Kerry milk plant opts for sine pump

Tenbury Wells, UK - Kerry Ingredients & Flavours, part of Kerry Group Plc, has opted to use a MasoSine SPS 2.5 sine pump to handle the demanding viscosity and flow properties of condensed milk at its Tenbury Wells plant.

The pump’s sinusoidal rotor overcame the limitations of a previously-considered rotary lobe pump to produce powerful suction with low shear, low pulsation and gentle handling. All in all, perfect for the company’s new toffee sauce.

As the ingredients and flavours ‘arm’ of Kerry Foods, everything produced at the 300-employee Tenbury Wells plant is shipped for use at other sites. The factory specialises in ‘wet and sweet’ products that typically include soft jams, chocolate sauces, pie fillings and jams.

When the plant wanted to introduce a new toffee sauce to its 10 production lines, the company was faced with the challenge of pumping condensed milk. Initially, volumes were small, typically one to two batches at a time, and so Kerry could use manual labour to perform the necessary operations.

However, demand grew quickly and it soon became apparent that a more automated pumping solution was required.

“As luck would have it we already had a MasoSine SPS 2 on trial for another, completely different application,” explains the site’s process manager, Charles Bishop-Miller.

“It was being used for a thinner liquid stream that was also sometimes thick. As a result, we had the bright idea of seeing whether it could handle condensed milk,” he added.

The process engineering team at Tenbury Wells set about installing the MasoSine SPS 2, to safely pump the milk from the production line into a cooking vessel.

“Having seen the light work it made of transferring condensed milk, I truly believe it could handle almost anything we throw at it,” said Bishop-Miller. “We briefly considered using a conventional rotary lobe pump, but dismissed the idea for a number of reasons.

“Generally, rotary lobe pumps fail to provide enough suction to perform priming operations. Furthermore, the handling capability of lobe pumps can be quite harsh, offering uneven flows.

The company estimates that the sine pump offers 20% faster pumping times than the lobe pump and allows workers to be redeployed on more value-added roles.

“Greater versatility, self-priming ability and ease-of-cleaning also stack in favour of the MasoSine pump,” added Bishop-Miller. “In terms of the latter, we can remove the front and be hosing out in a matter of minutes.”

The Tenbury Wells operation has since been made to purchase a MasoSine pump, with Bishop-Miller opting for a slightly larger capacity SPS 2.5 model which offers even higher maximum flow and maximum pressure capabilities.