Case study: Plate heat exchanger at Junlebao Group

In Junglebao Group’s dairy plant in China, a problem was observed with scaling in the plate heat exchanger caused by the presence of red jujube juices.

The occurrence of scale build-up in the plate changer led to a decrease in the continuity of production rate and increased frequency of production stops for cleaning of the pasteuriser.

The initial UHT production rate of 25 tonnes per hour was maintained for only 1 hour, with subsequent decrease to 20 tonnes per hour after 4 hours and further decrease to 17 tonnes per hour after 10 hours. This required conducting a production stop for cleaning.

Before Sonic was installed, it was necessary to clean the pasteurisation machine every 8 hours, with in addition interim cleanings after every 5-6 hours of production.

2 sets of 4 Sonic transducers were operated on the plate heat exchanger.

ON THE PASTEURISER:

After a 6-month period of continuous production with ultrasonic, it was found that there was no need to stop production for cleaning anymore. Moreover, a reduction in alkanic washing time from 2700 seconds to 1800 seconds was observed.

ON THE PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER:

After installing ultrasonic on the plate changer, it was found that the production rate of UHT could be maintained at 25 tonnes per hour for 5 hours, decreasing to 10 tonnes per hour for 10 hours. During the daily production period, a final production capacity of more than 250 tonnes was achieved without reaching a final production state. This resulted in significant improvement in the cleaning effect of the plate changer, as well as a 20% increase in continuous production capacity and shortening of the average production cycle by 1 hour.

The installation of Harsonic resulted in a saving of 60 minutes of production time per day and a 20% improvement in efficiency for the UHT steriliser. In addition, savings of 90 minutes per day and a 10% improvement in efficiency were achieved for the yoghurt pasteuriser. After keeping tracking records for 6 months, it is clear that the use of the Alfa Laval heat exchanger has improved significantly, leading to improvement in the company’s economic benefits. This method of physical treatment is sustainable and reduces the use of acid and alkali chemicals, providing good social benefits. It offers true “24/7 all-weather” cleaning with high value for promotion.

Information about the client:
http://en.junlebaoruye.com/jlb_2020/about_index.html