Hydropath in
Action - Food Production page
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| Solution to Scale
Problems
for Tims Dairy |
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Tims Dairy at Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire
is a producer of own label and contract packed cultured milk products
such as yoghurt and crème fraiche.
The factory is
situated in an area of extremely hard water and the company was having
problems with limescale build-up and milk scale build-up on the plate
pack (heat exchanger).
They recently installed a number of Hydroflow
physical water conditioning units, in three locations, to control limescale
from the water feeds and one before the heat exchanger on a milk line.
 
The result has been savings in chemicals,
time and lost production associated with cleaning of the system. Prior
to the installation of the C45 Hydroflow unit on the milk line, operators
had to shut down the line twice a week and clean it with phosphoric
acid. Now, cleaning is only required once a week and then half the
amount of acid is needed.
 
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Limescale
build-up, in pipework, boilers and heat exchangers, is a common
problem for business and industry. There has historically been only
one way of addressing the problem - chemical water softening.
The problems with this method have
been numerous and include corrosion and the cost of adding salt to
the softening reservoir and the resulting effluent having higher concentrations
of sodium Another problem has been that softening
does not remove existing calcium carbonate build-up or completely stop
calcium carbonate build-up.
This has to be removed by acid or scraping
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a further cost in terms of material, operator time and generator
down time.
If the water supply to boilers is not conditioned,
scale build-up increases fuel consumption and the boiler deteriorates
rapidly through the external overheating of the plates and tubes.
If water is softened (ie treated chemically) sodium
carbonate hydrolyses to produce free alkali that is aggressive to boilerplates
and tubes. Hydroflow is easily fitted to existing and new systems
and
the low operating costs will deliver payback in a very short period
of time.
There are benefi ts for the environment too - lower
fuel requirements and a reduction in sodium that finds its way back
to the watercourse. Commenting on the installation Peter Timotheou,
Director of Tims Dairy said,
“Hydroflow has proved effective protection
against our biggest production headache. I was so impressed with it,
that I’ve had the domestic version fitted to my water system
at home". |
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Limescale protection first at Robinsons
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Robinsons have their production facilities
located at Norwich, which is an area of particularly hard water – a
notorious production problem for drink and food manufacturers. The
factory has installed the Hydroflow water conditioning system to
prevent the build up of limescale on the heat exchangers of the pasteurising
system for the Fruit Spring line.
This is the first installation
that the manufacturers, Hydropath Ltd believe has been used to protect
a water and product system.
Prior to the installation of the Hydroflow units, the Robinsons production
team had to stop production lines and descale the heat exchange
plates every two to three weeks. This involved stripping down equipment
and physically scraping off the limescale build up with chemicals.
This would take a full day and then involve a CIP (clean-in-place)
and therefore amounted to a considerable production expense.
It
was also not possible for the maintenance teams to always schedule
this ‘service’ at a convenient
time such as weekends;
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occasionally the build-up would
be so severe that the descale
would have to be carried out mid-week
and a day’s production would be lost.
In an attempt to solve the production headache,
Robinsons’ Process Manager consulted Dr Fred Walker, water
treatment consultant from Everett & Walker. He recommended the
Hydroflow physical water treatment system.
  Because
of the consistency of the problem prior to installation of the Hydroflow
unit, the team at Robinsons knew within a few weeks that it was having
the desired effect.
All that is now
required is a routine inspection and clean every two months, without
the need for an extensive descale.
Any residue that has built up is
of a white powdery consistency and easily brushed off.
An added benefit
for the consumers is that the calcium and magnesium minerals,
which are naturally present in the water, are retained in the drink,
offering nutritional benefits.
Richard Poyser comments,
“Robinsons set very high standards
for their products with stringent quality control systems in place.
The use of the Hydroflow water conditioning system has improved production
efficiency and helps us ensure the high quality beverage that we demand”. |
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| Maintenance hours cut, chemicals
wiped out - spray jets clear of scale! |
Rank Hovis McDougall is a pace setter in the
food processing industry. The firm sets itself very high standards
of hygiene and quality. This delivery of high standards often involves
the drudgery of regular, repetitive maintenance at inconveniently short
intervals.
No-one likes to constantly be obliged to dismantle
and re-assemble machinery plus issue special chemicals and safety
equipment. Possibly back-up tooling has to be considered, and stocks
of special components kept to hand.
Profitability is constantly eroded by the cost of labour, chemicals,
protective clothing and spare parts and by the inefficient use of energy.
Wherever hot water is used in a process, if the plant is fed by a hard
water supply, there is a constant risk of limescale being rapidly deposited
in equipment of all types.
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At McDougall’s factory in Reading, Berkshire, high volume preparation
of dry mixes for pre-packaged foods requires regular cleaning of the
food bins.Mr Mike Stamp, McDougall’s site engineering manager
worked with Wincanton Catering to design and install a custom built
cleaning bay system. The food bins are cleaned in the system twice
each day, by bombarding them with powerful spray jets installed in
the base of the cleaning bays, and from rotating ball and jet nozzles
fitted at the top. The cleaning solution heated to 60°C also contains
sodium hypochlorite to break down fatty residues in the bins.
The cleaning system works well, but the hard
water used led to a rapid build-up of heavy scale in the nozzles
and jets of the spray fittings. Even when the temperature was reduced
to 40°C for the cleaning
solution, the scale had to be cleaned away twice per week.
Mike Stamp explained, “This
situation necessitated the unpleasant job of dismantling the spray
heads, then soaking them in in a strong chemical cleanser. Overall,
this caused severe disruption to the production process.”
Following advice, a Hydroflow C60 descaler unit
was installed. This was merely strapped to the water inlet for the
cleaner bays. “The
results were immediately impressive. Maintenance intervals have been
slashed to once every 10 or 12 weeks instead of twice per week! Now
a simple wipe over the nozzles replaces dismantling and soaking in
chemicals”.
McDougalls are delighted by the gains in efficiency, cost and productivity. |
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Hydropath technology eliminates scale
in Cooling Towers, Venezuela.
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A food processing plant in Maracaibo, Venezuela has seen significant
benefits following the installation of Hydropaths patented AquaKlear
system. Previously, the plant experienced scale and bio-fouling problems
in its cooling towers as it is located in a hard water area. This resulted
in the management using costly anti-scale chemicals to eliminate the
effects.
The solution to this problem was the introduction
of the AquaKlear P120 unit. Two clean cooling towers were used to trial
the technology, to allow a fair comparison.
Cooling Tower Two had one
pipe cleaned of limescale deposits and the results
were recored, this then provided the ‘baseline’ result
and operated without any de-scaling products throughout the test. |
Cooling Tower One had 3 pipes cleaned of limescale
deposits and the results were recorded, then the AquaKlear unit was
installed.
After 7 weeks both tanks were inspected and the results
recorded.
The management at the food processing plant were impressed with the
results of the trial. The cooling tower fitted with the AquaKlear
unit was totally free from scale, and the scale previously on the
pipes had started to dissolve.
A noticeable reduction of algae growth
was also recorded following the installation of Hydropath technology.
The test also confirmed that chemicals are not necessary to remove
scale in hard water areas and in heat transfer conditions such as
in cooling towers. |
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Cooling Tower
Two |
Cooling Tower One |
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The AquaKlear system also provides the benefit
of killing bacteria and algae, therefore preventing bio-fouling. It does
so by applying a charge to the bacteria as it is passes by the unit. The bacteria
becomes hydrated with a pure water layer.
This layer is absorbed into the bacteria
by osmosis creating osmotic pressure which bursts the membrane thus killing
the bacteria. However in difficult conditions, bacteria and algae will form
an indestructible cyst, which is virtually impossible to filter out. The Aquaklear
system also flocculates these micro particles that improves filtration. |
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Article
from Plumbing & Drainage
Scaling
Down |
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LIMESCALE BUILD-UP
AFFECTS ANY HEATING SYSTEM
THAT COMES INTO CONTACT WITH WATER, SO DESCALING
BECOMES A MAJOR TASK. PSLG SUGGEST A SOLUTION |
Hellesdon Hospital
at Norwich is a mental health hospital that, like many Victorian
era hospitals, has a main building with a number of satellite buildings
and wards. Norfolk is an area with particularly hard water and
this presents major problems for the estates department where limescale
build-up is concerned. This affects any heating system that comes
into contact with water, so in addition to Andrews water heaters,
there have been recurring problems with the hospital’s many
tea boilers. As a result, staff have to descale every year.
The main building of the hospital uses
an ion-exchange water softener system but there are many outbuildings
and boiler houses that are not protected. The heating systems in
these buildings, along with the tea boiler, had to be annually serviced
by taking them apart and descaling by acid flush and physical scraping.
Even so, there were periodic breakdowns caused by limescale build-up.
The estates department had previously tried an electronic water conditioner
on the boiler houses but the results were disappointing.
The hospital’s mechanical supervisor,
Tony Bezants, had studied the application of electrical fields on
liquid and was familiar with the principles. While at the Plumbing
and Heating Exhibition (PHEX) in 2001, he met with representatives
of Hydropath (UK), the manufacturers of the Hydroflow water conditioning
system.
Bezants agreed to take a Hydroflow unit and trial it on a tea boiler
as that would allow |
an at-a-glance evaluation of how the
system was performing. Within a very short space of time, Bezants
could see that limescale was not building up on the elements as
it would normally. He then moved the HS38 to an old nursing accommodation
block that has a traditional boiler and cylinder heating system.
COMBINATION BOILER
He also bought a number of HS34 units for the tea boilers (as
the output of the HS38 was overkill for such tasks). These
trials were also successful, so in summer 2002, Bezants had
a C60 unit, designed for larger and industrial applications,
fitted to a stand-alone boiler house powered by around Andrews
water heaters.
The patented Hydroflow system is a physical
water treatment system that prevents the build up of all limescale
deposit, including calcium carbonate. Hydroflow works by emitting
randomly-varying electric fields throughout the system. This
enhances the precipitation of the bicarbonates from solution
to suspension by introducing clusters of ions in the water to
act as a seed for suspended crystallisation.
The resulting suspension does not adhere to pipework or internal
surfaces, but is merely ‘washed away’ with the flow
and during blow down.
No other physical water treatment system
operates in the same way as Hydroflow;
it offers specific advantages such as treating the water upstream
and downstream of the |
unit. It also protects standing water
and is not dependent on water flowing past the unit.
Hydroflow is easily fitted to existing
and new systems. The choice of unit required is dependent on the
size of the incoming water main and in turn, the size of the system
to be protected. Hydroflow requires connection to the electrical
mains, but has a low power consumption and the low operating cots
deliver payback in a short period of time. There are environmental
benefits too: lower fuel requirements and compared to a water softener,
reduction in sodium that finds its way back to the watercourse.
The estates department team at Hellesdon
Hospital no longer has to do an extensive descale of systems every
year and there have been no more breakdowns as a result of limescale
build up. A simple visual inspection of the elements is all that
is needed. There has also been a huge reduction in scale on mixing
valves, which saves a great deal of staff time on breakdown and descale.
Bezants believes the savings made in fuel usage, staff time, chemicals
and replacement parts have far outweighed the cost of the Hydroflow
units.
He plans to add more Hydroflow units to other
satellite buildings as budget allows and as part of the hospital’s
maintenance programme. |
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Scale before Hydroflow conditioning |
Example of severe limescale buildup |
Scale free after Hydroflowtreatment |
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