Massive water savings from tank cleaning upgrade
Tank cleaning upgrade saved 17% on water
A leading US-based brewery group made a strong commitment to increasing water efficiency and cutting water consumption. One of the ways was to optimize the tank cleaning process.
After hassle-free installation, new rotary jet heads from Alfa Laval reduced water consumption for tank cleaning by as much as 17%.
Water efficiency – a hot topic
Water stewardship is high on the sustainability agenda in the food and beverage industries. In the brewery business, for instance, water is the no. 1 ingredient all the way from the core process of beer brewing to cleaning-in-place.
With high water intensity throughout the brewing and sanitizing processes, the question is where to find the biggest savings. A large American brewery decided to invest in upgrades in the tank cleaning process.
Replacement of jet heads returned 17% water savings
With inspiration from a similar project in China, the brewery decided to upgrade the original Alfa Laval GJ 4 units with new TJ40G rotary jet heads that use less water and complete the full cleaning pattern faster.
After the first months of operation, the new TJ40Gs proved to return water savings of 17%, corresponding to annual water savings of around 5.7 million litres (1.5 million gallons).
“Saving on water was the most important goal in this project. But the water savings also brought about other benefits such as savings on chemicals and energy used for pumping, heating, recovery, re-use, and treatment of cleaning water”, says Andrew Delaney, General Manager US Tank Cleaning.
Case story facts:
- 7 million litres (1.5 million gallons) of water saved per year.
- The water savings correspond to estimated CO2e savings of more than 100 tonnes
How to identify the savings potential?
OptimizeTM by Alfa Laval is an upgrade programme for the hygienic industries.
Through systematic mapping of water and energy use, Optimize help companies boost existing processes and harvest substantial savings on water, energy and chemicals with only small and no-risk investments.