Bürkert Solves Tank Pressure Drift with Sub-200 ms Gas Control for Hygienic Applications

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Maintaining precise tank pressure is critical across food and beverage, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Even small pressure fluctuations can affect product quality, process consistency and operational efficiency.

To address these challenges, flow control specialist Bürkert has launched its new Type 8880 pressure control system, delivering significantly faster gas pressure regulation for hygienic processing environments.

Designed specifically for industries where product integrity and process reliability are paramount, the new system offers response times of less than 200 milliseconds, making it up to ten times faster than conventional tank pressure control solutions.

The development provides manufacturers with a more responsive and reliable method of maintaining stable pressure conditions during filling, emptying and fermentation processes, helping to improve product quality whilst reducing maintenance requirements and operational downtime.

Why Accurate Tank Pressure Control Matters

Across many hygienic processing applications, maintaining a constant overpressure inside storage and process vessels is essential.

Food and beverage manufacturers rely on carefully controlled gas atmospheres to preserve product characteristics, maintain quality standards and prevent contamination. Similarly, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical producers require highly stable process conditions to ensure product consistency, maximise yields and comply with stringent regulatory requirements.

Whether handling carbonated beverages, vaccines, medicines or sensitive biological products, the pressure within a tank's headspace plays a critical role in determining product quality and process performance.

As a result, any delay in pressure correction can have a direct impact on production outcomes.

The Challenge of Tank Pressure Drift

One of the most common issues facing process operators is pressure drift.

In pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical fermentation processes, gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) are generated naturally whilst gases including nitrogen (N₂) and oxygen (O₂) are introduced to support biological activity. Because fermentation processes are often lengthy and product yields can be relatively low, maintaining optimum pressure conditions throughout production is essential.

Similarly, manufacturers of carbonated beverages must accurately control CO₂ levels within storage vessels to ensure product quality, taste consistency and shelf-life performance.

These requirements extend beyond fermentation and beverage production. Accurate pressure regulation is also critical in pressurised filling operations and applications involving inert gas storage.

Traditionally, tank pressure control systems consist of multiple valves, sensors and a separate control unit working together to monitor and adjust pressure. Whilst effective, these systems can suffer from delays caused by signal processing and communication between individual components.

Because each component operates with different performance characteristics, the overall control loop can become sluggish. In some cases, it can take more than two seconds for the system to process pressure changes and initiate corrective action.

During this period, pressure within the tank can drift significantly, potentially affecting product quality, process stability and production efficiency before the system is able to respond.

Bürkert's Solution: Less Than 200 Milliseconds Response Time

To overcome these limitations, Bürkert has developed the Type 8880 compact pressure control system, reducing response times to less than 200 milliseconds.

This dramatic improvement allows process operators to react to pressure fluctuations almost instantly, helping to maintain tighter process control and significantly improving reliability.

The system combines two control valves with an integrated pressure transmitter operating within a closed-loop control system. Working together, these components continuously monitor and regulate tank pressure during filling, emptying and fermentation processes.

The result is a highly responsive pressure control solution that minimises pressure drift and supports more consistent production outcomes.

Continuous Pressure Adaptation for Process Stability

One of the key advantages of the Type 8880 system is its ability to adapt continuously to changing process conditions.

During filling and emptying operations, liquid levels within the vessel can fluctuate constantly, altering the pressure dynamics within the tank. Conventional systems can struggle to respond quickly enough to these changes.

The Bürkert Type 8880 automatically adjusts in real time to maintain the desired pressure regardless of product level changes. This ensures a stable overpressure is maintained throughout the process.

In addition to supporting product quality, the system's fine pressure adjustment capabilities can also improve dosing accuracy, helping manufacturers achieve more precise volume control and minimise product waste.

Designed for CIP and SIP Hygienic Processes

One of the biggest challenges associated with conventional proportional valve technology is its vulnerability to aggressive cleaning processes.

Within hygienic manufacturing environments, Clean-In-Place (CIP) and Steam-In-Place (SIP) procedures are essential for maintaining cleanliness and preventing contamination. However, the harsh cleaning media used during these processes can degrade valve lubrication over time.

As lubricant is removed, valve performance can deteriorate, leading to reduced reliability, inconsistent operation and increased maintenance requirements.

In many conventional tank pressure control systems, wear on a single valve may necessitate replacement up to six times per year. Beyond the direct cost of replacement components, this also introduces unplanned downtime, maintenance labour costs and potential production disruption.

Improved Reliability and Reduced Maintenance

The Bürkert Type 8880 has been specifically engineered to withstand demanding hygienic environments, including CIP and SIP cleaning procedures as well as aggressive process conditions.

By maintaining reliable valve performance throughout repeated cleaning cycles, the system helps manufacturers reduce maintenance interventions, lower operating costs and improve overall equipment availability.

The result is a more dependable pressure control solution capable of supporting continuous production whilst minimising the risk of unexpected failures.

For industries where uptime and product quality are critical, these benefits can have a significant impact on operational performance.

Hygienic Design Options for Regulated Industries

Recognising the diverse requirements of food, beverage and pharmaceutical manufacturers, Bürkert offers the Type 8880 in several hygienic configurations.

Available options include:

Self-draining designs
CIP-capable configurations
SIP-capable configurations
Electropolished surface finishes
FDA-approved materials
Dead-space reduced designs

These variants allow manufacturers to select a solution that aligns with their specific hygiene requirements, regulatory obligations and process demands.

Supporting Process Efficiency Across Hygienic Industries

As manufacturers seek greater efficiency, improved product quality and enhanced process reliability, the demand for faster and more accurate pressure control systems continues to grow.

By reducing response times from seconds to milliseconds, Bürkert's Type 8880 pressure control system addresses one of the most persistent challenges in hygienic processing: pressure drift.

With its integrated control architecture, rapid response capabilities and robust hygienic design, the system provides food and beverage producers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and biopharmaceutical facilities with a practical solution for improving process stability, reducing maintenance and supporting higher levels of productivity.

The launch further strengthens Bürkert's position as a leading provider of advanced flow control and process automation technologies for hygienic manufacturing environments.

Find out more about Bürkert’s Type 8880 pressure control system

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Burkert Fluid Control Systems

01285648720
sales.uk@burkert.com
http://www.burkert.com/
Fluid Control Centre 1 Bridge End Gloucestershire Cirencester GL7 1QY GB

About us

Bürkert is present in thirtyfive countries around the world. We also work with a large network of distributors and partners, which means we are as close as possible to our customers. This global presence ensures full service and support to all of our customers in every country around the world. Research is the lifeblood of our company.

At Bürkert, we are never satisfied with the status quo and are continually seeking new technologies and solutions for our customers. Every year, our people develop new and highly advanced products and solutions, ranging from integrated process measurement and control units to the most sophisticated systems used in pharmaceutical research. To be a market leader, we are also an R&D leader.

Therefore, our investment in research & development is one of the highest in our industry. In our research centres in Germany and France, 150 people are committed to working for a common future for our company and our customers. We are committed to offering our expertise wherever it is needed, anywhere in the world. This global presence ensures that our advances in fluid control technology are also global.

What we do in a nutshell

Manufacture of process equipment. One of the few manufacturers to provide solutions for the complete control loop.

Where we supply to

UK Ireland, Europe

Industries we supply to

Food and Beverage, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries, Water and Wastewater

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