First posted: April 2001

Evaporator - On a backdrop of the plant, the evaporator calandria is being 'tailed up' prior to being lifted into the building

At the end of August 2000, the New Zealand Dairy Group placed a 21 million Euros order with GEA Niro NZ for a new powder plant to be installed at the Clandeboye site in the South Island. The project includes a 14 tonnes/hr multi-stage dryer, three evaporators, the largest fluidized-bed dryers built in New Zealand to date and three of the newly developed SANICIP™ bag filters, the first to be installed in the country, and an AVAPAC™ powder packing line from Avalon Engineering. The chamber, measuring 18 metres in diameter, is the largest built by GEA Niro worldwide to date.

Work on site started in September 2000 and is due for completion in September 2001. With the added capacity of 3.5 million liters of milk per day, Clandeboye will be the largest New Zealand Dairy Group site in the country.

The work on site has now gone on for 8 months and the project is proceeding quickly. The assembly, welding and polishing of the dryer chamber is continuing and is expected to be completed by the end of April. All the VIBRO-FLUIDIZER™ systems have been delivered and the installation is in full swing. The major components of the two evaporators have been lifted into the building and the building work for the third evaporator has started.

Closer shot - On a backdrop of the plant, the evaporator calandria is being 'tailed up' prior to being lifted into the building

180 tonne crane - the evaporator calandria is lifted into the building by a 180 tonne crawler crane

Fluidizer and Dryer Chamber - the third VIBRO-FLUIDIZER™ is seen in position in the foreground. In the background, the dryer chamber is a forest of scaffolding