Flower Drying for Global Skin Care Brand
Humiscope’s Solution Increases Product Quality and Decreases Time to Market
THE CLIENT
Top of the Range Flowers
Top of the Range Flowers (ToRF) has been operating since 1996. They have experimented with different Australian native and wildflower crops, farming methods, and processing systems.
Owners, Lodi and Yucca Pameijer supply red Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos flavidus) to their customer, a botanicals manufacturer that specialises in developing ingredients exclusively derived from Australian native plants.
The Kangaroo Paw extract is used as an oil and provided to global skincare brand, Clarins, to use in their #extrafirming skin care range.
Clarins’ video showcasing Top of The Range Flowers
THE SITUATION
Additional Costs and Time Delays
Previously, after hand-harvesting, ToRF would shred the fresh stems and then transport them to a freeze-drying facility, an hour away. They were limited in the quantity the freeze-drying business could take per batch. After freeze-drying and milling, the finished product would be freighted to their customer.
ISSUES
The time between harvest and freeze-drying meant a possibility of quality reduction caused by fermentation beginning in the still fresh flowers.
Cost to freight to a third party company
Extra cost to pay for freeze drying thousands of kilos of fresh product
Involving a third party meant time delays in getting the product to their customer.
ENTER HUMISCOPE
Indoor Environment Specialists
Farmers by trade, Lodi and Yucca are very innovative and are always looking at ways to improve their processes. After researching the best solution, and talking with their peers, they decided to contact Humiscope.
Director, John Morgan met with Lodi and Yucca to learn more about their business, their challenges and what they wanted in a solution.
The couple wanted to use their existing cold room, which they use during the summer months for their Christmas Bush harvest, and convert it into a drying room in spring for their Kangaroo Paw processing.
Whilst a drying room, it would have a consistently high temperature and when operating as a cold room, it would sit at 5° C.
“Katherine was very helpful in providing information to address our requirements. She was very competent regarding the specifications and was ready to refer any technical questions to Humiscope director, John (Morgan), which we found very reassuring.”
THE SOLUTION
Desiccant Dehumidification Technology
The traditional method of sending the product offsite to be dried, meant the whole process from harvest to its final destination, would take days.
Humiscope chose a system that would precisely manage humidity and moisture levels during both the drying process and for their cold storage requirements.
Humiscope talked through the benefits of a desiccant dehumidifier for an all-in-one drying room and cold room solution.
“To maintain it’s quality our produce needs to be dried in the shortest possible time to less than 9% moisture content.”
Top Of The Range Flowers Drying Room Using a Desiccant Dehumidifier
The Purpose of a Drying Room
The purpose of a drying room is to create a temperature and humidity controlled environment where the product can be dried or cured rapidly while still maintaining or improving its quality.
“The dehumidifier is working very well with the weight of the product dropping – which was the goal. The space was loaded with 50 kg of product yesterday and this morning it weighs only 36.5 kg.”
Humiscope provided instructions on how to install the unit and how best to install the duct to move the dry air around the cold room and expel the moisture laden air into the outside environment.
Humiscope designed a TFT Desiccant Dehumidifier AD 2500 as the ideal system for Top of the Range Flower’s needs. Lodi and Yucca chose to install the unit and ducting themselves.
“We found Humiscope very helpful in addressing our operational questions.”
“The system easily performed the task of drying the produce inside the insulated sealed room. The drying process is
complete in about 36 hours.”
THE OUTCOME
Increased Quality and Mass
The first batch of dried product sent, received a glowing response from their client. There was both a higher amount of active ingredient available for extraction and the quality of the active ingredient was improved.
“We loved the professional and personable support provided by Humiscope and we are now discussing the possibility of upgrading to include a heat recovery system. This will likely make the whole system more energy efficient.”
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Better Service
By eliminating the need to ship the flowers to a freeze-drying company, Top of the Range Flowers now provides a better service to their customer by offering a faster turnaround.
Value Adding
Their customer is exceptionally happy with the higher amount of active ingredient that can be extracted and the increase in quality.
Time Efficiency
Top of the Range Flowers has saved time by removing the need to ship and dry their product at a third party business.
Cost Saving
Shipping costs have decreased twofold. Firstly, there is no need to ship to a middle man. Secondly, the amount of product to be shipped has decreased. Five boxes of shredded flowers equates to only one box of dried product.
Increased Profits
By offering a better-quality product with a higher volume of extraction viability, Top of the Range Flowers has increased their return-on-investment.