involves preparing ingredients such as vegetable oils, carbohydrates, proteins, emulsifiers, and stabilizers, followed by emulsification through high-speed mixing, homogenization under high pressure to ensure stability, pasteurization to eliminate microorganisms, spray drying to convert the liquid mixture into fine powder, cooling and sieving to maintain uniform granule size, and finally, packaging in moisture-proof containers to preserve quality and extend shelf life.

The non-dairy creamer preparation system includes a vegetable oil adding system, syrup dosing system, sodium caseinate dissolving system, emulsifier, flavor agent and stabilizer dosing system.

Vegetable oil preparation system: Vegetable oil such as coconut oil or palm oil is typically delivered to the processing facility via tanker trucks and stored in Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC). To facilitate processing, diaphragm pumps are used to transfer the oil from storage to the emulsifying tanks, where it is mixed with other ingredients to create a stable emulsion.

Syrup dosing system: Corn syrup solids, maltodextrin, or glucose syrup are the main carbohydrates to transfer into emulsifying tanks from IBC containers by pumps. In large-scale processing lines with high capacity, a buffer tank and filtration system may be required during the transfer process to ensure smooth flow and remove any impurities.

Sodium caseinate dissolving system: Sodium caseinate is supplied in powder form, typically packed in 25kg bags. During production, it can be added to the high-shear emulsifying tank directly through the manhole or dissolved using a water-powder mixer. The water-powder mixer ensures efficient dispersion and prevents clumping by rapidly incorporating the powder into the liquid phase. Once fully dissolved, the sodium caseinate solution is mixed with other ingredients before proceeding to the emulsification stage.

Emulsifier, flavor agent and stabilizer dosing system: Emulsifiers such as lecithin help mix water and oil components. stabilizers such as dipotassium phosphate (for acidity control), anti-caking agents, and flavoring agents can be dosed into the emulsifying tanks directly manually.

High-shear emulsifying tanks play a crucial role in non-dairy creamer production, ensuring the uniform dispersion of ingredients and the formation of a stable emulsion. These tanks are designed to handle the mixing and emulsification of vegetable oils, sodium caseinate solution, syrup, emulsifiers, stabilizers, and other additives.

The pre-emulsified liquid from the high-shear emulsifying tank is fed into the homogenizer. Two-stage homogenization (first stage: 150-250 bar, second stage: 50-100 bar) is often preferred for enhancing stability, improving mouthfeel, and breaking down fat droplets into smaller, uniform particles (typically below 1 micron).

The non-dairy creamer pasteurizer can use plate or tubular sterilizer to do heat treatment after all the ingredients are fully mixed and homogenized, and the pasteurization temperature is about 80-90℃ for 10-30S.

The spray dryer is a crucial component in non-dairy creamer production, responsible for converting the liquid emulsion into a free-flowing powder with excellent solubility and stability. The process involves atomizing the sterilized liquid into fine droplets and rapidly drying them using hot air. Here is the working process of a spray dryer in non-dairy creamer production

Feed Preparation & Preheating

The homogenized and sterilized emulsion is preheated to 55-65°C to reduce viscosity and improve atomization efficiency.

Atomization

The liquid is fed into a high-speed centrifugal atomizer or high-pressure nozzle to form fine droplets, and the droplet size typically ranges between 10-100 microns, ensuring uniform drying.

Hot Air Drying

Hot air (inlet temperature 150-200°C) is introduced into the drying chamber, the atomized droplets rapidly lose moisture, forming a fine powder, the outlet air temperature is typically 80-100°C, ensuring efficient drying while preventing overheating.

Powder Separation & Collection

The dried particles are collected in a cyclone separator to remove fine dust, vibrating sieves may be used to ensure uniform particle size. In large-scale production, a fluidized bed dryer may be integrated to enhance moisture control and cooling.

Cooling & Packaging

The powder is cooled to room temperature to prevent caking, it is then transferred to a packaging system with nitrogen flushing for improved shelf stability.