New tank cleaning equipment paid back in less than six months

Cutting resource use with advanced new tank cleaning technology

At one of the leading ice cream producers in Poland, millions of litres of ice cream leave the factory every year. The production lines are running non-stop. Between every production cycle, the big, vertical tanks used for storing and mixing of ingredients are thoroughly cleaned to meet the strictest requirements to hygiene and food safety.

Tank cleaning is a water-intensive process during Clean-in-Place (CIP). Additionally, the electricity required for pumping, heating, recovery, reuse, and treatment of the tank cleaning water is substantial.

Hence, the technical team sought upgrades that would allow them to save on resources, while maintaining the same, high level of food safety. After initial trials, the team opted to replace the static spray balls, traditionally used for tank cleaning, with new rotary jet heads, specifically the TJ20G from Alfa Laval. A safe choice, since the TJ20G jet head reduces the cleaning cycle and minimizes water, energy and chemical consumption, while ensuring 100% clean tanks and maintaining process and product safety.

Increased efficiency returned significant resource savings

Significant savings were achieved in the first phase of the upgrade project, involving the replacement of tank cleaning equipment in 23 tanks. The new rotary jet heads quickly demonstrated the promised efficiency and returned savings on water and CIP media of 10,000 m³ annually.

The massive savings on water and chemicals reduced the power consumption for pumping, heating and treating CIP liquid. The annual power savings amounted to 650,000 kWh, reducing the carbon footprint of the factory by 500 tonnes.

The total savings on electricity, water and chemicals paid back the entire jet head installation in less than six months.

The potential of water, energy and cost savings is huge, when upgrading the static spray balls with rotary jet heads. The installation of the new jet heads at the ice cream factory was simple and required only minor changes to the tank cleaning installation. We hope to be able to upgrade the remaining tanks at the plant in the near future”, says Michal Starczyk, Channel Sales Manager at Alfa Laval Poland.