The Swiss subsidiary of Dutch firm DSM Nutritional Products AG uses the spray drying methodology when producing vitamin and carotenoid powders for the pharmaceutical and food industries. The procedure uses pump know-how to convey various emulsions into a twig tower, the place they’re dried into powder. But the feed and booster pump that was being used proved to be an uncertainty factor as a end result of the diaphragm required for the pumping process tended to tear when the pump was began up. Generally, such production interruptions can be corrected through immediate maintenance and restore work.
However, it is rather costly to switch a diaphragm or a complete system. DSM was looking for an alternate and eventually made a discover once they talked to the pump experts at Lewa Nikkiso Switzerland, who beneficial a Lewa triplex course of diaphragm pump for the spray tower software. The drive unit contains a safe start-up mode that retains the diaphragm located within the impartial position, and steady regulation utilizing an integrated monitoring system. Since the hermetically tight pumps are electropolished and CIP-approved, it is straightforward to satisfy the food industry’s stringent hygienic provisions.
a hundred PERCENT INTEGRATION
“Pump know-how plays a central role in drying oil-in-water emulsions for the food and pharmaceutical industries. These emulsions comprise substances such as vitamins, carotenoids, or polyunsaturated fatty acids as lively elements,” explains Natalie Ibald, plant manager of formulations at DSM Nutritional Products AG. “As a part of the method chain, every pump is one hundred pc integrated into the closed plant system. The pumps are used for conveying the mixtures into the spray tower.”
With the previous system, the danger of unexpected interruptions to this process couldn’t be ruled out. As a result, the completely different emulsions could not be processed additional. In other words, it was not attainable to dry them into powder. The pump diaphragm was the reason: it was often too delicate to withstand the stress placed on it when beginning up the pump and would rupture. Replacing the diaphragm decreased the system’s service life and generally meant that trouble-free operation couldn’t be assured.
pressure gauge 10 bar RIGHT PARTNER
In the course of trying to find a dependable various, DSM got in touch with the Swiss subsidiary of pump producer Lewa.
“We have been already familiar with Lewa Nikkiso Switzerland as a provider of robust methods with long service lives in the SFP sector. To ensure trouble-free spray drying, we thought it will be sensible to affix forces with the experts from Lewa and come up with a design to unravel the technical problems,” says Ibald.
DSM is dedicated to continually bettering its processes and investing in know-how. This commitment, together with prior expertise with the brief service lives of the previous pumps, led DSM to position special focus on dependable perform and a robust design in the course of the venture planning part. The record of necessities also included a considerable number of stringent hygienic provisions that needed to be fulfilled.
“Certain foods have provisions relating to microbiological purity which may be many occasions more stringent than those for producing different food merchandise,” explains Ibald. “This meant that the model new feed and booster pump had to meet these more challenging circumstances and every type of contamination needed to be ruled out to provide the widest potential variety of products on the system.”
ROYAL DSM: PARTNER PROFILE
Royal DSM is a global science-oriented company that is particularly lively in the areas of nutrition, health, and sustainable residing. DSM’s mission is to enhance the lives of all. Products and solutions from DSM handle a few of the world’s greatest challenges whereas concurrently creating financial, environmental, and societal value for all its stakeholders—including clients, staff, shareholders, and society at giant.
DSM delivers progressive solutions for the diet, animal vitamin, personal care and aromatics, medical merchandise, environmentally friendly merchandise and applications, in addition to new mobility and interconnectivity.
DSM and its affiliated corporations make use of greater than 23,000 folks and generate an annual web turnover of approximately 10 billion euros. The firm was based in 1902 and is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.
For extra info, visit www.dsm.com.
GUARANTEED SAFE START-UP OPERATION
After a go to at the company premises to contemplate the spatial and technical parameters, Lewa Nikkiso Switzerland beneficial a type G3F triplex course of diaphragm pump for the spray tower application. This pump features a completely secure start-up operation, since a spring continuously holds the integrated sandwich diaphragm located in a neutral place.
This protects the diaphragm towards incorrect positioning and prevents it from being damaged while the pump is beginning up, rising system availability considerably. And the Lewa triplex is managed utilizing a stress aid valve that is installed in the hydraulic part and can be configured for the specific situation. Therefore, the pump could be adapted to totally different operational situations in order to forestall any overloads which will arise. This ensures that the unit has a protracted service life and easy common operation for the whole system.
THE POWER OF DESIGN
In addition to the strain relief valve and the spring control, the design of the diaphragm also plays an necessary position in guaranteeing reliable pump operation. The patented sandwich diaphragm consists of two separate PTFE diaphragms which may be extraordinarily long-lasting. They are connected to every other through optimistic interlocking through the discharge stroke and mechanical force-fitting in the course of the suction stroke.
This makes the pump hermetically tight and successfully prevents exterior contamination. As an extra security feature, the DPS monitoring system from Lewa repeatedly screens the condition of the diaphragm. The monitoring unit promptly shows any injury to the device that results in elevated pressure within the diaphragm space.
This makes it possible to carry out preventive upkeep and repair work before the diaphragm even begins to rupture and doubtlessly contaminates the pumped fluid. Thus, it is normally unnecessary to change the pump off instantly, which implies that neither the pumping process nor spray drying are negatively impacted to a big extent. If damage to a diaphragm is detected, production can proceed without any issues as a lot as a deliberate upkeep cease. The components can then be replaced shortly and simply by releasing the cassette for the meeting.
ASEPTIC, FDA-COMPLIANT OPERATION
The hermetically tight design of the method diaphragm pump does more than simply guarantee reliable steady operation. It can additionally be a central element for fulfilling the stringent hygiene provisions that the spray tower application is subject to. The Lewa triplex maintains a hermetically tight house without dynamic seals, guaranteeing fully clear and aseptic manufacturing situations. All pump heads that come into contact with the product are additionally electropolished, which makes it attainable to ensure FDA-compliant pump operation.
Because the pump could be cleaned in place (CIP) using totally different alkaline and acidic agents and with out prior dismantling, it’s attainable to meet the particular requirements for child meals as properly. The provisions for child food are 1,000 occasions more stringent than those for different products in the food sector. Thanks to the hermetically tight design, electropolishing, and CIP cleansing, we were able to rule out any contamination of the pumped medium and clearly meet the required hygiene commonplace.
QUICK RESPONSE TIMES AND WELL-FOUNDED EXPERTISE
The first quote was received in June of 2018 and in September of the identical yr, DSM Nutritional Products AG placed an order for the triplex process diaphragm pump. In operation since April 2019, the pump has turn into an indispensable part of production on the plant in Sisseln.
“In each section of the challenge, Lewa Nikkiso Switzerland demonstrated quick response instances and well-founded expertise, which made a key contribution to implementing the project efficiently,” says Ibald. “Our specs with regard to quality, robustness, and hygiene have been adopted to the letter on this challenge. As a end result, our production has turn into noticeably more efficient and reliable.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Lewa develops technologies and offers solutions for the huge array of functions among its clients. Its merchandise are used mainly within the oil and gasoline business, in gasoline odorization, in refineries and petrochemicals, in addition to in the manufacturing of plastics, detergents, and cleaners. Additional application areas include the chemical trade, cosmetics trade, prescribed drugs and biotechnology, food and beverage business, and vitality utilities. For extra information, visit www.lewa.com.
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