Platform for the food and beverage industry
Manual cleaning, however, consumes an enormous amount of manpower and production hours. And even then one is not guaranteed a perfect hygienic result. Those who want to sleep on both ears should opt for automated cleaning and will soon reap the benefits. Because CIP is the ideal solution for those who want to increase their production time and reduce their cleaning time. Even for SMEs, it is a viable investment that quickly pays for itself, because you can produce more with the same people.
CIP stands for cleaning in place. It is a concept that has already found wide acceptance today in the pharmaceutical and food industries. After all, with CIP, companies can automate and control their cleaning processes down to the last detail. During a CIP cleaning, the installation will go through a number of preset steps. These may include a pre-rinse to loosen and/or remove product residues, one or more wash cycles with recirculation of different cleaning agents (alkaline or acid), disinfection, rinses between wash cycles, removal of cleaning agents, rinsing with hot or cold water, drying ...
This always starts from the specific situation on site. A tank in which milk has been standing will require a different cleaning than a pipeline through which grain, for example, has passed. Each step in the cleaning process is fully documented and logged by the installation. Thus, in no time all data is available to prove that cleaning has been done according to the rules of the art. Not surprisingly, international retail standards such as BRC and IFS often require CIP cleaning.
In recent years, CIP has become even more important than ever. With the advent of social media, companies can afford even less of a product recall and the image loss that comes with it. A reputation is broken down faster than it is rebuilt. But allergen legislation also did its bit in that regard. Today, 1 in 13 children suffers from an allergy to a certain product. The figures have gone crescendo in recent years and this movement does not seem to be stopping for the time being. Then, in order to produce allergen-free products on the same line and avoid cross-contamination, more cleaning is needed between certain batches than before. A third trend driving the rising popularity of CIP cleaning is that of healthier food. Consumers look at the amount of salt, sugar and fats in their food with a strict eye. However, these are naturally ingredients that have a positive effect on shelf life. By taking them out, foods will be more sensitive than ever, requiring adequate cleaning. Each time, CIP proves to be the ideal answer to meet these sighs
Why CIP? Quite simply. Compared to manual cleaning, one is assured that the cleaning process always runs the same way. Even on Monday morning or Friday evening, a machine performs just as efficiently. Should a malfunction nevertheless occur, it will also be automatically signaled and logged. Everywhere along the CIP path, sensors check whether the correct values for temperature, pressure and conductivity are met. CIP thus offers security and also proves it on paper thanks to logging. In addition, CIP cleaning increases safety. Both that of your product and that of your employees. After all, no one has to crawl into a tank to make sure it is perfectly clean. You can also work at higher temperatures and with heavier chemicals to remove all dirt, even stubborn biofilms, from your machines and installations. The main gain, however, lies in the time gained. A thorough manual cleaning takes more time than an automated one. CIP therefore means a substantial gain in production hours and a reduction in cleaning time and costs. One can save on energy and water consumption, chemicals used and, of course, labor costs.
To make these gains possible for each application, the CIP plant supplier works with you to find the ideal balance between four parameters: time, temperature, chemicals and mechanical elements. The goal is always to keep cleaning time as short as possible by playing with the other parameters according to your installations and your products. The temperature must be as high as possible, but on the other hand, it must not exceed certain values so as not to trigger chemical reactions (polymerization, caramelization, etc.). Broadly speaking, 85 °C is the temperature of choice. American companies often set the bar a little lower (55 °C) to avoid the metal becoming too hot for operators working nearby. Chemicals come in two major groups: acid and base. Depending on the application, the right product is chosen and the recommended concentration is determined. It is the chemicals that will extract the dirt from the material and dissolve it so that it can be removed from the facilities. Finally, there is the mechanical aspect of cleaning. On the one hand, that involves the piping. In this, the right pressure and flow rate must be chosen to achieve a turbulent flow that can scrape the dirt off the piping, so to speak. In open applications such as tanks, on the other hand, it is about spray balls, which must be positioned so that they can hit everything. This again requires the right flow rate and pressure. Through the interplay of these four elements, a CIP cleaning will succeed in safely and cost-effectively removing microbiology, allergens, cross-contaminations and chemical residue from your machines and facilities.
