This same principle is now being applied to the HRS Universal Product Recovery System . Rather than just measuring temperature , any suitable physical or chemical property can be continually monitored , such as Brix , pH , viscosity or density . The choice of which parameter is used depends on the nature of the product and the sensors that are available .
Recovery in practice
A line producing fruit juice may have a typical sugar level of 12 Brix . The concentration of the juice leaving the pasteuriser is monitored using a Brix meter , and any juice which falls below this level is diverted to waste . The line employs water flushing as part of its CIP systems . Traditionally , because it could not accurately be determined where the mixing zone between residual product and flushing water began , anything passing through the pasteuriser during this cleaning phase would have been discarded , including any perfectly good product left in the pasteuriser at the end of the production cycle . However , by monitoring the product concentration from the beginning of the flushing cycle , it is possible to send juice with a Brix level of 12 or higher to the next phase of production ( such as packing ), and only discard material which falls below this set parameter .
Another example involves a manufacturer of BBQ sauce . Assuming the company makes a profit of 40 pence per litre of sauce , even if 200 litres are lost per production line during cleaning cycles each day , that equates to a loss of £ 80 a day or £ 24,000 a year ( assuming 300 days production ).
If the company has four lines then it is losing almost £ 100,000 worth of profit , not to mention the creation of around 68 tonnes of waste each year .
Benefitting pocket and planet
As well as increasing the amount of product which can be sold , reducing the amount of waste generated decreases disposal costs such as storage , transport and treatment . Alongside these financial benefits , the environmental footprint of the production line will also be improved , with more end product being obtained for the same effort – effectively lowering CO2e emissions per unit produced . Furthermore , cutting down the amount of product mixed in with the flushing or cleaning water means that the resulting waste stream is cleaner and will require less processing , further reducing financial and environmental costs .
As all HRS pasteurisers and sterilisers already include a three-way valve to allow for the diversion of out-of-specification product , the only real additional expense are the monitoring and control systems . With potential cost savings running into hundreds of thousands of pounds , such systems rapidly repay any additional capital expense .
With manufacturers ’ focus on Industry 4.0 now prompting them to reassess the efficiency of all their processes , it ’ s easy to see why Product Recovery Systems are increasingly being specified alongside both new and existing sterilisation and pasteurisation systems .
About HRS Heat Exchangers
Headquartered in the UK , HRS Heat Exchangers Ltd operates at the forefront of thermal technology , offering innovative and effective heat transfer solutions worldwide , across a diverse range of industries .
With over 35 years ’ experience , we specialise in the design and manufacture of an extensive range of tubular , corrugated and scraped surface heat exchangers .
All our products comply with the European PED .
HRS has a network of offices throughout the world : Spain , USA , Malaysia , Australia and India ; with manufacturing plants in the UK , India and Spain .
www . hrs-heatexchangers . com
Issue 33 PECM 23