Process Liquids? How Pigging Systems Save Water and Improve the Bottom Line
Liquid product recovery (“pigging”) is in wide use by companies that pump liquids.
Foods, beverages, confectionery, personal care, cosmetics, lubricants, pet food, homecare, paint and coatings – the list goes on.
The technology is an extremely effective way to increase yields, improve capacity, lower cross-contamination risks and boost operational efficiency.
In addition, one of the major benefits of pigging is that it reduces water consumption in the process industries.
How Pigging Systems Achieve Water Savings
Water is a finite resource, which is becoming constrained with rapid population growth and climate change. It is also an essential component of many manufacturing operations.
In liquid processing, pipelines are often flushed out with water during product or batch changeovers. Not only is this extremely time consuming, it often uses extensive amounts of water.
But there’s a solution.
Pigging systems help companies that process liquids reduce water use and meet their water conservation and sustainability goals by:
- Reducing the requirement for long, continuous pipeline flushes between product transfers and changeovers
- Improving control and efficiency of the clean-in-place (CIP) process
- Increasing water efficiency by re-using and recycling rinse water
Reducing Long and Continuous Flushing
Because pigging systems remove nearly all the residual product from the line prior to a flush, they reduce the need for long and continuous pipeline flushes.
HPS pigging systems have extremely high recovery rates. This is typically up to 99.5% from full pipelines, but in some applications, this can be even higher.
In some cases, pigging can eliminate flushing completely. So, not only does pigging reduce water consumption at various stages of production, but it also saves time.
Improving Efficiency of the CIP Process
In hygienic (sanitary) applications where flushing and CIP are still required, their length, intensity and the volume of water used are significantly less with a pigging process.
So, not only does pigging reduce water consumption, but it also saves energy, other resources and has a positive impact on the environment. It also eliminates the risk of wastage, inefficiency, and downtime.
Other Ways Pigging Improves Water Efficiency
In many processing plants, over flushing the line with water is extremely common. With a pigging solution, the chance of this happening is far less.
This is due to HPS pigging systems being automatically controlled and their operation optimised.
Additionally, in some processes such as distilling, pigging can achieve water savings by re-using and recycling rinse water. This is through pigging the flush water out of the line, so it can then be reused as cooling water.
Importantly, HPS liquid product recovery systems are fully hygienic, so there’s no issue with water or product contamination.
How Much Water Does Pigging Save?
For companies that pump liquids through a pipeline, pigging will save considerable amounts of water. However, exact savings are dependent on a number of factors.
This includes length and diameter of pipe, type of pigging system used and the number of changeovers. Also, the intensity of flush and the degree of product removal necessary also have a direct impact on the amount of water used.
As an example, HPS implemented a pigging system for a Winery in Australia. They are finding water savings of roughly 40 mega litres a year. In addition, they are saving around 440,000 litres of wine per year.
Pigging Improves the Bottom Line
As well as saving water and improving the sustainability of manufacturing operations, pigging offers a wide range of additional benefits.
Primarily, pigging increases product yields by recovering up to 99.5% of residual product from full pipelines.
Pigging also speeds up processing times, lowers disposal costs, reduces cross-contamination risks, improves capacity, boosts efficiency plus much more.
In this way, pigging greatly improves the bottom line and offers an attractive return on investment. Payback from a pigging system is extremely quick, usually in just a few months.
HPS Product Recovery Solutions are the world’s leading experts in liquid product recovery (pigging) solutions for the process industries.
To find out how much water you could save with an HPS pigging system, contact HPS.
E: info@hps-pigging.com
T: +44 (0) 115 925 4700
W: www.HPS-Pigging.com
HPS Product Recovery Solutions (Hygienic Pigging Systems Ltd)
- +441159254700
- info@hps-pigging.com
- http://www.hps-pigging.com
- 46 Evelyn Street Beeston Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG9 2EU GB
About us
If you pump or process liquid or wet product, HPS proven pigging technology will increase your yields, reduce waste, speed up changeovers, improve your environmental sustainability and save you time and money.
By saving product instead of wasting it, HPS systems give you a high return on investment year on year. You’ll also get further gains from improved operational efficiency, less water and CIP chemical usage, and lower waste disposal costs.
How It Works
HPS pigging systems propel a specially designed projectile (the pig) through your line. This recovers the residual product you would usually flush to waste. This recovered product is perfectly usable, so you can continue to process it, pack it or sell it along with the rest of the batch.
HPS systems typically recover over 99.5% of product in a full pipeline. Exactly how much this is in terms of value depends on several factors (pipe length, diameter, product cost etc) but it’s nearly always significant. Meaning payback on your investment is rapid.
Plus, by pigging your pipeline you’ll make CIP and flushing a lot quicker and easier. So changeovers are faster and you save on cleaning agents, water, flushing, energy and labour.
[video width="1080" height="1080" mp4="https://www.processindustryinformer.com/product-finder/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/01/WHY-USE-HPS.mp4"][/video]
Where we supply to
UK Ireland, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, North America
Industries we supply to
Automation, Chemicals, Consultants, Food and Beverage, Glass Ceramics Cement, OEM, Paper and Pulp, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries
