Pharma & Food CIP

CIP systems in pharmaceutical, dairy, beverage and food plants typically run pre-rinse, caustic wash, intermediate rinse, acid wash, final rinse and sanitising. Cleaning performance depends on concentration, temperature, flow and time, and concentration depends on the dosing system: weak caustic or acid leaves soil and microbial risk behind, while strong solutions waste chemical, require more rinse water and can attack seals.

Traditionally operators top up the cleaning tanks with concentrated caustic and acid by experience and confirm concentration by titration, which is slow and exposes people to hazardous chemicals. Pharmaceutical and food producers also need traceable cleaning records for audits and quality reviews, which manual practice rarely provides.

A CIP dosing package is built around online concentration measurement, automatic make-up and process records:

1. Concentration: a conductivity sensor in the CIP supply or return line. Within a working range, caustic and acid concentration correlate with conductivity, and a conversion curve can be set up on site with standard solutions. For strong or fouling solutions, toroidal (inductive) conductivity sensors resist corrosion and polarisation; hygienic process connections are available.

2. Automatic make-up: mechanical diaphragm metering pumps dose concentrated caustic and acid separately to restore the target concentration. The sealed diaphragm prevents leakage, and head materials such as stainless steel or PVDF are chosen for the chemical.

3. pH monitoring: a process pH sensor on the final rinse and discharge confirms rinsing is complete and supports neutralisation before discharge.

4. Sanitiser: peracetic acid or hypochlorite can be dosed by a dedicated pump in proportion to flow.

5. Control and records: conductivity, temperature, pH and pump status go to the CIP PLC and follow the cleaning sequence, producing per-batch records of concentration, temperature and duration.

6. Safety: relief valves, back-pressure valves and drip trays between bulk tanks and pumps reduce manual chemical handling.

Please tell us the number of CIP circuits, tank volumes, chemicals and concentrations, target solution strength, temperature range and hygiene requirements so we can recommend sensors, pump sizes and materials.

Practical notes: the conductivity-to-concentration relationship is strongly temperature dependent, so use temperature compensation and build the curve at the actual cleaning temperature. Different cleaning formulations need their own curves, so recalibrate after changing products.