Application
Large amounts of chemicals are used during CIP processes and system regeneration in sectors such as for example: Food and Beverage, Dairy and Fruit concentrate processing among others. CIP flushes are a necessity for plants to maintain the required levels of bacteriological reliability for the end products. However, the problems that can arise are:
- An increase in salt loading and pH which makes the discharge of effluent difficult due to municipality discharge limits.
- Increased volumes of water used, increasing the cost of water.
Caustic and nitric acid are common chemicals used during a CIP. Caustic is commonly used in food and beverage manufacturing CIP processes to remove organic matter such as proteins. Caustic is added to water, heated, and used to clean process equipment. Nitric acid is mostly used to remove scale and for pH stabilisation after a caustic wash.
Process
Specialised micro filtration technology is used to remove suspended solids. Thereafter Ion selective membrane technology is used to recover, purify and reuse spent chemicals from cleaning applications.
Advantages
- 80 – 90% water recovery
- 70% chemical recovery for re-use
- Reduction in caustic and nitric acid purchase cost
- Reduction in effluent volume
- Reduction in waste treatment costs
- Lower energy consumption
