World Class Manufacturing Session
Jörg Zacharias, KRONES AG, Neutraubling, Germany
Co-author(s): Dirk Scheu, Krones AG, Neutraubling, Germany
ABSTRACT: Due to the increasing requirement for
industrially produced beverages, aseptic processes are acquiring more
and more relevance. This is manifested in extended shelf lives and
maximally natural products. Usually heat treatment is the common method
of pasteurization. In terms of gentle product treatment and energy
consumption, this is only second-best and has to be reduced. The authors
map out what the requirements of a hygienic membrane process design for
applications in the brewing industry have to be. Further they present
solutions and discuss the problems involved in water production for
beverages. As part of this, the following requirements for equipment and
process have been specified. The following demands are the main
characteristics for hygienic membrane processing technology. 1)
Hygienically designed components up to an entire hygienic line,
including piping, pumps, valves, connections, welding, and all its
further components. 2) Hygienic construction (aseptic) of the complete
product path on the past of water treatment (UF resp. RO)—filtrate side
up to the filler. This is the critical path after the aseptic
break-point. 3) This means easy-to-clean stainless steel construction of
the plant with reference to the criteria of EHEDG and GMP for, for
example, Ra values below 0.8, welding as well as materials. 4) On the
product route, each unit has to be designed to hygienically designed
criteria. 5) In accordance with this, hygienic connection of module
junctions is essential, especially on the filtrate side of the modules.
6) This leads to stainless steel housings for the membrane assembly. 7)
The possibility of sanitizing the membrane and module to suit the
construction and materials used will be possible without excessive
stress on the membranes or the material. Sanitization for this
requirement means temperatures between 121 and 140°C to reach the
requisite module sterilization conditions. 8) On-line sterility sensor
technology enables on-line integrity to be monitored. This shows that in
principle the requisite quality in terms of microbiological lethality
can be achieved. The overall plant equipment and the principal hygienic
plant design are a question and an aspect of planning the process. This
entails some effort but can be solved in accordance with standard
literature and design codes like EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering
& Design Group). In summary, the main themes for hygienic membrane
technology are hygiene inside the modules and on-line sensor technology
for integrity and acceptance of these techniques in the beverage
industry. The remaining problems will be shone in more detail as
exemplified by Krones AG’s solutions.
Jörg Zacharias graduated
in 1997 from Weihenstephan as an engineer in food science. In 2003 he
finished his post-graduate studies with a doctoral degree from the
Department of Fluid Mechanics and Process Automation at the Technical
University of Munich-Weihenstephan. For more than five years he was an
associate lecturer in food process technology at the Weihenstephan
University of Applied Science. In 2005 he joined Krones AG in the
Research and Development Division, where he was significantly involved
in developing membrane filtration for beer clarification and fresh water
treatment. He is an expert in the hygienic design of closed process
designs for processing liquid foods. In addition, he is an expert in
heat exchanger technology and the rheology of beverages.
VIEW PRESENTATION 224
