Cleaning in Place (CIP)
Cleaning in Place Systems
A cleaning in place system is not a standard product you take off the shelf. It must match the product you run, the soil it leaves behind, the materials in your line and the capacity you need to recover between production runs.
We design complete CIP systems as an integrated part of your process. Our work covers:
• Technical calculations: Utility requirements and specifications for water, steam and chemicals
• Process design: P&IDs and equipment lists for the CIP circuit and the process lines it serves
• 3D design and modeling: Verifying drainability, slopes and access before anything is built
• Manufacturing drawings: Precise drawings for fabrication of tanks, skids and pipework
• Documentation management: CE marking, EHEDG and the Machinery Directive
• Commissioning and start-up: Proving the cleaning programme, not just the hardware
Cleaning in Place in the Food Industry
Cleaning in place in the food industry must satisfy two demands at the same time: Documented hygiene and productive uptime. Every hour spent cleaning is an hour not producing – and every cubic metre of hot caustic is a cost on the utility bill.
We approach it from the design side. Hygienic design – full cleanability, the right surface finish, drainable geometry – is among others what makes a short and reliable CIP programme possible in the first place. The same thinking drives our own patented components: Our Continuous Absorption Heater (CAH) is designed to allow longer runtimes between cleanings, which provides savings on water, energy and chemicals.
Because we work across the entire project lifecycle – Concept Development, Detail Engineering as well as Execution and Commissioning – the CIP concept agreed at the start is the one that is commissioned at the end.
Cleaning in Place in Dairy Industry
Cleaning in place in the dairy industry is among the most demanding applications of all. Milk proteins and minerals foul heat transfer surfaces quickly, and run lengths are often set by fouling rather than by demand.
That makes CIP design inseparable from thermal process design. Sequence, temperature, caustic and acid concentration, flow velocity and return handling all have to be dimensioned against the actual fouling behaviour of the product – and against the heat treatment upstream. Thermal and wet processes are among our specialist areas, and we treat the cleaning circuit and the process circuit as one design task.
Let's Look at Your CIP
Whether you are building a new line, extending an existing one, or trying to get more production hours out of the plant you already have, we can help.
FAQ
What is Cleaning in Place?
Cleaning in Place (CIP) is a method for cleaning the interior surfaces of process equipment – tanks, pipework, heat exchangers, valves and pumps – without dismantling the line. Cleaning media are circulated through the closed system in a controlled sequence, typically a rinse, an alkaline wash, an intermediate rinse, an acid wash and a final rinse. Because the sequence is automated, the same result is repeated every cycle and can be documented. The alternative, manual strip-down cleaning, is slower, harder to verify and exposes operators to hot chemicals.
What is a CIP system?
A CIP system is the physical installation that stores, heats, doses, circulates and returns the cleaning media – tanks, pumps, heat exchangers, valves, instrumentation and the control programme that sequences it all. Systems are usually built as single-use, re-use or multi-use, depending on whether the media are discarded or recovered after each cycle. The right configuration depends on your product, your soil load, your utility costs and how much recovery capacity you need between production runs. This is why we design the CIP system together with the process it serves, rather than adding it afterwards.
What is the benefit of Cleaning in Place (CIP)?
The main benefit is repeatable, documented hygiene without taking the line apart, which shortens changeover time and returns production hours to the plant. A well-dimensioned CIP programme also lowers consumption of water, energy and chemicals, because it stops when the equipment is clean rather than running a fixed safety margin. Automation removes operator exposure to hot caustic and acid, and it removes the variation that comes with manual cleaning. The size of the gain depends heavily on the hygienic design of the equipment being cleaned – full cleanability, drainable geometry and no dead legs are what make a short CIP cycle possible.