New Video Shows Recovery Efficiency of the HPS Pig
Due to the rising costs of raw materials, greater competition, and the increasing need to reduce waste and improve environmental sustainability, processing companies are realising the cost-saving potential of recovering liquid or wet product from pipelines.
That’s why hygienic (or sanitary) pigging systems are becoming increasingly adopted throughout the world by liquid processing industries. These range from food, beverages, cosmetics, personal care, paint, pet food, homecare, pharmaceuticals and many more.
Pigging (also referred to as ‘product recovery’) is a technique that reclaims valuable product and provides optimum levels of cleanliness. This leads to increased yields, efficiency, productivity, and profits.
The highly-effective technology reduces production losses by recovering practically all of the product from the line, that would otherwise mostly go to drain.
Video of the Inside of a Pipeline After Pigging
The effectiveness of pigging systems (well HPS ones anyway!) can be demonstrated in a recent video sent to us by one of our customers. The customer processes pharmaceutical products and has a pigging system in operation.
The HPS system consists of a pig launcher and pig receivers, as well as various valves and the necessary components essential for recovering product and cleaning the pipelines.
Using specially designed camera technology, the video inspection taken by the customer shows the cleanliness of their pipeline after the pigging cycle. As you can see from the video, there are no traces of product residue remaining in the pipelines – it’s all been removed by pigging!
Because the HPS pig has removed practically all of the product, this means that the same line can be used for more than one product without risking cross-contamination.
To watch the video, click the play button below.
Unmatched Process Pig
As well as recovering up to 99.5% of product from pipelines after batch transfer, HPS pigging systems also help producers reduce waste processing and cleaning times, minimise the use of cleaning chemicals and speed up changeovers.
The HPS hygienic process pig is specially designed so it maintains full body contact with the pipeline, which it can achieve even when navigating 1.5D bends.
Unmatched in the process pigging industry, the pig also has the additional features of being bi-directional and guaranteed for 30,000 metres or 18 miles of use.
Unlike other pigs in the market, the HPS pig contains no solid magnets (solid magnets are dangerous because they have a tendancy to shatter – risking both injury to your workforce as well as product contamination). Instead, the HPS pig uses a magnetised flexible silicon core which, as well as being extremely safe, enables it to be detected easily by the HPS pig detector.
Why Choose Pigging Over Other Techniques?
Process pigging has established itself as the preferred technique for processors wanting to recover valuable product residue from pipelines.
While there are many different approaches available for removing product, they often lack the effectiveness and efficiency required for the hygienic manufacturing environments of food, beverage, paint and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Some manufacturers still use air blowing, which has a number of drawbacks including low recovery rates. As an example, HPS recently installed a pigging system for a soft drinks manufacturer, who had been using a blower system. The air blowing method was only recovering 10% of the product, which is significantly less than the 99.5% that HPS pigging systems recover.
Another technique that has gained prominence in recent years is ice pigging. Although ice pigging is highly suited to utility applications such as water and sewer mains, the same cannot be said for hygienic applications such as food. Ice pigging requires significant amounts of water and power for the machinery, therefore it is not as environmentally friendly as traditional pigging, and probably not economically beneficial in the long run either.
Also, the recovery rates of ice pigging are fairly low and because the ice doesn’t provide a reliable seal, this makes the technique inappropriate for applications where contamination has to be avoided.
Using a Specialist Company
Regardless of the technique chosen for recovering product, it’s important to choose a company with specialist knowledge, expertise, and experience.
If you choose HPS as your pigging system partner, you can be assured you are working with a customer-focused organisation that will solve your liquid processing challenges. At the same time, we’ll make sure we provide you with a system that you are 100% content with and that meets your objectives and delivers quick payback. Get in touch with HPS today!