Up to 99% less product loss with pigging
Save product, time and cleaning costs
How do you reduce product loss in tubes and shorten cleaning time during product changeovers? In this case, we show how a sauce manufacturer was able to achieve significant savings on product, time and costs with a pigging system.
The challenge
A renowned sauce manufacturer used one filling machine for multiple products. With every product changeover, valuable finished product was literally lost during cleaning. With viscous products such as sauces, this not only causes waste of valuable product, but also extra downtime, higher chemical consumption and unnecessary energy use.
SKS analysed the process line, determined the right system configuration together with M&S and provided a solution that enabled maximum product recovery, even with limited buffer capacity.
The solution
The customer was looking for a way to reduce product loss and make product changeovers more efficient. Based on its expertise in liquid processes, SKS advised the most suitable solution: a product recovery system, also known as a pigging system. This technology makes it possible to recover up to 99% of the product from tubes..
In this situation, this meant that almost the entire tube contents, approximately 100 litres of product, could be recovered.
The biggest challenge was the limited buffer capacity of the filling machine. As a result, the full tube contents could not be collected in one go. By thoroughly analysing the situation from a technical perspective and determining the right system design together with M&S, a solution was selected in which low and high level sensors on the buffer tank and gradual emptying of the tubes still made it possible to recover the full contents.
The pigging system was then realised and installed in cooperation with M&S.
The result
The chosen solution delivered clear, measurable benefits immediately:
- 16 to 18 tonnes of finished product recovered per year
- Annual net saving of €48,000 to €54,000 per product
- 1.5 to 2 times more effective production time per product changeover
- Reduced CIP load, resulting in lower consumption of chemicals, energy and water
- Payback time of approximately 1 year with a total investment of €50,000, including installation and automation
The stated saving and payback time were calculated based on the product changeovers, volumes and process conditions of this specific application. Thanks to SKS’s targeted advice and the chosen technical solution, product loss was converted into direct return and a more efficient production process.
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