In this article
Raising the bar - and a glass
Brewery achieves highest CIP standards
Industry Sector:
Beverage
Application:
Production line Clean-in-place (CIP)
Actual Saving:
12.5% less downtime
20% less water and detergent
Payback period:
Immediate
Product/Service:
- Return pump
- Tank emptying
- Clean-in-place
Customer Benefits:
- Higher uptime, lower downtime
- Improved end-product quality
- Lower product recall risk
- Greater sustainability
Clean-in-place is a key aspect of this brewery customer’s processes, ensuring contamination-free production with minimum downtime. By installing a Prime CIP return pump made by Packo, a Verder company, the customer was able to enhance cleaning effectiveness, while also maximizing uptime, and improving sustainability through reduced water and detergent consumption.
When a drinker raises a glass of this customer’s traditional blond beer, they expect a clean, award-winning taste every time. The only way that can be achieved is with the highest standards of production line hygiene.
But if cleaning time equals downtime, then productivity suffers. And high levels of water and detergent consumption are not to anyone’s taste. Clean-in-place – utilising an innovative Packo Prime CIP return pump – helped increase sustainability, improve productivity, and raise the bar for hygiene standards.
Challenge
The brewing industry is built on hops, malt, alcohol – and cleanliness. Which, with the presence of a variety of contaminants (bacteria, fungi, yeasts) is a real challenge. The production line must be kept scrupulously spotless, through regular cleaning and disinfecting, to eliminate any kind of contamination. However, when that production line consists of a range of components manufactured from a variety of materials (stainless steel, plastic, rubber, glass), each one requiring a different specific cleaning method, then cleaning can be complex and time-consuming. Any way to maintain cleanliness whilst minimising downtime and optimising sustainability must be welcomed.
Solution
Clean-in-place systems maximise uptime without compromising cleanliness. They ensure regular, automatic, thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the production line – without the need to disassemble and remove components.
The Packo CIP return pump from Verder makes them even more efficient, more effective, and more sustainable.
Before cleaning, the brewery tanks need to be emptied. The Packo CIP return pump has been specially designed to empty the tanks to the lowest achievable level, so that the spray balls installed for cleaning can have maximum impact. This enables not only more efficient cleaning but also a shorter cleaning time.
The Packo CIP return pump is engineered to a completely cleanable design. Like all Packo centrifugal pumps, its surface has been electro-polished for enhanced resistance to damage from cleaning products, as well as offering a smoother surface which is less likely to harbour contaminants, and is also easier to clean.
Cutaway of Packo CIP return pump on trolley
Result
The efficiency and effectiveness of the Packo CIP return pump optimised the customer’s CIP system for enhanced production line cleanability. In similar applications the pump has reduced downtime by 12.5%. At the same time, the pump reduces water and detergent consumption by more than 20%.
