The usual driver for improvements in existing ingredient dosing systems is the inaccuracy or unreliability of existing systems. Whether it be cheap, inaccurate flow meters, obsolete flow meters, badly installed flow meters, or a poorly designed system, there’s usually a simple reason why clients choose Hysysco to design, install and commission new, high accuracy, ingredient dosing systems.

Typically these systems incorporate several ingredient feed lines; process water, sugar and vegetable oils probably being the three most frequently used ingredients. Usually these ingredients are stored in bulk in silos and pumped to the point of use. At the point of use, a system of control and flow valves are used in conjunction with high accuracy flow meters, to dose predetermined amounts of each into appropriate food mixing, cooking or blending tanks. As always with this type of application, it’s the design of the system, not just the quality of the individual components that is critical to the success of the installation. When designing the system, it’s also important to consider how the flow meters can be periodically checked for accuracy. A safe and readily accessible system of calibration checking is an essential part of the design.

If you’re struggling with your existing dosing systems, or want to automate a manual ingredient dosing system, why not call us on 01427613942 to discuss your requirements.

Hysysco Ltd.

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The basic reasons are fairly obvious when you think about them.

Remember the four basic parameters that need controlling for effective and efficient CIP?

These are;

• Time
• Temperature
• Detergent
• Surface contact

Time is fairly obvious – In general terms, the longer you expose an internal surface of a tank or pipe to CIP fluids, the more effective the clean.

Temperature is similarly intuitive – The warmer the CIP fluids in contact with surfaces, in general the more effective the clean.

Detergent is slightly more complex, but again intuitively – The stronger the detergent the better the clean.

Surface contact is a more complex subject and this is where Line Cleans and Tank Cleans begin to diverge.

Line cleans

Where Line Cleans are concerned, surface contact is a function of the velocity of the CIP fluid through the pipe. The CIP velocity needs to be fast enough to create turbulence (and therefore a scrubbing action) on the inside walls of the pipe work. The minimum velocity required to achieve this turbulent flow in a straight pipe is a constant, derived by calculation (and published in readily available tables).  However, as the pipe diameter increases the total volume flow of the CIP fluid has to be higher to achieve the same minimum velocity. For instance, a 1″ diameter stainless dairy tube needs a CIP flow rate of around 2,100 litres per hour for an effective line clean, whilst a 4″ diameter pipe needs a flow rate of 42,000 litres per hour to achieve the same effect.

Tank cleans

The relationship between CIP fluids and surface contact on the inside of tanks and vessels is a complex subject. At it’s simplest, the inside surfaces of a tank can be “wetted” by simply flooding the tank with CIP fluids (although it’s clearly difficult to ensure that the roof of the tank is fully submerged by flooding a tank). However, “wetting” the tank surface alone is unlikely to achieve an effective clean in the same way that leaving a dirty pan in a sink full of hot soapy water won’t get the pan clean without some form of scrubbing action. Therefore most Tank Cleans involve some form of internal spray or jet cleaning device to create the scrubbing action on the internal surfaces. The jet from the spray device is either a fixed spray pattern from a static spray ball (a stainless sphere with drilled holes), or else a dynamic spray from a rotating spray head. (The selection of spray devices is a topic all of its own that forms the subject of another white paper).

Having established that a scrubbing action from a spray device is required for an effective Tank Clean, the next point to consider is that the scrubbing action will only be effective on the tank walls if the tank is empty. Whilst this might sound obvious to the reader, it is surprising how many times Hysysco have come across existing Tank Cleans that are ineffective and inefficient because the tank is full or partially full of CIP fluids during the CIP cycle. In order to ensure that a tank is not full or partially flooded during a clean, it is necessary to ensure that the fluid is drained from the tank at a higher rate than it is pumped into the tank by the CIP set. To achieve this, it is usually necessary to “suck” the fluid out of the tank my means of a pump on the tank outlet. This is a specific application for a pump, requiring both a “sucking” action and the ability to pump a mixture of air and fluid that often exists inside a tank during the CIP process. The pump solution is typically designated a “scavenge” pump and can be either a specialised form of hygienic, centrifugal pump, or other types of pump such as a twin-screw design. Whatever type of pump is used, it is important that control of this scavenge pump is linked to the main CIP set control to ensure that the pump is run at the correct speed at the correct time to avoid pooling fluids in the tank. (As an aside at this point, it is also worth mentioning that control of any tank agitator or internal mixer needs to also come under the jurisdiction of the CIP set during a Tank Clean. The internal spray devices are rarely effective if there is a large agitator in the tank that is static during the clean so it’s usually necessary to turn agitators and mixers on during the tank clean.)

In general terms, most spray devices require relatively low flow rates of CIP fluids to be effective, even if there are several fitted in the same tank. It can be seen therefore that Tank Cleans generally require a smaller CIP flow rate than Line Cleans. For instance a 5,000 litre holding tank that is fed with products from a 4″ diameter pipe might require a CIP flow of 6,000 litres per hour to clean the tank effectively, but a 42,000 litres per hour CIP flow to clean it’s associated feed pipe work. It is for this reason that Line Cleans are usually split out as separate cleans from Tank Cleans as they have very different CIP requirements to achieve for both to achieve effective Surface Contact.

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Rinse

The insides of the food processing equipment are given a rinse of water – cold or hot – to get rid of the “gross debris”. This first rinse is generally put straight down the drain.

Scrub

The main cleaning phase – the bit that does the work – is also termed the “detergent step”. The insides of the equipment are washed with a moving stream of hot detergent solution. This is usually recirculated around the system at speed to give a “scrubbing” effect on the surfaces. After the detergent step, most of the detergent solution is still in useable condition, so it’s often recovered for future use.

Rinse

The final step is to rinse off any traces of detergent with a stream of fresh water. Now some people omit this step when they’re doing their dishes, but I don’t hold with that. Detergent cannot be good for you! In the food and drink processing industries, detergent is definitely not good for customers so the final rinsing step is a vital ingredient in Cleaning In Place.

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