In various areas of process technology, storage tanks are needed for the storage of raw materials and finished products. To meet today’s GMP requirements, these tanks are made of stainless steel. Depending on their purpose, these containers are designed as unpressurised or pressure-resistant tanks. Of high priority is the CIP –automatic cleaning (Cleaning in Place). They are subjected to CIP cleaning in defined cycles, also depending on the product. In the case of pharmaceutical storage tanks, an SIP process (Sterilisation in Place) is often carried out after a CIP process. The SIP process is purely to ensure that any living organisms in the plant are killed off. In order to perform the CIP process in an optical manner, certain instrumentations are necessary, such as:
Circulation
of cleaning fluid with the appropriate cleaners for the individual flushing processes.
Temperature
The cleaning circuit starts when the required temperature is reached.
Flow
The rate of flow in the pipelines is measured to determine if the cleaning speed has been reached.
Conductivity measurement
The conductivity is measured in order to optimise the degree of cleaning and to maintain the cleaning concentration in the desired areas.
Fill level
This is measured to ensure that sufficient cleaning medium is available for the pending cleaning process. .
Pressure
The pressure provides the information as to whether the system is operating at the predetermined, repeatable setting.
Data collection
as documentation of the process and monitoring of the alarm parameters.
The listed parameters are decisive for the quality of the cleaning process. Cleaning with a CIP system is a key process in the production of cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. The cleaning follows a certain sequence and is quality-relevant, thus documentation of the cleaning process is extremely important. The filling and emptying of the storage tanks is also included in the CIP/SIP processes. It is, therefore, very important that all environmental conditions are taken into account when designing storage tanks. This also applies to the design of the appropriate pumps.
SEEFRIED Verfahrenstechnik GmbH can support you in the design, arrangement and instrumentation, as well as in the procurement of the systems.