The intensive collaboration with education is one of our pillars. We like to prepare students for the future. At the beginning of October we organized a masterclass for students of the HAS University of Applied Sciences. During a week, 15 students from the Food Technology program were introduced to the world of innovative technologies, technology providers and companies from the food processing industry. The masterclass was led by HAS lecturer-researchers Rob van Diepenbeek and Henk-Jan Meijer.

The week started with an introduction to Food Tech Brainport, Bodec and Pascal Processing, after which the students were given a tour. The sounds we heard from the students in particular was that it is really cool to see all technologies come together in one place. “You don’t see that often.”

A visit to vanRijsingengreen followed, during which the students got a glimpse into the vanRijsingengreen chain.

After this kick-start, five groups of 3 students studied a technology of their choice and were allowed to pitch it at the end of the week.

For example, the ATFD (Agitated Thin Film Dryer) was compared with the spray dryer and energy consumption was mapped. An article about HPP (High Pressure Processing) and PEF (Pulsed Electric Fields) technology was also presented and the possibilities of membrane technology were explained (specifically on water treatment). Some examples of the results after 1 (!) week.

We are already looking forward to the next masterclass. Special thanks to our partners Bodec, Pascal Processing BV, vanRijsingengreen for the active contribution to the masterclass.