FEATURE BOILERS, PUMPS & VALVES BEYOND CLEAN Hygienic pump design must encompass
not only the materials used to construct the pump itself, but also its cleanability, including surfaces and rotating components. To ensure effective cleaning using CIP there must be no areas that are structurally difficult to clean and no microbial residues remaining after cleaning, as these will contaminate subsequent production. Automated product transfer must also be possible without any detrimental effect on product quality, either physically or microbiologically.
In response to demands for equipment that adheres to strict safety and hygiene requirements without compromising product quality, Seepex has developed a new hygienic progressive cavity (PC) pump range. The BCFH range is the first to be certified by the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group under its new testing regime
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s well as giving end-users peace of mind that their closed equipment is
microbiologically clean, equipment designed to the European Hygenic Engineering and Design Group standard typically require 76 per cent less cleaning time, saving on water, detergent and energy. Product safety is a key concern for
manufacturers across a variety of industries, including pharmaceutical, chemical and food & drink. At the same time, it is also essential that adherence to safety and hygiene does not adversely affect the quality of a product. The challenge, therefore, is designing cleaning regimes and equipment that provide the best possible hygienic solutions to ensure product safety without comprising on quality. This is exactly what Seepex has designed the BCFH progressive cavity pump range to achieve.
MEETING TOUGH STANDARDS Recent changes to the EHEDG certification process have made the test more rigorous and more transparent. Certification is now
22 APRIL/MAY 2019 | IRISH MANUFACTURING
only valid for five years, and results are reviewed by independent EHEDG inspectors, in addition to the original tests. Seepex is the first company to gain
EHEDG certification for newly developed, hygienic, progressive cavity pumps under this revised testing process. The new testing procedures will now be a requirement for all EHEDG-certified companies by 2020, ensuring that certification continues to provide end- users with complete confidence and peace of mind that the closed equipment they are using meets the highest possible level of hygienic design.
ENSURING BRAND REPUTATION As an established supplier of hygienic PC pumps for a wide range of applications involving product transfer with high-care requirements, Seepex understands that processors must be able to rely on the hygienic qualities of their equipment to produce safe, high quality products. Not only does this help to reduce waste and lower production costs, it also protects both the public and the brand’s reputation.
The ultra-hygenic BCFH pump range has a low shear action, making it ideal for sensitive foodstuffs such as yogurt
PRESERVING PRODUCT INTEGRITY Thanks to their low shear action, Seepex’s PC pumps do not affect a product’s physical quality; even sensitive products. Equally, they can efficiently pump viscous and sticky products, as well as those containing soft solids. Furthermore, when used for dosing, PC pumps produce a low pulsation flow that has linear proportionality to the pump speed, allowing for easy calibration and greater accuracy. This maintains product quality, even when using a variable raw material. The use of PC pumps can help
manufacturers to lower production costs. Alternatives such as rotary lobe or twin- screw pumps create shear, which affects consistency. Additives are then needed to compensate for this shear to ensure that sensitive products regain their original consistency. Manufacturers using low shear PC pumps do not need additives.
Seepex
www.seepex.com T: +44 (0) 1935 472 376
INCREASED CLEANING ABILITIES Pumps in the BCFH range have a split suction casing, designed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) which analysed liquid flow patterns, as Norman Dicks, product range development team leader at Seepex, explains: “The use of CFD identified improvements that could be made to the suction casing inlet, to produce ‘swirl flow’ which guides the CIP fluid to all areas of the pump, creating more efficient cleaning of all surfaces. It also means that less aggressive cleaning fluids can be used, which increases the pump’s lifetime and improves environmental acceptability. This is the first time we have used CFD and thanks to the enhanced cleaning capabilities it brings, the BCFH pump range was able to meet the stringent demands of EHEDG testing, achieving Type EL Class 1 certification,” concludes Dicks.
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