Customer story
Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate: ‘Our new stainless steel tanks allow us to offer more cocoa butter varieties’
Gpi Tanks supplies 8 stainless steel storage tanks to Cargill
Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate processes cocoa mass into cocoa butter and cocoa powder. To supply more varieties of cocoa butter, there was a need for new storage tanks. Gpi received an order for 8 new stainless steel tanks for the production site in Wormer, the Netherlands.
Erik Götz, Maintenance Support Engineer at Cargill Wormer, explains the reason behind the request: ‘We see increasing demand from customers for the segregation of our products. Customers want cocoa butter with a specific certification or flavour. To produce these different variations of cocoa butter, we needed more tanks.’
Choosing Gpi
Erik shares why the company chose Gpi: ‘The collaboration between Gpi and Cargill goes back at least ten years. We’ve purchased from Gpi before and are satisfied with previous projects. For this assignment as well, Gpi was the most attractive partner. Price was the decisive factor.’
The Assignment
Cargill commissioned Gpi to handle the engineering, production, and transport of 8 stainless steel tanks, each with a capacity of 35 m³. The tanks are 6.4 metres tall with a diameter of 3.4 metres. They are made of stainless steel 304(L) and equipped with an agitator, heating jacket, and insulation to maintain the cocoa butter at the desired temperature. The insulation is finished with stainless steel. Erik elaborates: ‘We opted for welded stainless steel insulation. It provides a fully sealed system, ensuring that nothing can leak in or out. Additionally, it is easy to clean because the tank is finished seamlessly and hygienically. For us, this is practical and the best choice for food safety.’
Application
The tanks are used for the temporary storage of ready-to-use cocoa butter from the Wormer factory. The product is kept warm (and liquid) in the tanks, from where it can be directly pumped into tankers for transport to various customers.
FAT and Transport
After the production of the tanks, Erik was invited to the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) at Gpi’s production site in Lopik. His impression was positive: ‘I got a good impression, and everything looked neat,’ he says. After the acceptance tests, Gpi arranged the transport of the 8 tanks via lorries to Wormer. ‘The transport went smoothly, and we then installed the tanks ourselves in our new extension,’ Erik shares about the final phase of the project.
The Collaboration
The Maintenance Support Engineer at Cargill looks back on the project positively: ‘I had a good experience working with Gpi. The collaboration with the engineers was pleasant, and they provided good drawings. The end result looks great.’
The result
With the new stainless steel tanks, Cargill is now able to store more varieties of cocoa butter with specific certifications and flavours. This enables the company to better meet customer demands. The various cocoa butters are supplied worldwide to customers in the food industry, who use them to produce chocolate.
