New Ways of Equipping Production Areas:
Thirsting for More?

The use of pre-assembled process equipment, called UNITS

Our need to quench our thirst has led to the development of a whole branch of industry dedicated to satisfying this elementary desire; and this industry has to be able to meet consumers’ ever more exacting demands in respect of quality and taste. The beverage market is more flexible and more transitory today than ever before. The presence on the market of a wide variety of mix drinks that are “in” at the moment, but which in some cases will only survive for a short time, and the constant demand for new products offering consumers unusual taste experiences, compel beverage manufacturers and equipment builders to face up again and again to new challenges.

The most important criterion in beverage manufacture is the consistency of the product. A demonstrably consistent level of quality, and the reliability that this ensures with regard to the taste of the drink, will secure competitive advantages for the manufacturer, and underline the high value of his products and thus his own high level of performance.
The quality and taste that consumers expect can only be maintained through

• the use of top-quality ingredients
• consistency with regard to the quality of these ingredients
• manufacture strictly in accordance with the recipe laid down
• continuous sampling followed by laboratory analysis
• in-line analysis of the ingredients to be used 
•  the use of high-precision metering and dosing technology
• the use of materials for the mixing equipment that meet the highest standards of hygiene.

The requirements that need to be met in the starting area of production (the syrup room or syrup kitchen) demand the use of appropriate process equipment, which in conjunction with intelligent measurement and control technology will allow the challenges to be mastered.

For the production area, our company offers complete systems all from the same address which afford the beverage manufacturer optimum solutions tailor-made to his requirements. In practice, this means applying tried and tested technical solutions, but constantly developing them further to incorporate the experience gained from each new project to the benefit of all users. The modular nature of the equipment (UNITS) makes it possible to react flexibly to the most diverse applications.

Arguments for the use of UNITS in the beverage industry:

• Each system is assembled completely on a base frame
• Functionality is tested at our factory, using water, before delivery
• This minimizes the time requirement for installation and commissioning
• UNITS are readily transportable
• The pipework in the vicinity of the UNITS can easily be installed in advance, since the mechanical interfaces are precisely defined
• The clearly defined costs of the UNITS allow the overall investment to be reliably costed
• UNITS are manufactured to provide tried and tested functionality, and are frequently used in continuous shift operation
• UNITS are built to be maintenance-friendly and to allow defective components to be replaced quickly if required
• Cleaning processes are optimized in the UNIT, since particular attention can be paid to flows and flow behavior in the planning stage.

The example of a typical syrup room clearly demonstrates the advantages of the UNIT concept.

The UNIT concept

The process systems to be used are supplied to the customer’s facility complete in the form of UNITS. This guarantees short installation and commissioning times. The complete production area is thus composed of tried and tested systems selected according to each customer’s individual requirements. Only the pipe connections between the individual pieces of equipment and of course between them and the tank groups or other large components are installed on site.

Various types of equipment

Sugar dissolving systems

In the beverage industry, sugar is normally used in the form of an aqueous solution. The sugar is predominantly delivered in granular form in silo trucks or in bulk bags and sacks. The first production step is to turn it into a standardized sugar solution. Both continuous and discontinuous processes are commonly used in the beverage industry.

DI-Sugar T1™ (discontinuous)
The DI-Sugar T1™ sugar dissolving unit is a large-capacity system whose water input is controlled to correspond to the amount of granular sugar delivered. The system includes the semi-automatic correction of the Brix value after a sample has been analysed in the laboratory.

The dissolving tank has an effective capacity of approx. 38 m3; at the beginning of the process it already contains a part of the volume of hot water required to dissolve the sugar. As soon as the silo truck has arrived, the quantity of sugar delivered is entered into the control unit, which calculates the total volume of water required. The granular sugar is fed into the dissolving tank by the discharge blower mounted on the vehicle, and agitated until it is dissolved. At the end of the dissolving process, the dome of the tank is sprayed with some of the dissolving water that has been retained, in order to remove any sugar residues.

DI-Sugar H™, DI-Sugar C™
The continuous process may take the form of a cold or a hot dissolving process. In both cases, it is advantageous to have a sugar silo to hold the supply of granular sugar. Sugar and dissolving water are mixed and conveyed into the dissolving vessel in the desired proportions. A circulating pump ensures that the suspension is homogeneous. A partial flow is continuously supplied to the buffer tank (Figure 3) via a disc filter (in the cold dissolving process) or a pasteurizing unit (in the hot dissolving process) with integrated filtration and deaeration.

Water deaeration systems

DIOX 2™
DIOX 2™ is a two-stage water deaeration system working on the vacuum principle. The vacuum is created by means of a seal water pump or, optionally, by a dry-running vacuum pump.

DIOX2™ water deaeration system

VARIDOX-C™
The VARIDOX-C™ (cold deaeration) system deaerates water by using packing with a high specific surface area to enlarge the reaction surface. This process is supported by a strip gas which is fed into the system.

VARIDOX-H™
The VARIDOX-H™ (hot deaeration) system works on the same principle as the VARIDOX-C™, except that in this case the water is heated to around 72° C, which improves the deaeration performance while reducing the consumption of strip gas. At the same time, it effects the pasteurization of the water.
The regeneration section of the heat exchanger achieves the recuperation of around 90% of the heat.

Blending systems

DICON™
DICON™ is a continuous blending device for liquid products which achieves high performance in a very small space. The ingredients to be blended are brought together in a main pipe. High precision metering devices in conjunction with top-quality regulating valves and digital controls ensure a high degree of blending accuracy. Analysis devices installed in the concentrate input pipes check compliance with the recipe parameters held in the control unit. Variations in the Brix concentration of the syrup base are analyzed and automatically compensated for.

DI-BATCH™
For high flexibility with low acquisition costs: DI-BATCH™ is a batch mixing device with an additional dissolving vessel, so that products in powder form can also be processed. In addition, it is possible to process products supplied in very small containers such as casks or canisters. The volume of rinsing water required is dosed in accordance with the recipe, and is incorporated into the batch mixing process.

Carbonation system

DICAR-C™
The DICAR-C™ is a continuous carbonation system for soft drinks. When blending has been completed, the beverage is conveyed to the saturator by a booster pump. The saturator works on the Venturi principle. The speed of flow through the saturator is kept constantly within the optimum working range by a regulator. The reduced pressure resulting from the partial vacuum created at the point in the saturator with the smallest cross-section exerts the desired suction effect on the carbon dioxide. In addition, this brief enhancement of the flow speed guarantees that the carbon dioxide will be finely distributed, and thus mixed homogeneously into the product. The CO2 is conveyed to the saturator partly from the pressurised tank, which, being constantly above atmospheric pressure, ensures the uniform carbonation of the beverage. In addition, this process ensures that the introduction of CO2 can be effected without loss.

Cleaning systems

DICIP-S™
The DICIP-S™ cleaning system is designed for the automatic cleaning of production systems in the food and beverage industry. Important criteria in the design of DICIP equipment are the following:

• Economy in the use of water, caustic solution and energy thanks to the recuperation of rinsing water, hot water and caustic solution, which also reduces the amount of waste water and the level of waste water pollution
• Automatic restoration of the caustic solution to the correct concentration and automatic heating of solution and water
• Automatic control of the sequence of the cleaning process
• Variable programmes, easily modified by the user and secured by a password.

A central cleaning system is used to clean the selected sections of the plant in sequence. The cleaning agents used and the water are recuperated as far as possible and used again for the next cleaning process. Between one and four cleaning circuits may be provided, according to the customer’s wishes, so that from one to four pieces of equipment can be cleaned at the same time independently of each other.

System control

One of the things that product quality most depends upon is the high degree of sensitivity of the regulating equipment. A digital controller, specially designed for the regulation of in-line blending systems, offers the following advantages:

• Digital inputs for quantity signals enable regulation precisely in accordance with the signals, without additional errors arising out of the signal conversion
• Error tolerance is less by a factor of 2 than with analogue controls
• Transient errors are corrected completely by regulation
• Calculation of mixing ratios from product-specific values
• Constant calculation of corrections
• Logging of the operating process and the process data
• Communication with process visualization systems

In addition to the dosing and regulating functions proper, the system control unit has further important tasks to fulfil:

• Calculation of volumes for the automatic introduction of product water before and after the other ingredients
• Introduction of product ingredients at the defined point in the blending process
• Minimization of product losses during start-up
• Automatic correction of Brix fluctuations in the sugar solution
• Monitoring of missing ingredients in the product, with automatic switch-over between tanks if required
• Monitoring of valve and regulator functionality
• Monitoring of agitator times, where products have a tendency to sediment.

Process visualization

The data captured by the control unit can be transmitted via a data protocol to a master computer system for further data processing. Thus long-term data security is assured.
The data includes, amongst other things, a large amount of diverse information which can be presented dynamically on a process visualization system. Such systems are adapted to the particular equipment and the process concerned. Through input fields (button or touch-screen) the operator can intervene in the process in order to change statuses or set-point values individually, or to manage them in accordance with a recipe.

Process visualisation:
presentation of process data and information

Summary:
Equipping production areas with pre-assembled process systems

Thanks to the unremitting efforts and to developments in process technology, our company has been able to show operators of beverage plants new ways of equipping modern production areas. The use of completely pre-assembled process systems, which we call UNITS, enables businesses to adapt their operations to market requirements, using a modular system in order to meet their specific requirements precisely.

Individual tasks and complete solutions, from the reception of raw materials to the handover of the beverage to the bottling machine, all form part of our comprehensive portfolio of products.

The Author
Wolfgang Zenker, state-examined electrician, studied at Hildesheim College of Electrical Engineering from 1983 to 1985. Worked in the field of communications technology from 1985 to 1987. Since 1987 Key Account Manager, “Soft drink and spirituous liquor industries“, at GEA Diessel GmbH.

Published in: drink! Technology + Marketing September 2007

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