Avure Technologies

Avure Technologies is an American manufacturer of industrial high pressure processing (HPP) systems for the cold pasteurisation of food and beverages. Headquartered in Erlanger, Kentucky, with manufacturing operations in Middletown, Ohio, Avure has been a subsidiary of JBT Marel Corporation since February 2017. The company’s wire-wound pressure vessel technology descends directly from the pioneering “Quintus” programme developed by ASEA (later ABB) in Sweden during the 1950s, making Avure one of the oldest continuous lineages in high-pressure industrial equipment.

Company profile

Technology background: ASEA Quintus origins (1950s)

The pressure vessel technology at the heart of Avure’s product line originates with ASEA (Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget), the Swedish electrical and engineering conglomerate. In the 1950s, ASEA developed wire-wound pressure vessel technology under the internal Quintus programme, initially to generate the extreme pressures required for synthetic diamond production. The defining engineering innovation was the use of high-strength steel wire wound under tension around a cylindrical pressure vessel — distributing hoop stress across many wire layers rather than relying solely on thick monolithic walls. This approach achieved very high working pressures with lower vessel weight and greater fatigue resistance than comparable forged-steel designs.

During the 1960s and 1970s, ASEA and its successors commercialised this technology for industrial isostatic pressing (HIP and CIP) applications in metallurgy, ceramics, and specialty materials. The food application emerged decades later: in the early 1990s, wire-wound isostatic press technology was adapted to process packaged food at pressures of 400–600 MPa — sufficiently high to inactivate foodborne pathogens (Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7) without the heat of conventional pasteurisation.

When ASEA merged with Brown Boveri in 1988 to form ABB, the pressure systems business was retained as ABB Pressure Systems, continuing to manufacture Quintus-branded isostatic presses for both industrial and food applications.

Ownership history

Flow International and the Avure brand (1999–2005)

In 1999, Flow International Corporation — a manufacturer of waterjet cutting systems based in Kent, Washington — acquired ABB Pressure Systems, acquiring both the industrial isostatic pressing business (subsequently divested as Quintus Technologies) and the emerging food HPP business. Flow incorporated the food HPP operations as a separate subsidiary and established the Avure Technologies brand in 2000. This separated the food processing business from the industrial materials processing heritage, even though both shared the same wire-wound vessel engineering.

Under Flow, Avure developed its first dedicated food HPP product lines and built early commercial installations in the United States, particularly for the ready-to-eat meat and guacamole sectors.

Gores Technology Group (2005–2009)

In 2005, Flow International sold Avure Technologies to Gores Technology Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, for approximately $15.3 million. Under Gores ownership, Avure continued to expand its installed base in North America and began international sales. The HPP market was still early-stage during this period, with adoption concentrated among premium fresh food and ready-to-eat protein producers.

Milestone Partners (2009–2017)

Milestone Partners, a Philadelphia-based private equity firm, acquired Avure from Gores in 2009. During the Milestone period, the global HPP market expanded significantly, driven by growing demand for clean-label, minimally processed foods and the commercial success of HPP guacamole (Fresherized Foods / Wholly Guacamole), HPP juices, and sliced deli meats.

It is notable that at approximately the same time as the JBT acquisition of Avure in February 2017, Milestone also sold the industrial isostatic pressing business — by then operating as Quintus Technologies — to Kobe Steel of Japan for approximately $115 million. This completed the full separation of the two branches of the original ABB/ASEA Quintus heritage: Quintus Technologies (industrial HIP/CIP presses, now owned by Kobe Steel) and Avure (food HPP systems, now owned by JBT).

JBT acquisition (2017)

JBT Corporation acquired Avure Technologies in February 2017 for $57 million. The acquisition was strategically significant for JBT because it added non-thermal cold pasteurisation to a portfolio that already included conventional thermal sterilisation systems (hydrostatic cookers, retorts) and liquid food processing lines. Following the 2025 JBT–Marel merger, Avure is now part of JBT Marel Corporation, operating within a group that also encompasses Marel’s protein processing lines — notably poultry, meat, and fish — where HPP is an important post-packaging intervention for pathogen control and shelf-life extension.

Products

Avure’s food HPP product line is designated the QFP series (Quick Force Press), reflecting the wire-wound Quintus heritage. All systems operate at a maximum working pressure of 600 MPa (87,000 psi) and use cold water as the pressure transmission medium. Packaged food in flexible or semi-rigid containers is loaded into the pressure vessel; isostatic pressure is applied uniformly in all directions, inactivating pathogens without heat and with minimal effect on vitamins, flavour compounds, or texture.

QFP vessel sizes

The QFP 525L-600 is Avure’s largest and highest-throughput system, with a vessel volume of 525 litres and the capacity to process approximately 3,690 kg per hour at a 3-minute hold time. It is the primary system for large-scale protein and beverage processors.

Under the JBT brand, the flagship system is also marketed as the AV-10, designating the commercial-scale industrial system. Smaller configurations (AV-M, AV-S, AV-X) address mid-scale, pilot, and research applications.

Process parameters

Key applications and customers

Guacamole and avocado products — Wholly Guacamole (Fresherized Foods)

The most widely cited early commercial success for Avure technology is Wholly Guacamole, the brand of Fresherized Foods based in Saginaw, Texas. Prior to HPP adoption, fresh guacamole had a refrigerated shelf life of approximately 3 days. After HPP treatment at 600 MPa, shelf life extended to 42 days without preservatives or heat — a 14-fold improvement. Fresherized Foods was operating one of the original 215-litre Quintus-heritage vessels (from the early 1990s ABB/Flow era) and later scaled to larger Avure systems. The Wholly Guacamole brand became a reference case that drove adoption of HPP across the fresh prepared foods sector in North America.

Ready-to-eat proteins and deli meats

HPP is widely used for post-package pasteurisation of sliced deli meats, hot dogs, and ready-to-eat chicken and turkey products to control Listeria monocytogenes. This application accounts for a large share of installed HPP capacity in North America.

HPP juices and beverages

Cold-pressed juice producers use HPP to achieve commercial shelf life (typically 30–45 days refrigerated) while maintaining the “raw” nutritional and sensory profile that heat pasteurisation degrades. Avure systems are installed at major juice processors in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Seafood

HPP is used for shellfish (oysters, clams, lobster tails) to facilitate shell separation and inactivate Vibrio species. Avure offers vertically oriented vessel configurations optimised for shellfish processing.

PATS — Pressure-Assisted Thermal Sterilisation

Avure is a supplier of systems for PATS (Pressure-Assisted Thermal Sterilisation), a higher-pressure, elevated-temperature process distinct from standard food HPP. PATS combines pressure (up to 700 MPa) with heat (90–121°C) to achieve commercial sterility — inactivating heat-resistant spores including Clostridium botulinum — in a much shorter time than conventional retorting.

On 27 February 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the first-ever regulatory clearance for a PATS-processed product: mashed potatoes in retort pouches for the United States Army’s Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) programme, processed using Avure equipment. This clearance established PATS as a commercially viable alternative to conventional retorting for shelf-stable low-acid foods.

Market position

Avure holds an estimated 15–20% share of the global HPP equipment market by installed vessel count. The market leader is Hiperbaric (Burgos, Spain), which holds approximately 20–25% market share and has a larger installed base in Europe and Latin America. Other competitors include Kobelco (Kobe Steel, Japan — which now owns the Quintus Technologies industrial press heritage but has re-entered food HPP), Uhde HPT (Germany), and MULTIVAC HPP partnerships.

Avure’s competitive differentiation rests on its wire-wound vessel heritage (argued to offer superior fatigue life over large numbers of pressure cycles), its scale of the QFP 525L-600 vessel, and its integration within the JBT Marel portfolio — enabling combined sale of HPP systems alongside conventional thermal sterilisation, portioning, packaging, and traceability solutions.

Relationship to pascalisation

Pascalisation — also called high pressure processing, cold pasteurisation, or high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) processing — was first demonstrated as a food preservation concept in the 1890s by Bert Hite at the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, who observed that extreme hydrostatic pressure could extend the shelf life of milk. Commercial food HPP did not become technically or economically viable until the 1990s, when engineering advances in large wire-wound isostatic vessels (descended from the ASEA/Quintus programme) and high-pressure pump systems made industrial-scale processing feasible. Avure’s QFP series represents the industrial realisation of this technology heritage.

References

• Avure Technologies / JBT product information: jbtmarel.com/en/products/avure-av-10
• Wikipedia: Avure Technologies
• FDA PATS clearance (2009): first commercial PATS product approval, mashed potatoes / MRE programme
• Fresherized Foods / Wholly Guacamole: reference customer case, HPP guacamole shelf life extension
• JBT Corporation 2017 Annual Report: Avure acquisition for $57 million, February 2017