Grant: Engage Grants Program

Bartek Ingredients Inc. (Stoney Creek, Ontario) is the largest producer of malic acid worldwide, which is used primarily as an ingredient for food and beverage applications. Malic acid occurs naturally in various fruits and vegetables, which contributes to their pleasantly sour taste. With growing worldwide market demand, Bartek seeks to increase production capacity at their manufacturing plant in two ways: by building an additional reactor and by eliminating inefficiencies in their manufacturing processes. The final stage of malic acid production is an evaporative crystallization process that is not well understood, andproduces approximately 14% of product outside of target granulation sizes. To address this challenge, Bartek is looking to partner with Brock University to investigate Barteks processes and develop optimized reaction conditions through a series of benchtop crystallization experiments. Ultimately, this proposed research aims to improve production yields and maximize target product specifications that will result in reduced unit costs.