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ARTICLE

Chocolate mass – an overview on

current and alternative
processing technologies
A lot of time has passed since the rst re ner conches
were built to make chocolate. At that stage all
necessary processing steps were done in the same
machine, which sometimes took a week to get the nal
product. This paper is not intended to summarise all the
technical developments since then as such information
is available in textbooks1. Instead it aims to brie y
introduce the different systems for chocolate mass
production offered by various companies in order to give
readers an overview on what is currently available on
the market.
 × Cookie Settings

Chocolate mass is made from fat or fat containing ingredients – usually cocoa

butter and liquor, sometimes milk fat and particles, usually sugar, cocoa solids
and sometimes dry milk products. Very often an emulsi er is used to improve
ow of hygroscopic particles within the continuous fat phase. During
production several incidents occur:

Reduction of large particle sizes by grinding

Covering each individual particle by fat/emulsi er to reduce

particle interaction during ow

Removal of water contained in raw materials, as it would form undesired

sticky layers on hygroscopic particles

Removal of undesired volatile off- avours contained mainly in

cocoa particles and developed during cocoa fermentation

Flavour development

The two latter points could also be combined as they are dif cult
to distinguish.

Coming from the old re ner conches, where all this happened simultaneously
and was hard to control, the majority of later technologies perform the
grinding step separately. Only few mill types are able to handle chocolate
preparations, as it is initially a very sticky mass, which can transform to
a sticky powder during milling, when speci c surface of particles increases.
The most frequently used devices are plain roller mills (re ners) and stirred
ball mills.

Frequently the other operations are performed within a long-term

kneading process called conching. Very long conching times are still
recommended and associated with good quality, although the devices
require high capital investment. One of the major progresses established in
the last 30 years was to move cocoa avour treatment out of the conch into
the upstream cocoa processing. Thin lm evaporators were developed in
order to remove undesired volatiles and water; if this is not done elsewhere
 × to debacterise cocoa liquor. Unfortunately the very
those devices are also able Cookie Settings

popular Petzomat is not built any more, but alternatives from other companies
are available. Nowadays chocolate producers can strongly reduce conching
times if they insist on using pre-treated cocoa liquor of high avour quality.
Untreated cocoa is also still used, which then requires extra conching, like in
former times.

Similar principles are followed for milk chocolates by developing milk powder
pre-treatment procedures. For example it was proposed to dry skimmed milk
powder to below one per cent water and to coat it with fat, which allows us to

perform a very short liquefaction process instead of classical conching2.

Crumb is an ingredient made by drying milk together with sugar and cocoa
liquor. Originally this was done for preservation of the milk, but nowadays it is
performed in order to create the strong caramel avour preferred in some
countries. For downstream mass production the same technologies can be
used, as with other chocolate types.

If cocoa butter is replaced by another fat, the product is usually called

compound and not chocolate. Technologically most compounds are close to
chocolate mass and similar equipment can be used to make it. The largest
difference is rather an economical one, as very expensive cocoa butter is
replaced by relatively inexpensive alternative fats.

After some initial information on chocolate mass properties the systems

available on the market will be introduced. For that purpose information was
obtained from various manufacturers, followed by questions and discussions
on aspects such as:

Is it possible to produce dark, milk and white mass using identical

equipment or even on the same production line?

What are the main advantages of the process for larger and also for
smaller chocolate producers and what is the minimum size of an
industrial production line?

How much energy does the process require?

What is the approximate capital investment necessary for a production

line?

Of course not all questions could be answered. In particular the last point, as
process equipment is usually designed individually by machine manufacturers
for their clients. So in practice, chocolate makers will always have to negotiate
individually with suppliers. This paper will provide an introduction to the
possibilities on the market.

Chocolate mass properties

 × is a suspension of particles in a continuous phase
Physically, chocolate mass Cookie Settings

of liquid fat. Downstream when producing nal products for the consumer, fat
crystallisation is initiated and the mass is forced into the desired shape and
solidi es. These steps are not considered here, although many properties of
the nal product can be predicted by measurable properties of the still liquid
chocolate mass. Therefore ow properties are usually measured at a
temperature of 40°C, which is close to the temperature that chocolate melts in
our mouths. So texture sensations like a smooth melt or a sticky behaviour are
usually correlated to ow properties.

As chocolate mass is a non-Newtonian uid we have to measure its shear

stress at different shear rates, which results in a ow curve. Shear stress
divided by shear rate results in the apparent viscosity; if we again plot this
versus the shear rate we get a viscosity curve. Chocolate mass is a shear
thinning uid, so the highest viscosity is found when the mass starts to ow.
Interaction between particles is considered to be responsible for this

behaviour3, which is very different to Newtonian uids such as water. So one

important part of the ow curve is at very low shear. The yield value de nes
the shear stress, when the mass starts to move. As a minimum shear rate is
necessary for the measurement, usually the yield value has to be extrapolated
from the ow curve according to model equations, like the ones developed by

Casson and Windhab1. Yield values or measurements at low shear stress also
have a great practical importance, as many industrial operations are carried
out with masses owing slowly, for example the equal distribution of still
liquid mass in a mould.

On the other hand side some processing is done under high shear, e.g. when
pumping or spraying masses. This is best described by the other end of the
ow curve. So usually it is extrapolated to in nite shear, the result is then
called Casson or Windhab in nite viscosity. Naturally, fat content, emulsi ers
and ingredient properties have the largest in uence on viscosity. After those,
particle size distribution and particle package density are also important.
Equal or monomodal particle sizes would create large voids lled with fat.
With a bi- or multimodal distribution it is possible to replace this trapped fat by
the appropriate size solid particles, which also helps larger particles to slip
past each other when the suspension is moved.
 × Cookie Settings

Figure 1

The grinding process largely in uences particle size distribution and the
resulting ow properties. Roller re ners – if operated at optimal settings –
tend to produce wider, bi- or multimodal distributions, higher package
densities and lower viscosities at high shear rates. In contrast, ball mills result

in narrower distributions, less speci c surface and lower yield values4. An

example is shown in Figure 1.

Physically measurable properties of chocolate masses, like ow attributes or

hardness, are correlated to sensory perceptions such as snap, hardness,
melting and the like. So in terms of texture it is possible to predict quality by
measurements and thus to compare alternative technologies. This is much
more dif cult in terms of avour. Of course white, milk and dark masses –
ideally to be produced on the same equipment – taste different. This means
there are a lot more varieties in each category up to the speci c ‘house tastes’
that are aimed at by individual chocolate manufacturers. So at the end of the
day it is generally impossible to de ne the avour for high quality and to
compare and identify equipment to achieve it. If considering processing
alternatives it will always be necessary to adapt recipes and technology to
each other in order to get the desired result.

Roller re ning and conching

This technology is used by the majority of chocolate producers in Europe. A

typical line consists of mixer, 2-roll-re ner, 5-roll-re ner and conch. In the
mixer the largest part of the recipe is blended, although some fat is left out, as
otherwise the mix would be too uid for the re ners. The 2-roll-re ner
crushes sugar crystals to sizes below 100µm. Alternatively, sugar can be
ground separately by a sugar mill, which was common practice some decades
ago. Although sometimes this set-up can still be found, most companies
nowadays prefer the 2-roll-re ner due to the danger of dust explosions in
sugar mills. The following 5-roll-re ner is a sophisticated machine, not very
easy to operate, but essential for nal product quality. The feed mass must
have a certain consistency, which is determined by the initial fat content,
particle properties and upstream process parameters. Here the particles are
ground to their nal size,×usually below 30µm in order to avoid a sandy texture Cookie Settings

in the mouth in the nal product. A dif culty is to combine the continuous
re ners with downstream batch conches. Productivity of both machines
strongly decreases if only one re ner is connected to one conch. Therefore
usually a number of re ners are connected to a number of conches, which
leads to relatively large production lines of several tons per hour. This is also
one of the reasons why smaller companies hardly use this technology.

The conch is a large kneader, where the powdery akes from the re ners are
treated with a large amount of mechanical energy input, usually over several
hours. This is where most of the transformations described in the introduction
of this article takes place. During the process the remaining fat and emulsi er
are added. Conches are built in various forms and can be equipped with one,
two or three mixing shafts. More detailed descriptions of the process can be

found in1.

Figure 2

The Swiss company Bühler is market leader in this technology and looks back

to a long experience in building and installing complete production lines8. In

order to also meet the needs of smaller producers, recently the MicroFactory™
line was launched with a capacity of 300-600 kg/h, where the 2+5-roll-
re ners are replaced by two three-rollers, see Figure 2.

Since the Dutch company DuyvisWiener

joined with F.B.Lehmann and Thouet,
they are also in a position to supply
complete lines consisting of re ners and
Thouet-conches. Interesting for smaller
companies is the F.B.Lehmann 5-roll- Figure 3

re ner with integrated ‘micro’-2-roller9.

Nevertheless also here one re ner would need several hours to ll a large 6-
t-conch, which can only be solved by always having one machine idle or by
using at least two smaller conches. For very small scale or test production the
company also builds a pilot scale 5RR with 50cm rolls and 3-rollers.
 × companies or for niche products is offered by
Another solution for smaller Cookie Settings

BSA-Schneider, an established conch builder, who since recently also builds

re ners. Their CHOCompact system combines a small 5-roll-re ner with a

conch10 (see Figure 3). Only one machine is operating at the time, so the
conch has to wait for the re ner and vice versa. There are several other

companies building re ners, e.g. Carle&Montanari-OPM11, HDM-Petzholdt-

Heidenauer12 and conches such as Thouet13 and Lipp Mischtechnik14.

Continuous conching

Petzholdt-Heidenauer, now part of the Probat group, carries forward the long
experience on continuous conching dating back to the 1970s. The solution
currently offered is based on using conventional 5-roll-re ners. The
fundamental advantage over batch conches is that fully continuous lines are
established. On the other hand side a minimum throughput of 1,250kg/h is
required over a longer time, so the process is not suitable for frequent recipe
change or smaller companies.

The process is shown in Figure 4.

Re ner akes are transferred into the
feed hopper, its lling level controls
speed of the feed screw and
compensates supply variations. While

Figure 4 some cocoa butter is added, the screw

feeds the pasting columns. It is
equipped with adjustable baf es and shearing wings; the akes are subjected
to intensive mechanical stress. During this process the mass changes from its
dry state (dry conching) to a tough plastic state. Cleaned conditioned air is
supplied by fan. After nally adding lecithin it leaves the pasting column in
owable consistency. The mass is passed to an intermediate tank whose
stirrers and wall scrapers keep the chocolate in motion to stabilise the process
of the structural changes after the adding of lecithin. Process air, loaded with
volatile and undesired avour is separated. In the weighing station the recipe
is completed by liquid components. The wall scraper of the vessel prepares
already a pre-mixture. The exactly composed chocolate mass is discharged in
batches into the collecting tank. There it is further mixed and cooled. From
there it is continuously pumped through the dynamic ow mixer used for
intensive homogenising. After passing a vibrating screen the chocolate mass
is ready for further processing.

According to Petzholdt-Heidenauer, advantages are:

Speci c energy density in a continuous conche is much higher than in any

kind of batch conch, because high energy input is related to small
conching space, where ‘nearly 100 per cent of the particles are under
treatment at the same time’
 High ef ciency rate ×
of the energy employed to effect the structural Cookie Settings
changes

High speci c surface of the processed chocolate mass as a precondition

for intensive exchange reactions with the supplied ambient air

High degree of precise and equal mechanical stress on all particles of the
chocolate.

The device holds 450 to 500kg, which results in residence times of 15-
20 minutes in the conch and 4-5 minutes in the column. Energy density is up
to 1200 kW/t and energy input 70 to 90 kWh/t. The modular structure allows
us to extend the plant step by step.

A similar principle of fully continuous operation was followed by Lipp

Mischtechnik (Mannheim, Germany). Here the focus lies on removing
undesired water from the raw materials before liquefaction and not during

that step. This is possible through pre-drying re ner akes5 or milk powder6.
Downstream, the liquefaction can be done in a very rapid batch process or

continuously using a high-speed in-line mixer14.

Macintyre system

This very unique machine resurrects the traditional method of conching and

grinding at the same time, as we know it from the Lindt longitudinal conch1. It
consists of a double-jacket cylinder with serrated internal surface. Spring-
loaded scrapers break the particles during rotation; volatile water and avours
are removed by ventilation and heating.

There has been some discussion about the optimisation of ow properties and
avour in those machines and it has also been tried to combine it with other

systems, e.g. re ners1. It is also known, that operation is relatively noisy. An

advantage is that batch sizes between 45kg and 5t are possible, which means
a lot of exibility for smaller companies.

By Siegfried Bolenz
Ball milling
27 October 2014
An alternative method to produce chocolate is using a ball mill where the
mass is milled and sheared at the same time. Although cocoa liquor is usually  3 comments
ground by ball mills, those are not popular for chocolate mass in the European
industry. Nevertheless those systems are commonly used worldwide. The
SHARES
production is closed, which ensures hygienic processing and prevents
contamination. Industrial-scale ball mills work continuously. Feed has to
remain pumpable during the entire grinding process, which requires a lower
62
viscosity and thus higher fat contents, when compared to the feed of a roller
re ner. Consequently, it is more dif cult to remove moisture and undesired
a d k
volatiles as done in classical dry conching. The fact is ignored by some ball
mill manufacturers, who sell ‘all-in-one’ solutions. This might work for some
s v 1
 ×
compounds, baking chocolate and the like, but is not further considered if we Cookie Settings
ISSUE
look at quality chocolates.
Issue 5 2014

An early approach to include the removal of volatiles into a recirculating ball

mill system was made by DuyvisWiener which included a ‘taste changer; a RELATED TOPICS

rotating disk where hot air is blown over the chocolate layer formed by Fats & oils

rotation1,15. These devices are still sold for small scale applications.
F.B.Lehmann, now part of DuyvisWiener, has a long experience in building
thin lm evaporators and horizontal ball mills for cocoa processing and had
also offered systems for chocolate mass production. This is continued after the RELATED INDUSTRY
SECTORS
merger and further processing alternatives have been designed using devices
from both subsidiaries. So for larger continuous lines, thin lm avour Confectionery &
Chocolate
treatment can be combined either with horizontal or vertical ball mills15.
Together with the traditional re ning conching solutions (see above) the
company now can offer a large variety of processing alternatives to their
clients.

Recently, Bühler seems to have

followed a similar strategy. For
compounds the company offers a ball

mill solution called SmartChoc™ with a

horizontal ball mill and a shear mixer.
After adding a single-shaft conch for
avour treatment (light conching) the Figure 5

system for small scale production (60-

300g/h) is now called SmartChoc™ Plus and allows manufacturing a variety of

chocolate and compound masses16 (Figure 5).

Another system is offered by Netzsch17; it comes in variations for smaller

companies (batch size 25-300 kg/h, called ChocoEasy) and also for larger
production (batch size 750-6000kg, then called Rumba). After pre-grinding
sugar by an impact mill the raw materials are mixed in a conch, where hot air
is applied for avour treatment during dry conching. After that the mass is
lique ed by adding cocoa butter and then ground by circulation through a
horizontal ball mill. The company claims maximum energy ef ciency, hygienic
design, ease of cleaning and recipe change.

After building highly reputed conches, batch and in-line mixers for a long time,
Lipp Mischtechnik has now developed a complete chocolate line called

Eco2choc® (Figure 6). It is based on the ‘coarse conching’ processing concept.

Development and optimisation are described in7; research has also shown
that milk chocolate of good ow properties and taste can be produced. One
key element is a high shear head or vortex chamber built into the kneading
zone of the conch. It intensi es mass and energy transfer, but also reduces
 × particle size of crystal sugar to Cookie Settings

approximately 300μm – thus no pre-

grinding device is necessary. Coarse
conching time can be short if just drying
is needed, e.g. for white chocolate or
milk chocolate with small quantities or
high quality cocoa mass. If a stronger
treatment is necessary, e.g. for avour
development of dark chocolate, this can
be achieved by increasing energy input
and time. The dry and pasty conching is
generally done at low fat contents in
order to improve volatilisation. Fat and
Figure 6 other ingredients are added then and
grinding can be performed from a buffer
mixer by two vertical ball mills with an intermediate cooler. The latter helps to
keep temperature of sensitive products below the desired level, e.g. when
recipes contain lactose and glass transition during milling must be avoided.
The process can be downsized for small production scale, then it consists of a
conch with vortex chamber, a ball mill and a pump for circulation.

Discussion

One of the rst things a chocolate producer has to consider are the in uences
of recipe, ingredients and particles on chocolate mass properties as discussed
above. First of all, if raw material cost is less important, e.g. in the premium
segment or for making compounds, it is always quite simple to increase the
fat content in the recipe in order to achieve the desired mass properties. Also
the taste can be largely in uenced by choosing the right ingredients. In those
cases, processing technology becomes less important and most of the
systems on the market will be able to produce the desired quality.

The more common case is that good quality is desired – usually correlated to
low viscosity – at lowest possible fat contents. If planning a chocolate mass
line, one of the major decisions will be which the most important part of the
ow curve is. If low shear downstream applications like moulding are in the
focus, low yield values are important; here ball milling could be an advantage.
On contrary, if the mass has to move fast, for example, if pumped or sprayed
in nite viscosity is more important and roller re ners might be preferential.

Some time ago it was very dif cult to nd equipment for small scale chocolate
making. This has changed; now there are a number of ball mill-based systems
on the market and also smaller scale roll re ners have been developed.
Although nowadays many companies claim their systems are fully automated,
small scale producers should realistically consider the skills of their operators,
 ×the need for maintenance. In this aspect, systems
the ease of operation and Cookie Settings

with a simple machine layout might be preferable.

For medium- and large-scale producers there are a wide range of technical
options. The varying needs of chocolate producers and the various
advantages and disadvantages of the systems on the market make it
impossible to give a general recommendation. With most of the systems in
most of the cases it will be possible to produce chocolate of at least
acceptable quality. Fine-tuning and nal choice has to be made in every single
case; it is always both recipe and process that in uences nal quality and
there is no ‘out-of-the-box’ solution. So the best possible advice might be:

Think carefully about your needs in terms of product properties, taste,

ow properties, economy and exibility

Then pre-select a number of possible systems/suppliers

Then run enough tests on their machines with your own recipe in order to
make a quali ed nal decision.

References
1. Beckett ST (2009) Industrial chocolate manufacture and use. Wiley,
Chichester

2. Bolenz S, Kutschke E, Lipp E (2008) Using extra dry milk ingredients for
accelerated conching of milk chocolate. Eur Food Res Technol 227:
1677–1685

3. Windhab EJ (1995) Rheology in food processing. (Chapter 5 in

Physico-chemical Aspects of Food Processing ISBN 0751402400).
Chapman & Hall, London, pp 80–115

4. Bolenz S, Manske A (2013) Impact of fat content during grinding on

particle size distribution and ow properties of milk chocolate. Eur Food
Res Technol 236: 863–872

5. Bolenz S, Kutschke E, Lipp E, Senkpiehl A (2007) Pre-dried Re ner

Flakes Allow Very Short or Even Continuous Conching of Milk
Chocolate, Eur Food Res Technol 226:153–160

6. Bolenz S, Kutschke E, Lipp E (2008) Using extra dry milk ingredients for
accelerated conching of milk chocolate. Eur. Food Res. Technol. 227:
1677-1685

7. Bolenz S, Manske A, Langer M (2014): Improvement of process

parameters and evaluation of milk chocolates made by the new coarse
conching process , Eur Food Res Technol 238: 863–874

8. buhlergroup.com/europe/en/industry-solutions/processed-
food/chocolate/chocolate-mass.htm

9. fblehmann.com/chocolate-processing/re ning/5-roll-re ner

10. chocompact.com/

11. cm-opm.com/en/applications/cocoa-chocolate/a4_1
 ×
12. petzholdt-heidenauer.de/chocolate.htm Cookie Settings

13. thouet.com/chocolate-processing

14. lippmischtechnik.de/en/produkte/conchier-maschinen/

15. duyviswiener.com/chocolate-processing

16. buhlergroup.com/europe/en/about-buehler/events/interpack-
2014/interpack-2014-exhibits-at-a-glance.htm

17. netzsch-grinding.com/en/confectionery-division/home.html

About the author

Prof. Dr. Siegfried Bolenz studied food engineering in Stuttgart-Hohenheim

and started his career 1989 in a fruit juice company while studying for his
PhD. From 1992-1997 he worked with Kraft-Jacobs-Suchard (now Mondeléz)
in R&D on various dairy, food and chocolate process development projects.
Since 1997 he has been professor of food technology at the Neubrandenburg
University of Applied Sciences, where he teaches dairy, confectionery and
beverage technology, product and process development. One research focus
is chocolate processing, where he cooperates with various companies and
has published a number of papers and patents. For further information visit:
www.hs-nb.de/ppages/bolenz-siegfried.
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3 responses to “Chocolate mass – an overview on current and alternative processing technologies”

zaid
8 March 2020 at 9:58 am

Thank you … I am very satis ed

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Pedro Cespedes
25 May 2017 at 3:01 am

I am trying to access the article but it is not working

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Nicholas Jackson
25 May 2017 at 5:31 pm

Hi Pedro, please accept my apologies, if you try again you should be able to access the article.

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