VALVE WORLD
INDUSTRY NEWS
valve types feature a dead space free vessel connection, which is directly welded into the vessel. An o-ring disc ensures a high level of tightness. Elastomer bellows protect hard-to-clean parts in the guiding and bonnet area from like screws and nuts are placed inside of the bellows. It is a fact that “cleanability is an enduring issue and of increasing importance for the sector,” underlines Leser’s Nachtigal.
Mankenberg states the same. “Similar to the drug industry, the food industry has the highest requirements in terms of cleanness and safety of plants,” explains Pallasch, a product manager at Mankenberg. Highest requirements are made “for the entire process, so that for example a microbial contamination can be eliminated for all phases of production, through to packaging.“ The company expects even higher as for surfaces. All in all, higher prices.
They envisage that valves for the food & beverage sector will soon be manufactured the way products for the pharmaceutical industry
are made. This means that valves for the food industry would be on a level with products for the drug industry, however for considerably lower prices per unit. Pallasch: “In general, the food sector is not industry.”
Beer brewing is one example: here, hygienic processes are essential. Complex stainless steel pipe systems are utilised to feed the fermentation tank, remove yeast after the fermentation process and transfer the young beer into maturation tanks. Pressure levels stemming from carbon dioxide emissions in the fermentation tank have to be controlled. “Saturation of young beer with CO2 and the later quality depends to a high amount on the pressure“, explains valve maker Gemue. On the other hand, the fermentation process is slowed down if pressure is too high. 2 has to be purged in a controlled manner.” fermentation tank, transferral of young beer into maturation or storage tanks can all be done using standard stainless steel valves. Gemue developed combi switchboxes for controlling valves, which can be implemented directly
on a valve’s actuator. Valves in breweries are used in nearly all areas – from the mashhouse to the fermenting cellar to bottling. One critical issue are the rapid changes in pressure levels when switching from cleaning to bottling. This creates dynamic stress valves have to cope with. Temperatures ranging from -3°C to +95°C create a further challenge for valves.
Nothing would happen without them: next to automation, valves are of great importance for the food industry, as a great number of valves are used in the production process. They are often used for creating and distributing compressed air, cooling devices and for energy recovery. In addition, valves are important in the cleaning process. They are an essential part in bottling. Valves control the energy cycle and handle steam, hot water, ice water or compressed air. An energy outage could lead to a standstill – unreliable valves would cost cash.
A further trend: valves should be able to be applied universally
28 IMT June/July 2014
www.internationalmetaltube.com
in the food sector. Mankenberg is working towards this goal and is developing a pressure regulator which can be used for all media in the food and beverage production. “This means the valve has to have all sorts of physical characteristics, be it high or low or gases over various temperature levels“, explains Pallasch, from the company’s product management. Furthermore, such a valve may not exceed a certain, low price lucrative opportunities, despite rising requirements and numerous challenges. Investing in the aseptic valves provides the means to skim growing markets.
will be presented at Valve World Expo from December 2 to 4, 2014 at Düsseldorf fairgrounds.
More information on Valve Expo 2014,
HartmannP@messe-duesseldorf. de KleophasvandenBongardtK@
messe-duesseldorf.de
photo by Messe Duesseldorf
photo by Messe Duesseldorf
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32