Program Book - Master Brewers Association of the Americas

P-111
Responsible tank cleaning—The blueprint for the future
RICHARD BOUGHTON (1), Jan Hansen (1), Troy Humphries (1),
(1) Scanjet Systems Inc., Houston, TX
Massive savings in water, energy, detergent and wastewaters are
achievable when breweries approach brewhouse, fermentor,
aging and yeast tank cleaning as a partnership with the equipment
supplier and detergent specialist, from the design to operational
phases. It is now essential rather than desirable for breweries to
demonstrate true environmental commitment in their cleaning
systems. The latest developments in detergent formulations
matched to specific cleaning head designs are one example of the
opportunities available. Practical comparisons of before/after
studies will be given. Concern for guaranteed hygiene in cleaned
tanks will be addressed and the decreasing need for manual checking
of cleanliness will be reviewed. This paper will provide best practice
guidance on a systematic approach to responsible tank cleaning.
Richard Boughton is a honors graduate microbiologist and Fellow
and master brewer of the IBD. Richard has spent eight years brewing
with Courage and 15 years in tank cleaning with Toftejorg, during
which time he internationally presented and published a number
of papers on tank cleaning, including some of the first to cover the
principles of on-line CIP validation linked to rapid micro-ATP testing
instrumentation. He then sold off interests in Toftejorg Limited.
For the past 10 years, Richard has been MD of FlavorActiV and
recently invested with Scanjet Systems, the world leader in the largest
market for tank cleaning—ships of all shapes and sizes. Scanjet
Systems has developed and introduced new technologies for tank
cleaning in breweries. This poster will display and summarize these
developments as they have been applied in a particular brewery on a
major scale.
P-112
Control of utilities water treatment systems using automated
chemical feed verification
BRUCE JOHNSTON (1), Matt Walker (2)
(1) ChemTreat, Inc.; (2) Design Controls
Reliable accurate control of treatment chemicals for boiler,
cooling and other utility water systems is essential to efficient and
dependable plant operations. While plant operations become more
and more automated to ensure production reliability, chemical feed
systems in general still tend to be based, at best, on an operator
wet chemistry test performed at some routine interval. Then,
an adjustment to a metering pump or chemical feeder is made to
compensate for test levels. In reality a sudden loss of treatment
chemical feed to a boiler, cooling water or evaporative condenser
system will not shut down plant production. However, routine
unchecked interruptions in chemical feed over extended periods
of time can cause internal corrosion and/or deposition, which like
a cancer will fester and grow over time, possibly culminating in a
catastrophic failure halting production and potentially resulting
in a plant safety event. This study compares the differences of a
traditional manual controlled chemical feed system to that of various
levels of automated chemical feed systems on cooling water loop, its
metallurgy corrosion rates and throughput efficiencies. A cooling
water system at a large brewery consisting of an industrial size
cooling tower and several evaporative condensers was monitored
over a period of time. First, treatment chemicals were fed into
the makeup water of this system by a manually adjusted chemical
metering pump. Adjustments to this pump were made based on
operator wet chemistry tests results. Next the metering pump was
connected to a makeup water flow meter so that chemical feed rates
would be proportionally ramped up and down based on system flow.
Finally an automated chemical dosing system was installed which
would accept a signal from the makeup water flow meter and then
accurately measure and adjust chemical dosing rates to maintain
a constant PPM dosing rate. Routine monitoring of actives based
chemical levels and overall system corrosion rates and heat transfer
rates were recorded and evaluated. At the same time feedback from
this controller was brought into the central utilities plant control
room giving operators another diagnostic tool and control over
their critical process systems. The end result shows that while
acceptable overall system control can be maintained with a manual
feed system, the relatively small cost associated with automation
of water treatment chemical feed systems can exponentially pay for
themselves with cleaner more efficient systems. This will result in
longer run times between system cleanings and turnarounds while
improving system efficiency, reducing power consumption and
improving plant safety. In short this is one of the least expensive
insurance policies in which your plant can invest.
Bruce Johnston holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineering and is a
P.E. degree in corrosion engineering and metallurgy. He has been a
water treatment consultant specializing in brewery utility systems for
the better part of his 20+ year career. He is currently employed with
ChemTreat, Inc. out of Richmond, VA, and has services accounts in
Los Angeles, CA. In addition to working in brewery environments, he
has extensive experience in water-treatment systems for power and
cogeneration facilities.
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