Pharma major cleans up by automating CIP process
23 Mar 2011
Stroud, UK - Converting a manual CIP process to automatic across 80 reaction vessels, using pressure transmitters, condition sensors and flow meters, has enabled a major UK pharmaceutical manufacturer to achieve savings of £120,000 per annum.
Prior to the project, the reaction tanks were each cleaned for six hours, constantly flushed to drain with hot water at 700°C. This was a purely manual process based upon operator experience, rather than positive signals from the process that the cleaning procedure was complete.
Weekly costs for the manual cleaning procedure were substantial: energy costs were running at around £4000, with water at approximately £1,000 and effluent costs approaching the same figure. In total, the combined weekly figure across all activities included in the cleaning was £5,900; or a considerable £295,000 per annum.
To reduce these costs, engineers at the pharmaceutical manufacturer contacted Burkert, which suggested a solution for each reaction vessel based upon a Type 8311 pressure transmitter, a Type 8222 condition sensor and a Type 8041 flow sensor. These products were installed on a test group of the vessels and linked the plant SCADA system.
The CIP process was then undertaken in an automatic mode, with the 8222 condition monitor providing effective feedback of when the water in the vessel was clean–and hence the vessel itself – to the SCADA system, which terminated the process.
On the basis of the initial tests, engineers at the pharmaceutical plant calculated that their CIP costs would be reduced by 40%, or £120,000 per year using the new equipment.
