The software duo, GEA Smart Filtration Flush and GEA Smart Filtration CIP, automatically intervene in CIP (cleaning-in-place) processes, pulsing the pumps and flushing the membranes individually and according to real-time water quality.
Membrane filtration plants separate or concentrate substances without thermal stress. Membrane filtration is primarily used in food manufacturing – including new foods – and in dairy processing. Common product examples include dairy protein and fish collagen isolates. Until now, cleaning this equipment was energy- and water-intensive, requiring three or four individual cleaning steps with different chemical cleaning agents to be pumped and circulated throughout the equipment for a specified amount of time before rinsing it out with water.
In contrast, GEA Smart Filtration Flush uses sensors to measure the permeate quality of the water during the flushing process, reducing the freshwater required. Setting blanket rinsing intervals and water quantities in advance are no longer needed as the software stops the process as soon as the necessary hygiene level is reached, and the cleaning agents are discharged.
Nils Mørk, R&D Engineer for membrane filtration at GEA, said: “A typical dairy whey protein concentration process needs two to four filtration plants connected in a series. This set up can require more than 100,000 litres of water, per cleaning cycle. Today, we know from plant tests that we can save well up to 50,000 litres of water per cleaning in such large plants and 500 to 700 litres per CIP in small productions.”
Additionally, when less water is fed into the process, this decreases the amount of wastewater which needs to be discharged. “Many manufacturers can only clean their filtration systems successively because the peak flows during flushing of filtration plants often exceed pipeline capacity. That can create a potential safety hazard for staff and cause contamination in the production area. We eliminate this peak water flow problem with Smart Flush because we can significantly reduce pressure fluctuations in the water supply and reduce the overflow of drain lines.”
GEA Smart Filtration CIP is a software module that regulates cleaning efficiency. It causes the pumps to operate in a pulsating manner as opposed to running continuously. As a result, the pumps are said to consume up to 50 percent less energy during the CIP process. Traditionally, the best results were achieved by cleaning with high shear forces (eg mechanical washing with a strong rinse flow). This approach meant the maximum allowed pressure drop across the membranes was applied during the CIP process – which entails a higher energy consumption. GEA Smart Filtration CIP is expected to break with this method without losing efficacy.
Tests conducted by GEA on various membrane plants prove that the same level of hygienic cleaning is achieved even if the pump only operates at short intervals – providing the time, temperature and chemical concentration is kept constant. “Our method, now applied to membrane plants, mirrors the basic principles used successfully by washing machines: agitate the clothes followed by intervals of rest, allowing the cleaning agent do its job,” explained Mørk.