World Grain - January 2021 - 68

SUPPLIER NEWS

Quinoa processor expands with
Bühler Sortex technology
LONDON, ENGLAND - Andean Valley Corp. said investing in Bühler Sortex optical sorting technology has allowed
it to successfully enter the Chinese market and increase its
quinoa processing capacity two-fold.
In addition, the Bolivia-based quinoa processor has expandHGLWVSURGXFWSRUWIROLRDQGVHHQDVLJQL¿FDQWLPSURYHPHQWLQ
its color sorting.
Royal Quinoa, which is exclusively cultivated in the Andean
region of Bolivia, is considered to be the highest quality of
quinoa. At quadruple the size of other quinoa varieties, it contains a higher concentration of vitamins and minerals, as well
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" Our black Royal Quinoa is particularly rich in lithium,
which can help to regulate depression, " said Javier Fernandez
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Andean Valley Corp.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Andean Valley has
experienced a drastic increase in demand for its Royal Quinoa,
recording its highest ever sales in the company history.
" With our Sortex technology we have been able to meet
this rise in demand, " Fernandez said. Andean Valley has more
than doubled its processing capacity, to 5 tph from 2 tph.
" Prior to investing in Sortex technology, if we wanted to
HQVXUHDKLJKTXDOLW\HQGSURGXFWZHKDGWRVLJQL¿FDQWO\UHduce capacity, " Fernandez said. " This was costing us a lot of
time and money. With Bühler, we've been able to boost our
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With its expandable and modular structure, Sortex optical
sorting technology enables higher product throughput without compromising on the accept product quality. Additionally,
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passes, enabling Andean Valley to obtain a much more concentrated reject. Subsequently, the company has been able to
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every month.
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FHUWL¿HGRUJDQLFLQ/DWLQ$PHULFD$QGHDQ9DOOH\LVFRPPLWWHG
to producing, processing and exporting organic food made with
Royal Quinoa. The company is on track to process over 5,700
tonnes of quinoa by the end of 2020 with the help of almost 500
farmers and 147 employees who work across three processing
facilities (covering 80,300 square meters) located in La Paz.
The company has developed a range of 50 organic, gluten-free and non-GMO, red, white and black Royal quinoabased products.
" One of the most important elements that has helped us in our
product development, has been the support of companies like
Bühler in furthering our technological development, " Fernandez
said. " By enabling us to perfect our de-stoning and cleaning of
68

the grains, we can trust that we are producing the best quality in
the market, so we are able to think bigger. The unmatched techQRORJ\JLYHVXVWKHVXSSRUWDQGFRQ¿GHQFHWKDWZHQHHG´
The main challenge that the company faced prior to its
Sortex investment was detection and removal of immature
pale green and overly mature pale pink grains, which are both
very similar in color to the main white quinoa.
With Bühler's RGB camera sensors, Andean Valley is now
able to detect very slight color variations, with a clear image. The patented algorithm allows the operator to easily select the defect to remove, without touching any other color.
Moreover, the Sortex machine continuously tracks the product color, enabling automatic calibration of camera gains and
background references.
The improvement in color sorting aligns perfectly with
Andean Valley's Suppliers Program wherein the company
purchases locally cultivated quinoa from almost 500 small
farmers, most of whom lack advanced farming management.
Subsequently, their grains often contain defects that would not
be accepted by other quinoa processors in the region.
However, with its Sortex technology, Andean Valley is
able to handle lower quality input material and so can successfully support its local farmers and provide them with a
steady income.
" We set up our Suppliers Program so that small farmers
are in a position to leave their businesses to their children,
safeguarding their land and produce for future generations, "
Fernandez said. " This also involves strengthening their skills
in pest control, sustainability and soil conservation. "
Currently the company exports its Royal Quinoa to 13
countries. However, without Sortex technology, Fernandez
said it would have certainly failed to enter the Chinese market.
" The Chinese market demands a stringent separation of
black, red and white quinoa; thanks to Bühler's advanced color sorting we can guarantee that, " he said. " Today we are able
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from China. "
January 2021 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - January 2021

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