“What’s your Concentration?”
Watching CIP in a factory the other day I asked the Sanitation Lead,
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“What’s your caustic concentration?”
“About 20 to 24”, the guy said.?
“20 to 24 what?”, I asked.
<blank look>
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I explained that we can measure conductivity with a sensor easily on the tank, supply, or return of CIP.?? Knowing that number allows us to control the chemical pumping and ensure we are up to an established setpoint.? Conductivity is proportional to CONCENTRATION which is what we are really interested in.
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There is some confusion on units of conductivity.?
Siemens per centimeter is the unit.? We are at lower levels, so for good resolution of the numbers we use millisiemens/cm or microsiemens/cm?
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This is where I see most mistakes. LinkedIn doesn't like the Greek letters and converts it to "m". Good example of how easily the mistake and misunderstanding starts.
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Now that we have that out of the way…. “what’s your concentration?”
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When food factories bring me in to solve CIP problems, I’m finding some who are not sure!?
Some plants are doing a titration to confirm concentrations on EVERY CIP.?
Others have NEVER done a titration and they are not sure where the conductivity set point came from and how it correlates to the concentration.
Some plants are wasting a LOT of chemical. Some have too little. I saw both in the last 45 days.
The relationship between conductivity and concentration WILL VARY GREATLY between chemicals, temperatures and the water being used.? See the difference between two common caustics used in the food industry CIP.
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At 25C
ABC caustic at 1% =? 14,170 microS/cm
XYZ caustic at 1% = ?32,400 microS/cm
?THAT IS A BIG DIFFERENCE!
Reach out if you are ready to find the hidden CIP problems wasting time, water, chemicals and labor.
Steve Cook
417-860-7581
Validation and process engenieer
5 个月In the pharmaceutical industry we must validate these recipes and ensure that the validated status is maintained through frequent verifications (quarterly, half-yearly), including: preparation of cleaning solutions (potency), performance of mechanical work challenging automatic functions, which also allows measuring other parameters such as temperature and time. The food industry should join this type of activities since its benefits are significant in terms of quality and costs. Greetings!
Pro Bono Water Treatment Consultant
11 个月Steve, I think your work could be integral to a food plant's work on solving waste and wastewater issues. An ounce of pollution prevention instead of a pound of "cure." Make sense? If so let's talk more. [email protected]
Sr. Account Manager at Diversey
1 年That looks awesome Steve. And familiar. Thanks for sharing