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UZWIL, SWITZERLAND — Bühler Group and Hosokawa Alpine Group have signed a strategic collaboration agreement to accelerate and strengthen the production of healthier and sustainable plant protein solutions. Together, the companies will provide customers with the most efficient value chain for pulses being processed into protein ingredients.

Bühler offers solutions for the intake, cleaning, dehulling and grinding of pulses, and further food processing with its extrusion technology, which texturizes plant-based proteins into products with fibrous texture similar to meat.

Hosokawa Alpine complements the production process by adding its leading technology for the dry separation of pulses’ protein: fine grinding and air classification.

The combination of Bühler’s upstream pulses process and Hosokawa’s process for size reduction and classification produces the highest yields of high value protein concentrates. Ultimately, with this partnership the companies will be able to offer customers process technology and expertise along the complete field-to-fork pulses protein chain.

“Hosokawa Alpine will be our preferred partner for integrated solutions for our customers that are processing sustainable proteins,” said Johannes Wick, chief executive officer, Bühler Grains & Food. “Thanks to their vast expertise in protein extraction, we can now cover the entire value chain for plant-based protein — from any kind of pulses to dry extrudates ready for consumption,”

Antonio Fernández, chairman of the executive board at Hosokawa Alpine, added, “By working with Bühler, we can fully realize the potential of the value chain. With our combined technologies, we meet the market requirements in the best possible way and drive developments in the process chain forward.”

With this cooperation, the companies will be able to address customer needs from the harvest to the final product.

“This starts with our application centers in Uzwil, Switzerland, and the brand-new Food Application Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, created to develop new methods of transforming pulses and grains into tasty new food solutions,” said Andreas Risch, head of Special Grains & Pulses at Bühler. “They are complemented by Hosokawa Alpine’s facilities in Augsburg, Germany, all of them being available for customer trials. Our collaboration goes through to commissioning and services ensuring high-quality outputs for our customers.”

Bühler and Hosokawa Alpine have been working together in different projects and industries since the 1980s.

Source: World Grain