Selecting the right equipment for your process is one of the most critical decisions in any operation. Process equipment often represents the largest capital investment in a project, so confidence in your selection is essential. Imagine if you could “test drive” your equipment the same way you test drive a new car.
With De Dietrich, you can.
Across the globe, De Dietrich operates specialized test centers located within each product line’s center of excellence. These facilities give customers hands-on access to real equipment in real process conditions—reducing uncertainty, validating performance, and helping ensure the best possible technology choice.
Why Test? Core Objectives of Pilot & Laboratory-Scale Trials
No matter the application, equipment testing is designed to help you:
- Confirm process viability
- Determine appropriate operating parameters such as temperature, vacuum, and pressure
- Establish the process conditions required for stable, repeatable operation
- Validate that the system can achieve the desired product quality
- Identify capacity needs and scale-up considerations
Small-scale testing can prevent costly missteps later, improving design accuracy and optimizing long-term operations.
Our Global Test Centers
QVF® Process and Engineering Testing – Mainz, Germany
Located just a few miles from our glass manufacturing plant, the QVF Test Hall is fully equipped to support a wide variety of process trials. The facility maintains several standard reactor configurations and an assembled distillation column ready for customer testing.
With thousands of QVF components on site, our engineers can rapidly build custom configurations, including:
- Mineral Acid, Halide Recovery & Purification Processes
- Reactors
- Scrubbers
- Overhead assemblies
- Mixer-settlers
- Distillation or absorption columns
This modular flexibility allows us to simulate your process at a representative or reduced scale. Throughout testing, our process engineers work directly with you to optimize system design, evaluate performance, and ensure the selected configuration meets your operation’s requirements.
Each test setup—like every QVF system—is custom-built to match your process needs.
Centrifugation, Powder Handling, and Nutsche Filter-Dryer Testing – Swedesboro, New Jersey
Our solids-handling test center, located within the De Dietrich assembly facility in Swedesboro, NJ, provides customers with hands-on evaluation of centrifuges, nutsche filter-dryers, dryers, and powder transfer technologies.
Solids separation is rarely a one-size-fits-all scenario. Testing helps determine:
- Whether deep-bed filtration is viable
- Which separation technology (centrifuge, filter-dryer, etc.) best suits the product
- How powders behave during pneumatic conveying, since not all materials flow or transfer the same
Available test equipment includes:
- Inverting filter centrifuge
- Dryer
- Filter-dryer
- Bag dump station
- Pneumatic Powder Transfer systems
For on-site trials, De Dietrich also offers a fleet of rental units, including:
- Pocket filter (glass or 316SS), ideal for laboratory or preliminary filtration tests
- Manual agitation mobile filter (316L)
- Rolab 0.17 m² – HC-22 pilot-scale filter-dryer
These tools help customers validate process behavior, select the most appropriate technology, and refine equipment sizing.
Thin-Film & Short-Path Evaporation Testing – Madrid, Spain
For processes involving natural extracts, heat-sensitive materials, multi-component mixtures, or unknown substances, theoretical calculations are often not enough. At our Thin-Film and Short-Path Evaporation Test Center in Madrid, customers gain access to laboratory and pilot-scale evaporators designed to evaluate real processing behavior.
With experience in hundreds of evaporation and distillation trials, our team helps customers determine the optimal configuration for their specific application.
Available systems include:
- Short-path laboratory plant
- Thin-film evaporator pilot plant
- Short-path evaporator pilot plant
Different feed rates, heating profiles, and discharge configurations can be set up based on the customer’s process needs. Rental options are also available for extended evaluation.
Experience the Benefits of Testing with De Dietrich
Whether you are scaling up a new process, validating performance, or narrowing down the best equipment for your application, testing offers invaluable insight. By partnering with De Dietrich, you gain access to decades of experience, global engineering expertise, and specialized facilities designed to help you make confident, data-driven decisions.
Unlock more insight into how small-scale trials improve scale-up and equipment selection. Get your free copy of our Testing for Success white paper.
Ready to explore how testing can strengthen your process? Contact our team to discuss your application and determine the right path forward.
