FOOD & BEVERAGE systems...way you run it during CIP. If you do, yogurt, for example, may come out...

FOOD & BEVERAGE systems

Clean is the Priority 26F&B-Pump Quick Facts 30

Pumping Ice Cream 31

Pumps are the driving force behind any food-and-

beverage operation, many times to deal with some

challenging materials. In this third Reliable Pumping

supplement, the Maintenance Technology editors

present insight into how reliability and maintenance

professionals keep food-processing pumps running.

A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE EDITORS OF

MT1610pumpsup.indd 25 9/29/16 8:32 PM

26 | RELIABLE PUMPING SUPPLEMENT OCTOBER 2016

FOOD & BEVERAGE systemsFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGE

It can be as smooth and clear as water or wine, or as sticky and thick as cookie dough or peanut butter. Regardless the viscos-ity, one thing remains a top priority when pumping processed food and beverages—no corners can be cut when it comes to keeping the systems clean and hygienically safe.

“Keeping this equipment sanitary is no joke in our business,” said Mike Dillon, president of SEEPEX Inc., an Enon, OH, manu-facturer of pumps that process milk and dairy products, wine and beer, fi sh, baking goods, sugar, fruit and vegetables, poultry and meat, and other food products. “I have seen manuals for one company that are more than 200 pages of procedures just for keeping the equipment clean. The guidelines are strict, and they should be. On every changeover, and also during production, we must ensure that this equipment is completely fl ushed of any bacteria or other residual material.”

Until the 1950s, closed systems were completely disas-sembled and cleaned manually after every shift and changeover. The advent of clean-in-place (CIP) procedures changed the in-dustry. CIP is a method of cleaning the interior surfaces of pipes, vessels, process equipment, and associated fi ttings while the equipment remains online. Industries that rely heavily on CIP are those requiring high levels of hygiene, including dairy, beverage, brewing, processed foods, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics.

CIP is faster, less labor intensive, and more repeatable than COP (clean-out-of-place), which requires complete disassembly of the production line to clean it properly. CIP also poses less of a chemical-exposure risk to people. It started as a manual practice involving a balance tank, centrifugal pump, and connection to the system being cleaned. Since the 1950s, CIP has evolved to include fully automated systems with programmable logic control-lers, multiple balance tanks, sensors, valves, heat exchangers, data acquisition, and specially designed spray-nozzle systems.

In addition to advanced CIP practices, this is an industry that is heavily and strictly monitored by many governing bodies, including, but not limited to:n Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Silver Spring, MDn European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG),

Frankfurt, Germanyn 3-A Sanitary Standards, McLean, VAn United States Dairy Association (USDA), Washingtonn National Sanitation Federation (NSF), Ann Arbor, MIn County, state, and federal health inspectorsn U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington.

Most large food-and-beverage manufacturers must have rep-resentatives from one or more of these agencies on site any time their equipment is running to perform scheduled and random checks of the sanitary discrepancy of the equipment.

Cleaning of plant process equipment, pumps, valves, heat exchangers, tanks, vessels, mixers, and other equipment with

Clean is the Top Food-Pump PriorityFood-and-beverage pumps are subjected to extensive and harsh cleaning procedures to assure that they meet all health regulations.

MICHELLE SEGREST, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

FEATURE

Wilden PS8 Sanifl o FDA pumps (Wilden Pumps, Dover PSG, Oakbrook Terrace, IL) equipped with the Pro-Flo SHIFT air-distribution system and a full-stroke integral piston dia-phragm provide maximum cleanability and energy savings for cap irrigation at Rodney Strong Vineyards, Healdsburg, CA. Photo courtesy Wilden.


OCTOBER 2016 RELIABLE PUMPING SUPPLEMENT | 27

FOOD & BEVERAGE systemsFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEthe proper chemicals and methods is determined by the individual plant’s sanitary departments. Some systems still use the COP method, while some food pumps are designed for sterilization-in-place (SIP), which provides sterilization with superheated steam during the cyclic opera-tion of the pump.

COMMON CIP EXAMPLESDillon explained that, before CIP was common practice, the procedure was much more complex.

“The way it used to be in dairy, for example, you would show up for your shift, run your process, and then you would tear down everything—all the piping, tri-clamp fi ttings, and the pumps,” Dillon said. “The shift that was leaving took all the parts and put them in these big cleaning troughs where they had to use bottle brushes to clean out the pipes. The next shift had to do all the cleaning and all the reassembly. Everything that was produced on the shift had a number on it to trace it to that shift. If, for some reason, salmonella, or something like that, showed up, they could eliminate or call back all the production on that shift.”

CIP processes are similar, but without the disassembly. “With CIP, they don’t tear down everything, but there is a series of chemical fl ushes,” Dillon explained. “They use high-speed, high-volume centrifugal pumps because you have to get up to seven feet per second in velocity on the cleaning chemicals for them to do their job. They also run at very high heat. They are going to run caustic soda at really high fl ow rates through the entire line, and they also run nitric acid through it to kill everything. They fi nally fi nish it off with hypochlorite

solution to sterilize it,” he added.This is typically performed at 180

degrees Fahrenheit for about 90 minutes, Dillon stated. “Some of these guys think hotter is better. Some procedures are so severe that if you had a dead mouse in the line it would be dissolved. It’s pretty rough. It is a very aggressive chemical at very high temperature, and it is designed to kill everything that is in that line.”

This means the pipes must also be able to handle the abrasiveness of the cleaning materials.

“You have to be so careful,” Dillon said. “You can’t run the equipment normally the way you run it during CIP. If you do, yogurt, for example, may come out looking like skim milk. You must change the opera-tion parameters between CIP and regular operation.”

USDA and FDA inspectors may be on site to determine the cleanliness of the system after each CIP. “They don’t care how you clean it, but it must be cleaned to

their standard,” Dillon said. “If you are in a dairy plant, you must clean the system at least three times a day. Other products, for example chocolate, have less-stringent regulations. It just depends on what you are pumping.”

Inspectors will take samples and record bacteria counts. “The food industry in this country is incredibly regulated,” Dillon said. “You may have fi ve or six dif-ferent regulators coming into your plant unannounced. So the procedures must be strictly written and followed.”

The USDA and FDA have set proce-dures for what will kill bacteria, Dillon said, and it is all based on temperature and time. “The sterilization procedure for CIP is 176 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes. This ensures that anything such as salmonella is dead. Some guys will take it to 220 de-grees because it’s in a pressured system, just to see what happens, but this is not a good idea. The problem is this extreme heat can hurt some of the other materials,

Left. A major beer manufacturer was having issues with the consistency of its fi nished product and was looking for a pump for its critical yeast-food and hop-color-dosing application process. The prob-lem was solved by upgrading to Mouvex SLS Series pumps, manufactured by Mouvex Pumps, Dover PSG, Oakbrook Terrace, IL. The pumps use no seals and are highly reliable, volumetrically consistent, easy to clean, and require low maintenance. Photo courtesy Mouvex.

Right. Eccentric-disc pumps, such as the SLS Series (pictured), from Mouvex Pumps, are designed without mechanical seals, packing, or magnets that are prone to leaks or contamination. This eccentric-disc pump replaced a circumferential piston pump that would leak a white-chocolate coat-ing all over the fl oor each day. Thanks to the sealless pump, the baked-good manufacturer was able to eliminate this issue and save valuable product.Photo courtesy Mouvex.



FOOD & BEVERAGE systemsFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGElike rubber, for example. Thinking hotter is better is a common problem. Dead is dead. Bacteria doesn’t need to be deader than dead.”

Once the equipment is fl ushed with the chemicals, it is then fl ushed with clear water, combined with some chlorine. The fi nal step is the sanitation stage.

COMMON MAINTENANCE ISSUESExperts in the industry describe four spe-cifi c maintenance issues that can create havoc with food-and-beverage processing pumps.

n Preprogrammed controls can be hard on CIP equipment. “Some-times outside vendors who don’t un-derstand this type of equipment are the ones who design the systems,” Dillon said. “For example, some-times dead bands on tank levels in fi lling machines are set so tight that the motors are starting and stopping more often than they should. The pumps should be operating at vary-ing speeds and never stopping.”

When the motor stops, it can cause backward motor operation, which can damage the mechani-cal seals in positive-displacement pumps. “There is much to consider, so it’s important to look at the sys-tem and how it operates and con-sider what you are pumping,” Dillon said. “Yogurt is more viscous than corn syrup, which is more viscous than carbonated water. Make sure the entire system is formatted to meet the needs of your product and the equipment you are using.”

n Improper pump and material se-lection. “When a pump is not sized correctly, it can run too fast and with too much volume. This increases the wear and the cost of time and maintenance,” said Grant Gramlich, business development manager,

Hygienic Americas for Dover Pump Solutions Group (PSG), Oakbrook Terrace, IL. “Improper system and piping designs on the pump inlet will cause cavitation, internal pump damage, premature wear, and failure.”

Dillon agrees this is a major issue. “One size does not fi t all,” he stated. “What works well on a soft-drink-packaging line is not going to work well on a yogurt-packaging line. A standard CIP program for cleaning a positive-fi ltration pump will not necessarily work well for a lobe pump. Lobes need to be cleaned by hand. For progressive cavity pumps, you can only run the pump part of the time during CIP or it will shorten the life of the pump.”

n Pumps running dry. “When a pump runs dry it can create wear on the seals, due to no lubrication between the seal faces,” Gramlich said. “This leads to excess heat and premature failure of the seals, which leads to downtime, and ultimately the loss of product, production, and profi ts.”

Dillon agrees that no pump should ever run dry. “You need to ensure that fl uid is in the line,” he stated. “A positive-displacement pump will continue to build pressure until something breaks. Pressure generates torque on the pipe and wear and tear on bearings and mechanical seals. You will pay for it in increased electric costs and maintenance.

n Pump seal leaks. “In addition to affecting production, a leaking seal can create a safety hazard,” Gram-lich said. “Seal leaks are also a path for contaminants to enter the pump, either by airborne exposure or from wash water from high-pressure hoses, or from external equipment cleaning of the pump-shaft seal zone.”

Gramlich recommends considering seal-less pumps in some food-and-bev-erage processing operations. “Seal-less technology is taking the complexity and cost out of the traditional style of pumps,” he said. “The fear of the unknown as to when the system may go down due to pump failure is virtually eliminated. It can also reduce the need for stocking addi-tional parts, and seals can be very diffi cult to clean.”

PREVENTIVE-MAINTENANCE PRACTICESWhen it comes to preventive mainte-nance, Gramlich recommends taking the fi rst simple step of reading and under-standing the operating manuals.

“Many plants have hundreds of pumps, and they are at different locations, and on different lines,” Gramlich said. “They are often forgotten pieces of equip-ment—until they fail. Then a production line goes down causing costly downtime. In addition to the manuals, it’s a good idea to have training videos on hand for the operators to use for training, but also dur-ing an emergency breakdown.”

Dillon and Gramlich agree that using the knowledge and expertise of channel partners is important. “The manufactur-ers’ distributors and service professionals know what they are doing and will come into your plant for maintenance training and product updates,” Gramlich stated. “This is part of what you pay for when you purchase the equipment, so use their expertise.”

It’s also a good idea to keep spare parts on hand in case of emergency breakdowns so the systems can be run-ning again quickly, Gramlich said.

CASE STUDY 1: SUGAR AND SEALSGramlich described a scenario in which a customer was producing a sugar-based ingredient with various colors using



FOOD & BEVERAGE systemsFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEpositive-displacement pumps with double mechanical seals and a water-fl ush system for the pumps.

“This is common since sugar is tacky and sticky,” Gramlich said. “Double-mechanical seals can help prevent the seal faces from gluing together when the pump is shut down after a batch or run. Double-mechanical seals are expensive since you have two per pump shaft and two shafts per pump, and they require multiple parts. Plus you have the cost and complexity of the water-fl ush sys-tem that must be turned on prior to pump starting and turned off after operation.”

The cost of the fl ush water is of great concern in today’s environ-ment where all companies are seeking to reduce carbon footprints and save resources, he added. “The water for the fl ush seals is not reused. It goes down the drain and increases the sewer cost fees for the plant, so they pay for it twice,” he said. “When this plant had a seal failure, the color from the pump in which the seal failed would leak on the fl oor and create a mess and waste of ingredi-ents. At initial moment of failure, the color at the leak point would squirt out of the seals as the pump shaft rotated, spraying a 360-degree stream of that color throughout the room. This contaminated the other col-ors, and caused more loss of production, waste of ingredients, and increased sewer and maintenance costs.”

The solution was to install a Mouvex seal-less pump. This modifi cation eliminat-ed the need for seal parts and the use of water for the double-mechanical seal-fl ush systems. “The water saving alone was enough to provide the payback on the proj-ect,” Gramlich said. “Nobody, except the accounting department, thinks about the water bill, an often overlooked and wasted resource in facilities. Water waste is now being looked at, especially in areas such as

California, that face water restrictions and higher rates.”

CASE STUDY 2: YOGURT AND STERILIZATION“Yogurt is processed in a reactor and after-ward it is sent to a sterile aseptic fi lling ma-chine,” Dillon said. “This machine packages the yogurt in a totally sterile environment. The package has been sterilized. The air is sterilized. It’s like a little clean room.”

The yogurt is sent to the top of a volumetric fi ller. Every packaging operation has one of these, Dillon stated. “It looks like a carousel, and it works like a carousel,” he said. The piston goes up and down, and the cylinder is fi lled with the product. As it rotates, the piston goes down and pushes the yogurt into the cup.

“There is a tank at the top of this fi lling machine that is fi lled with yogurt, soda, cottage cheese, or whatever other food product is being processed,” Dillon said. “This tank has a level control that puts out a 4-to-20-milliamp signal and goes to

a pump. As the level goes down, the pump speeds up. As the level goes up the pump slows down to try to keep the level constant in this machine. There is a detector that is basically a rod. The higher the resistance on the rod, the more it lowers. That electric signal is fed to the pump control to tell it how fast to go.”

The customer can set this level at what is called the dead band, which limits how far up and down in the tank the pump will go. “This determines the speed of the pump, and what you really want is for the pump to slow down and speed up,” Dillon said. “In this case, they set the level to be a very narrow range. The pump would go to a maxi-mum speed very quickly and then shut off. This was tearing up everything. All the torque was causing a lot of bend-ing and breaking. All kinds of terrible things can happen because of that high

momentary load. You cannot run electric motors like that because they are rated for a certain amount of stops and starts. When this happens the production guys have set the levels, but the maintenance guys must live with the results.”

Dillon said the solution is simple—use variable-speed controls. “The VSDs will prevent the equipment from being sub-jected to high momentary loads and protect it from a severe reaction to the way the system was installed.”

Dillon offers simple advice when it comes to maintaining food-and-beverage process pumping systems. “In general, try to minimize the pressures,” Dillon said. “Pressure equals power, which equals wear on everything. Maximize pipe diameters and shorten the pipe runs. You pay for pip-ing once, but you pay double for mainte-nance in the long run.” RP

Michelle Segrest has been a professional journalist for 27 years. She specializes in the processing industries, and can be reached at [email protected].

White-mass (plain yogurt) pumps at a major yogurt manufacturing plant are subject to a 90-minute clean-in-place (CIP) cycle after 8 hr. of operation. Each cycle involves fl ushing with nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, and sodium hypochlorite solutions, as well as clear water, and clear product to sanitize the operation to meet USDA, FDA, state agriculture, and local health department inspec-tion standards. Photo courtesy SEEPEX Inc.



FOOD & BEVERAGE systemsFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGE

FOOD & BEVERAGE PUMPS TOOLBOX

This list contains the basic tools needed to maintain food-and-beverage processing pumps:• backstops• motor thermostats

• run-dry and dead-head protection• detailed equipment specifi cations (one

size does not fi t all)• temperature gauges• electronic thermometer• variable-frequency drives• variable-speed drives• sprag (to ensure proper rotation)• tachometer• inductive tachometer• tape for shafts with refl ective strip to read

temperatures

• cleaning chemicals.

HYGIENE & SAFETY STANDARDSThe hygiene and safety standards in the food-and-beverage industry have risen sharply in recent years. Pumps are used in almost all product processes and need to meet increased requirements for:• gentle handling, cleaning, and sterilization• absolute hygiene in all processes• operational safety, ease of maintenance.Source: SEEPEX.com

3-A SANITARY STANDARDS3-A SSI, McLean, VA, is an independent, not-for-profi t corporation dedicated to advancing

hygienic equipment design for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries. It represents the interests of regulatory sanitar-ians, equipment fabricators, and processors, three stakeholder groups with a common commitment to promoting food safety and the public health.

Today, 3-A SSI is an independent corpora-tion dedicated to education and promoting food safety through hygienic equipment design in the rapidly changing food, bever-age, and pharmaceutical industries.Source: 3-a.org

FDA’S FSMAThe FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the most sweeping reform of food-safety laws in more than 70 years, was signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 4, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. The public-health imperative:• Foodborne illness affects 48 million (1

in 6) Americans each year, hospitalizing 128,000 and killing 3,000.

• Immune-compromised individuals(infants and children, pregnant women, elderly, those on chemotherapy) are most susceptible.

• Foodborne illness is not just a stomach ache. It can cause life-long chronic disease, such as arthritis and kidney failure.

Why the law was needed:• Globalization has resulted in importing

15% of the U.S. food supply.• The food supply is more high-tech and

complex with more foods in the market-place and the introduction of previously unseen hazards.

• About 30% of the population is especially at risk for foodborne illness.

Impact of the law• Creates a new food-safety system• Broadens the prevention mandate and

accountability• Installs a new system of import oversight • Emphasizes partnerships• Emphasizes farm-to-table responsibility.Source: fda.gov

FOOD-AND-BEVERAGE PUMPS MARKETIn a recent report, Transparency Market Research (TMR), Albany, NY, estimates that the size of the global positive-displacement (PD) sanitary pumps market was $4.55 billion in 2015. TMR expects the market to expand at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 10.1% from 2016 to 2024 and rise to a valuation of $10.65 billion by 2024. In terms of the varieties of rotary PD sanitary pumps available in the market, gear pumps ac-counted for more than 32% of 2015 market revenues in 2015.Source: http://www.advfn.com/news_Positive-Displacement-PD-Sanitary-Pumps-Market-to_72367374.html

THE EHEDGThe European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG.org), Frankfurt, Germany, is a consortium of equipment manufactur-ers, food industries, research institutes, and public health authorities, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. It was founded in 1989 to promote hygiene during the processing and packing of food products by improv-ing hygienic engineering and design in all aspects of food manufacture.

PUMP TRAINING, APPLICATION VIDEOSVisit maintenancetechnology.com/f&bpumpvideos to see a variety of food-and-beverage pump training and application videos.

All pumps in food-and-beverage processing applications should meet the minimum Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Washington, requirements for materials of construction (fda.gov). Depending on the application, process use, and local plant sanitary guidelines, pumps may also have to meet 3-A Sanitary Standards (McLean, VA, 3-a.org) approval. On this page is a collection of facts and source infor-mation related to food-and-beverage pumping. RP

Food-and-Beverage Pump Quick Facts



FOOD & BEVERAGE systemsFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGE

SUELI ROEL BACKES, MOUVEX AND PSG

M ost people are familiar with the 1920s novelty song titled “Ice Cream,” with its instantly recognizable refrain: “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.” All these years later, consumers still scream for their favorite dessert choice.

There is, however, screaming that is not desirable when it comes to discussing ice cream. These are the howls of frustration that can be heard coming from ice cream manufacturers who are confronted with an underperforming production process that is adversely affecting expected high product quality. Specifi cally, an inconsistency of fl ow rate, pressure, and speed when transferring mixes during production could result in the formation of ice crystals that are too large, which compromises the end product’s taste, visual appeal, and creamy sensation.

Ice cream production is actually a relatively straightforward process. An ingredient mix is pumped through a pipeline to a double-wall tube or tunnel freezer that is chilled by liquid ammonia to –22 F (–30 C). Inside the freezer, a slow-turning agitator, or scraper, forces the mix outward, where it briefl y touches the frozen outer wall before it is turned back inward. This is when the ice crystals, which eventually become ice cream, are formed.

To achieve the required taste and expected creamy “mouth feel,” the ice cream mix can only spend a highly regulated amount of time in contact with the freezer’s outer wall. This is why the transfer fl ow and pressure have to be so accurate.

“If, during the transfer to the ice cream freezer, the fl ow is pulsating, then the time the mix spends on the wall isn’t under control,” explained Peter Van de Sompel, manager, Bellux for Spin Pompen, an Assen, The Netherlands-based specialized distributor of pumps and related equipment for use in the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries.

“When the fl ow is constant and optimized to the freezer requirement, then the ice cream coming out of there will have ice crystals that are impossible to detect by the eye and impossible to taste. It should be like a cream and solid at the same time, that’s what makes good ice cream.”

Achieving proper production within the freezer was once relatively easy. That has changed over the years, however, as ice cream has evolved from traditional compositions, such as vanilla, chocolate, and Neapolitan, to much more complicated recipes that can include fl avors, nuts, and chunks of fruit or candy.

MIX MAKEUP AND VISCOSITYThe combination of a strict manufacturing process and a change in the makeup and viscosity of the ice cream mixes has brought into question the effectiveness of the pumping technology that has been traditionally used in ice cream manufacture, namely centrifu-gal pumps.

“The ice cream freezer is very sensitive. It has to be fed with continuous pressure, which has to be maintained in a very narrow range,” said Van de Sompel. “That’s why the centrifugal pump was a good solution. But with higher viscosity you need a volumetric pump with a very stable fl ow that can be regulated in a very linear way. If you look at that, you need a pump with an equal fl ow and a 1:1 ratio of fl ow to speed.”

One company that has mastered the production of ice cream over the years is Ysco, Langemark, Belgium, which, since 1949, has been a major player in the production of private-label ice cream products for retail chains. From its production facilities in

Faced with new recipes that were taxing the effi cien-cy of the centrifu-gal pumps used in its manufacturing process, Ysco, a pro-ducer of private-label ice cream, knew that it needed a better pumping solution. With the help of engineering assistant Krist Levrouw (pictured), the company found a solution with the SLS Series eccentric-disc pump from Mouvex.

Ice cream mixes raise the requirements for volumetrically consistent pumping technology.

Steady Pumping Equals Creamy Ice Cream

mouvex case study



FOOD & BEVERAGE systemsFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGEFOOD & BEVERAGELangemark and Argentan, France, Ysco annually produces 41.2 million gallons (174 million liters) of ice cream in the form of 0.26 to 1.3-gallon (1- to 5-liter) tubs, cones, molded and extruded sticks, cakes, and small cups. That volume resulted in sales of more than $244 million (245 mil-lion euros) in 2015.

Ysco is part of Milcobel cvba, Kallo, Belgium, a farming cooperative that was formed in 2004 with the merger of BZU Melkaanvoer and Belgomilk. Today the cooperative collects, processes, and commercializes milk from 2,800 dairy farms, and is becoming Belgium’s largest dairy group. Ysco’s ice cream production accounts for 22% of Milcobel’s annual production volume.

The changes in ice cream recipes, however, were beginning to hamper Ysco’s ability to reliably produce fi nished products that met its demands and those of its customers. Namely, the higher-mix viscosities were incompatible with the operational capabilities of the centrifugal pumps being used to transfer the mix from the preparation vessels, through the pipe-lines, and into the ice-cream freezers.

That prompted Krist Levrouw, an engi-neering assistant who has been employed at the Langemark facility for 26 years, to initiate a search for a better pumping solution. “The classic centrifugal pump solution does not work properly with mixes in excess of 500 cP, often as high as 2,500 cP,” said Levrouw. “Under these circum-stances, centrifugal pumps are unable to generate the pressure required to transfer the mix and feed the freezer properly. As a result, you can’t empty the vessels com-pletely and you have too much waste.”

FLAVOR OF THE DAYSome years ago, Ysco’s Argentan facility had begun using C Series eccentric-disc pumps from Mouvex, Auxerre, France, a product brand of PSG, a Dover com-pany, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, USA, for its liquid-transfer operations. In talking to his

colleagues at the Argentan plant, Levrouw learned of the success they had been experiencing with the Mouvex pumps, and reached out to Spin Pompen to see if they could suggest a solution for his needs.

“Of course, we knew that the Mouvex technology would solve his problem, which was covering the distance between the tanks and the ice cream generator in a controlled way, with constant fl ow and no pressure peaks, so that the product characteristics were respected,” added Van de Sompel.

The challenge was considerable be-cause of the layout of the Langemark facil-ity. The supply tanks are located unusually far from the ice cream freezers—720 ft. (220 m)— and that distance was putting additional strain on the centrifugal pumps. “If you’re pumping ice cream over 220 meters you don’t want pulsation, which will cause pressure peaks, which is not very benefi cial for the generation of ice cream,” said Van de Sompel.

Addressing these operational chal-lenges, Van de Sompel recommended to Levrouw the seal-less Mouvex SLS Series eccentric-disc pump. SLS Series pumps have been designed specifi cally for operation in food-and-beverage manufac-

turing applications. The seal-less design is ideal for hygienic applications because it reduces the risk of product contamina-tion and leaks while avoiding messy spills, waste, and product spoilage.

The stainless-steel pumps feature a design that incorporates a double-wall bellows and pressure-switch monitoring. By mounting the pressure switch on the bellows fl ange, the bellows become an in-dependent sub-assembly within the pump, resulting in easier and safer operation. The design has helped the SLS pumps get the required certifi cations from EC 1935/2004, 3A, FDA, and EHEDG, for use in food-processing applications. Because the pump has only two wear parts, mainte-nance is easy and can be performed while the pump is online.

Along with these advancements, the SLS Series pumps offer benefi ts for which Mouvex eccentric-disc pumps have long been recognized, including low shear rate, very low pulsation, very low slip, self-prim-ing and dry-run capabilities, exceptional volumetric consistency, repeatability, and clean-in-place (CIP) capability.

“The reality for ice cream manufactur-ers is that one day they have ice cream mix as milk, then the next day they might have ice cream as thick as 500 cP, up to 2,500 cP,” said Van de Sompel. “The Mouvex pump shows very limited variation in fl ow rate under varying conditions of pressure and viscosity.”

“The pump is idiot proof, which is very important since we are running 24 hours and everyone has to handle it,” said Lev-rouw. “If the pump is too diffi cult to clean and maintain, then it’s a problem. It will be destroyed in a short time. Every step is complicated, but the Mouvex pump makes life easier. No stress.” RP

Sueli Roel Backes is with the Food & Beverage division of Moulvex, PSG. U.S. headquarters are in Oakbrook Terrace, IL. Backes can be reached at [email protected].

Not only does the SLS Series pump offer the standard features for which Mouvex eccentric-disc pumps have long been recognized, but the design has helped it earn approval from EC 1935/2004, along with 3A, FDA, and EHEDG, for use in food-processing applications.


FOOD & BEVERAGE systems...way you run it during CIP. If you do, yogurt, for example, may come out...

Documents

Transcript of FOOD & BEVERAGE systems...way you run it during CIP. If you do, yogurt, for example, may come out...