Liquid Handling For The New Mozzarella Factory

Phil Black - PII Editor 03/05/2023

376 4 minutes read

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Plant and pipeline construction for liquid handling of the versatile dairy product

The corporate group of Glanbia Cheese and Leprino Foods opened a new plant for producing mozzarella in Portlaoise, Ireland. The facility uses patented processes designed to enable the production of recipes tailored to customers’ needs. To comply with exacting quality standard, the demands on all suppliers were very high and the implementation details extremely challenging.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous contractors from all over the world coordinated a busy large construction site with complex buildings. Being a specialist for liquid products, the plant manufacturer Ruland Engineering & Consulting GmbH took charge of the planning, design and realisation for the most parts of the utility supply for the production processes as well as the construction of the complete plant modules required in the liquid processing sector.

Hygienic design to meet the highest demands

The customer employs a holistic approach with clear specifications regarding building design, process, components and the hygienic design of process modules and electrical installation in all areas.

Ruland, who sees itself as an expert in hygienic design and plant manufacturing found the attention to detail in the implementation of this project impressive and not commonplace for a food producer. Based on their many years of experience, Ruland's engineers were able to further optimise some details.

For Ruland the project started with an intensive basic engineering phase in the areas of the process utilities. For all required media they gathered the expected consumption, building services included. The project team evaluated all data, identified the needs and designed the units accordingly.

A spontaneous change from the classical energy supply to a cogeneration unit to save on energy costs and resources was respected with all consequences. Before the detail planning started, Ruland checked together with the customer the commissioning of the single crafts, this way the team was able to focus on the detail engineering of the core task.

Technical equipment and piping routes for the production facility

In the Ruland scope of delivery were the design and delivery of plants as well as the complete piping design and installation on site for the entire factory. Ruland covered a large part of the technical equipment of the overall project. The Ruland technicians prefabricated and cabled all plant parts in Neustadt and put them into operation on site, including:

Water house including a daily buffer tank and water treatment
Preparation and supply of hot and cold water
Dosing module for all liquid components
Central CIP unit installed outdoor for the supply of all process plants with 100-m³-tanks and five circuits with a connection DN 150
Chemical tank storage including storage tanks for acid and lye
Dosage unit for further chemicals
Temperature control circuits for the process plant
28 high pressure cleaning stations in special hygienic design including supply station
Electrical control cabinets

A detailed pipe planning supports the completion

The first planning of the entire factory piping was based on the consumer array and the spatial planning of the plants. Thereafter the engineers planned the pipe network and designed a 3D-model in which all pipe and cable routes as well as wall and ceiling break-throughs are graphed.

Together with the architect and the executing construction company, Ruland integrated the 3D-data into a digital model. With this BIM (Building Information Modelling), each craft was able to call up the current status.

Thanks to this comprehensive 3D-planning, the architect, construction company, Ruland-construction management and all other equipment suppliers could clearly identify and discuss possible problems at the interfaces. Additionally, everybody had a clear idea what the factory would look like later on and could check and optimise workflows.

As to later realisation and organisation of the construction site Axel Steinbach, the supervisor stated: “Thanks to the BIM model and the technically very competent contact persons at the customer side, it was possible to find solutions for occurring problems on short notice. Minor errors that only became apparent on site were quickly corrected. Laying the pipe and cable routes in the low suspended ceiling was particularly tricky. We had to come up with a clever solution for this.”

For impeccable welding it was necessary to protect the pipes against wind and weather during assembly. The team ensured the quality of the welding seams by an endoscope-test. Ruland needed a 500-t-crane to lift and place the heavy gantrys and pipe bridges. The Ruland-team was also responsible for the entire waste-water-piping and the connection to the waste-water-tanks on site.

Hygienic design avoids contamination risks down to the last detail

Glanbia strictly distinguishes between high- and low care areas in the building design. This displays the everyday production. The main piping is located in a walk-on suspended ceiling above the production area.

Sealed pipe openings, coming vertically from the suspended ceiling, are precisely connected to the plant modules such that there are nearly no horizontal routes within the high care area.

For all frames in the high care area the team used flat steel profiles as neither for module frames nor at tube gantrys were hollow sections allowed. For the electric-pneumatic installation all cables leading from the low care area to the main cabinets and the on-site boxes are in an enclosed conduit system. Ruland used EHEDG-certificated stainless steel cable glands for the in- and outlets up to the closed system.

Country specific requirements and the COVID-19 pandemic tightened occupational safety regulations

It was very important to respect the occupational safety regulations. Each Ruland employee had to complete a safety course before entering the construction site. Additionally, all suppliers had to submit a safety statement for the safe performance regarding their assembly work considering each room.

Extremely challenging to project delivery was the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic with strict 14-days-quarantine, additional training, safety distance, mouth-nose protection and washing hands every 3 hours. Thanks to strict compliance with these measures, it was possible to finish the work at the construction site and to commission of the system successfully.

“Delivering this project to our exacting requirements in a challenging timeline necessitated the highest levels of professional competence of all the project vendors. Ruland Engineering & Consulting GmbH offered exactly the level of expertise and scale of operation to fulfil both the design engineering and process installation requirements of the Project. A shared view of what ‘great’ looks like, an open trusting relationship between both parties and highly skilled personnel made for a rewarding experience; I am happy to recommend Ruland as a company that strives to excel in their field of expertise in meeting the future needs of the food industry.”

Conor O’Donovan, Director of Technical Services, Glanbia Cheese Ltd

For more information please have a look at www.rulandec.com