Cutting sterilisation time
place (SIP) cycle time reductions of typically 20 per cent on fully
monitored plant installations.
A new product from Emerson Process Management is enabling steam in place (SIP) cycle time reductions of typically 20 per cent on fully monitored plant installations.
The Rosemount 848T eight-input temperature transmitter also reduces the initial capital cost of setting up SIP monitoring installations by 20-30 per cent, according to the firm.
The SIP processes, used for cleaning and sterilisation in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and food industries, relies on steam to heat process vessels and piping to a high 'kill' temperature, and maintain this temperature for a defined time, typically 30 minutes or more, to eliminate bacteria. If no automated temperature instrumentation is used, the soaking phase of the SIP process is extended and held, while manual checks are completed, or to establish an excess safety margin and assume that all pipeline sections are properly treated.
"When monitoring all relevant parts of the plant using Rosemount temperature technology, and tracking the time at the required temperature, SIP cycle times can be reduced, and the plant efficiency increased," according to Emerson.
A growing number of food companies are turning to Emerson's PlantWeb architecture to help streamline their processes and to comply with increasingly strict food safety regulations.
Each Rosemount 848T multisensor monitors eight separate temperature sensors and with up to sixteen 848T units on just one fieldbus wiring loop segment, a single cable back to the control room can be used to collect data on 128 sensors.
The product therefore saves on plant wiring and control room I/O interfacing; this approach produces typical cost savings of 30 per cent compared to a conventional installation, claims Emerson.
"Further possibilities arise for throughput improvement once the monitoring installation is in place and operational by using continuous automated temperature monitoring to calculate the accumulated lethality factor for each temperature measurement point," according to Emerson.
The lethality factor accounts for sterilisation time at lower temperatures and therefore, reduces the required heating time. This returns the unit to production in a shorter time increasing process throughput while reducing utility cost.
