The Continuous
Rotary Sterilizer

One of H.G. Molenaar’s flagship products is the Molenaar Continuous Rotary Sterilizer for canned goods. The first machine was designed and manufactured for a local client in 1978. In quick succession several other projects of this nature were commissioned, culminating in the first sterilizer export project to the United Kingdom in 1981.

Having successfully got the first United Kingdom project under its belt, an opportunity arose to tender for a very large capacity machine for a baked bean canner, also in the United Kingdom. H.G. Molenaar rose to the challenge and the company pioneered large diameter Large Capacity Rotary Sterilizers. The company’s hard work paid off and it won the contract.

This work led to what is still believed to be the largest Rotary Sterilizer ever built anywhere in the world. The project was undertaken in the late 1980s for a pet food customer in France. The project comprised eight vessels each 2.8 meters in diameter and twelve meters long. Although the design work was undertaken in South Africa, sanctions meant that most of the manufacturing was performed by sub-contractors in Europe under the supervision of H.G. Molenaar engineers. The final assembly was also undertaken by the technicians from South Africa at the customer’s facility in France. The project took more than two years to complete.

Assembly of the world’s Largest Rotary Sterilizer by H.G. Molenaar in France in 1987.

1970s
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1990s