ITM-3A Success Story

ITM‐3A Success Story Ice Cream Maker Reduces Water Usage and Improves Sustainability with the ITM‐3A A team from a large ice cream manufacturer in the southeast visited the Anderson booth at the 2010 International Dairy Show in Dallas, TX and became interested in the ITM‐3A turbidity sensor as a possible way for them save on water consumption during flushes of their ice cream mix HTST pasteurizer. Their existing time based method for product changeovers and water flushes developed originally by calculation of length of pipe and pump flow rates was outdated and in need of improvement. Their piping configuration had changed over the years but their timer had not, so they were certain they were using ITM‐3A Installed on HTST Flush
more water than they knew they needed to and were probably losing some product down the drain as well. The price of cream and sugars has risen steadily in recent years for ice cream makers, so recovery of any product loss to drain was an additional interest that would yield a two‐fold benefit recovery of lost profits and reduction of BOD emissions from the plant. Shortly after the show, local Anderson representatives visited their facility and demonstrated in their lab how the ITM‐3A would work with their ice cream mixes and simulated water flushes. In early 2011, the plant purchased an ITM‐3A and integrated it into their piping and plant PLC system. Some simple piping Tees, an available DC power source, a PLC analog input and cabling were all that were needed to install the sensor in the process. The unit was installed just downstream of an Anderson magnetic flowmeter. An in house controls engineer spent a day developing the necessary programming routines required to integrate the sensor into their control scheme. They developed a custom table of flush points for their products by doing a production run and then comparing the ITM‐3A display to lab tests of product fat and solids standards for their product. Shortly afterwards, the ITM‐3A went online in production. Application Illustration PLC Control
System
HTST Pasteurizer
Pasteurized
Storage Tank
Water
Divert
Valve
ITM- 3A
Sensor
Ice Cream Mix
Flowmeter
Drain
A variety of ice cream mix products are batched and mixed, sent to the pasteurizer and then onto a series of pasteurized storage tanks for downstream filling and packaging. There is also re‐circulation loop with control valve just before the pasteurized storage tanks (not shown in illustration). The system is flushed with water between mix batches. During a production run the sensor can detect mix/mix interfaces and water/mix interfaces. They use the sensor to determine the best point to switch a control valve from either sending product to the pasteurized storage tanks or to drain based upon the ITM‐3A’s relative turbidity value (%). The plant runs approximately fifty‐five batches of ice cream mix on a typical production day and has five to ten product changeovers with water flushes at the pasteurizer. What a difference 30 seconds makes… Once the ITM‐3A was fully integrated and running, the plant witnessed a thirty second difference between the old timer based method and the new turbidity based method when they reviewed changeovers recorded on their PLC system. The old timer method switched the control valve 30 seconds earlier than the new turbidity based method which meant that they were losing good product down the drain with every changeover and were also pushing residual flush water into the pasteurized storage tanks when they ran the next mix through the pasteurizer. Product moves through the system at approximately 30 GPM, so the net water savings per water flush/changeover is about 15 gallons of water. The bottom line for the plant is a water savings of 75‐150 gallons daily at that one application point, which adds up to a conservation of between 19,500 and 39,000 gallons of fresh water annually at that single application point. In addition to water savings, they are recovering 15 gallons of good product that was going down the drain with each changeover at a cost of $4.25 per gallon plus sewer charges of $7.48 /1000 gallons. Added benefits….Quality Control and Clean in Place (CIP) Rinsing Before they implemented the ITM‐3A in their production process, correction batches were commonly done to deal with diluted production batches that brought their final mix out of spec (6 hours per week). Nowadays, they have tighter control of their process with the ITM‐3A and don’t have to do adjustment batches to correct for flush water getting into finished product and diluting their final mix. During Clean in Place (CIP) the ITM‐3A is also used for final rinse to confirm that their piping system has been flushed clean. Prior to its use, this was done manually until an operator saw clear water. Anderson Products - Sanitary by Design
Cost/Benefit Overview…. The ITM‐3A helped this large ice cream manufacturer put a truly sustainable solution in place for water flushes at their pasteurizer with favorable return on investment (see insert). Cost/Benefit Summary 30 second difference between timed based and turbidity based methods 30 gallons per minute system flow rate Loss per flush/changeover cycle = 15 gallons product plus 15 gallons water 5‐10 flushes per day $4.25 per gallon product cost $4.17 per 1000 gallon fresh water cost $7.48 per 1000 gallon wastewater cost (BOD) Water Savings: 75‐150 gallons per day => 19,500 – 39,000 gallons annually (at single flush point.) Total loss per flush/changeover (fresh water, lost product, wastewater charges): $63.93 Daily Loss: $319.65 ‐ $639.30 $3,500.00 Equipment & Installation Cost (est.) $1,000.00 PLC Programming Payback = $4,500.00/daily loss = 7‐14 days Annual Cost Savings after Payback = $63.93 x 260 days (5 days x 52 weeks) = $16,621.80 annually ROI % = ($16,621 ‐ $4,500)/$4,500.00 = 2.693 = 269.35% Their next project will be to look to use the ITM‐4 for process re‐use water as allowed under the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, but that is a future success story to report on. For more information… Please contact your local Anderson representative or visit us on the worldwide web at www.andinst.com Southeast Region Anderson Instrument Company, Inc.
4489 Orleans Court Atlanta, GA 30338 (404) 964‐2400 [email protected] www.andinst.com Corporate
Anderson Instrument Company, Inc. 156 Auriesville Road Fultonville, NY 12072 800‐833‐0081 Fax: 518‐922‐8997 www.andinst.com
ITM‐3A worksheet Calculate your own payback Your information A. Flow rate through system Gallons per Minute (GPM) B. Water Cost $
Per 1000 gallons C. Wastewater Cost
$
Per 1000 Gallons D. Estimated Flush Time Minutes per flush E. Flushes per day F. Improvement Goal Seconds per flush G. Product Cost $
Per gallon
H. (A x E x F ) /60 gallons per day (calculated)
Water Savings (annual per flush point) H x 260 days/year _______ gallons per year Equipment Cost $3,500.00 Equipment & Installation Cost (est.) $1,000.00 PLC Programming Payback $4,500 ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ = _________ days (H x G) +(H x(B+C/1000))