ECA for CIP
- 1. 26 HYGIENE Soft Drinks International – January 2011 ECA technology the future of CIP? R esearch and development and plant sanita- tion are two phrases that you normally do not hear together. When talking to most beverage plants, regular response is, ‘That’s how we have always done it’ and, ‘if it isn’t broken, why fix it?’ However, there has been a quiet revolution-of- The latest sorts going on for the last few years by a technol- ‘clean-in-place’ ogy known as ‘ECA’ or electrochemically activated water has been ‘cleaning up’ in the bev- technology erage space. ECA or electrochemically activated water is one promises of the fastest growing technology trends in an industry not traditionally known as an early additional adopter of a new technology. An ECA system can provide the sanitation needs for a beverage plant, benefits for with significant advantages over traditional solu- beverage tions provided by large chemical companies. A green and sustainable solution What does ECA deliver to the beverage compa- producers. A technology who’s time has come? nies? Probably the most overused word in packag- We are just hearing about it now, but how long has ing today is ‘sustainability’. Walk through any this technology been around? There are a number major trade show, and the word is attached to vir- of different ECA technologies around, and some tually everything. are very recent developments. Others have been However, ECA is unique, in that it has the abil- around a lot longer than you might think. English ity to deliver sustainability, as well as a ‘green chemist, Michael Faraday first wrote what has solution’, whilst providing the economic savings become the foundation of the technology, back in that are really driving the adoption of this technol- 1834. Faraday’s Laws of Electrolysis laid the ogy. groundwork for this technology, and the first large No longer do hazardous chemicals need to be scale industrial electrolysis plant went into oper- transported or stored, as ECA systems generate all ation in Europe, in the1890’s. that is required from three basic, and safe, ingredi- ents; salt, water and electricity. CIP systems The two main methods of beverage plant sanita- tion are either the five-step or three-step CIP. If you take a look at the mainstay of CIP clean- ing – the five-step – flushing out the product, then circulating and rinsing out the detergent, before circulating and rinsing out the sanitiser – we know is energy intensive, and also consumes a tremendous amount of water. By contrast, ECA not only virtually eliminates the need for heat, it also uses much less water. Thus both energy and water consumption are greatly reduced, and what’s more, it has the potential to reduce the overall sanitising process from around 90 minutes, to just 25 minutes. And, in these times, when lines need to be sufficiently flexible to meet the demand for frequent product changes, downtime is a major consideration. ECA technologies There are two basic categories of ECA technology: two-stream technologies and the single-stream technologies. Most advanced ECA generators today are two- stream systems. These produce a high pH, Traditional CIP can be an energy, water and time consuming process. charged caustic cleaner, known as a catholyte
- 2. Soft Drinks International – January 2011 ECA TECHNOLOGY 27 solution, and a neutral pH sanitiser known as anolyte. In essence, these solutions replace the expensive, and sometimes hazardous, bulk chem- icals that are currently in beverage plants. How does it work and is it effective? The sanitiser is a powerful broad-spectrum sani- tiser, yet is gentle on equipment and people. It is non-toxic, fully bio-degradable and environmen- tally friendly, yet lethal on contact to all known pathogens. It consists predominantly of hypochlorous acid (HClO), which gives it superior sporicidal and biocidal activity. pH neutral hypochlorous acid is reported to be far more effective than the more familiar, sodium hypochlorite. Single stream systems produce a mixed blend of anolyte and catholyte solution. Being a blend of the two, these are seen by some as being compro- mised in their performance – at the pH 9, the pH is too high for the solutions to be an effective sani- tiser, and also too low to be an effective detergent. Through electrolysis, two oppositely charged solutions are produced. The postively charged However, single stream solutions are known to anolyte is an efficient disinfectant, whilst the negatively charged catholyte has detergent have a role in general water disinfection. properties. Do your homework Sanitation and quality control are undoubtedly critical to a company, and to date ECA has been able to satisfy the microbiological demands of many beverage producers. For a beverage company looking at this technol- ogy it is critical that you do your homework. There are two critical areas when deciding on an ECA supplier, characteristics of the solutions and operating cost. In terms of solutions produced, salt conversion and pH are probably the most crit- ical considerations when deciding on an ECA technology. Too high salt concentrations will cause corrosion, so it is very important to identify an ECA supplier that offers low-chloride solu- tions. The pH of the solutions is equally important for both the detergent and the sanitiser solutions. The higher the pH of the detergent solutions pro- duced, the greater cleaning ability that solution will have. The sanitiser solution needs to be close to pH 7, as higher pH solutions suffer from decreased efficacy, while low pH sanitiser solu- Salt, water and electricity – along with an onsite generator, that’s all that’s needed for safe tions are known to be aggressive to equipment. and effective sanitisation. Is ECA is here to stay? ECA is now more than just a ‘fad’. It’s believed that over 30 beverage plants installed ECA in 2010, and ECA hit the limelight when manufac- It’s believed turer, Trustwater, was awarded the winner of the that over 30 ‘Best New Bottling, Manufacturing or Production Technology Innovation’ at the InterBev Awards beverage plants last October. At a time when energy and water usage are installed ECA under ever closer scrutiny, electrochemically acti- vated water CIP systems appear to provide many systems in 2010. of the answers. Lower energy consumption, reduced water con- sumption, the elimination of the use of hazardous chemicals, and increased flexibility as a result of reduced downtime – ECA is surely a technology who’s time has come. Yes, there is the initial capital cost of the equip- ment but, with a promise of relatively short return With ECA, the transportation, storage and mixing of on investment, ECA can indeed be considered a hazardous chemicals is eliminated. truly ‘dispruptive’ technology. I