Pumps reduce the risk of dairy contamination

A dairy-based ingredients manufacturer has eliminated the risk of contamination by installing 10 MasoSine Certa 250 pumps from Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG).

The pumps all perform the transfer of soft cultured products like yoghurt, butter, cream and soft cheese. This follows the company’s engineering team highlighting potential food contamination issues with positive displacement (PD) pumps two years ago.

“Our customer had a number of PD pumps on site and, although they performed well and were food-grade rated, there was always the worry of potential contamination from the wear parts of the pump,” explained WMFTG Food Sector Specialist Eddy Smeaton. “As a result, they started looking for a pump that could do the same job, but which could take away the risk.”

Unlike traditional pumps with rotors that cut through the fluid, Certa’s sinusoidal rotor gently carries product through the pump to dramatically reduce shear, an important factor when handling dairy-based products. Further advantages delivered by sinusoidal technology include energy efficiency, virtually no pulsation, simplicity, reliability, interchangeable parts, low cost of ownership, and separation between the wet end and dry end which ensures no potential for contamination.

Offering EHEDG (Type EL Class I and EL Aseptic Class I) and 3A certification, MasoSine Certa is easy to clean for minimal maintenance and downtime. A range of seven Certa pumps is available for flow rates to 99,000 L/h and pressures to 15 bar.

“We were invited to visit and give a demonstration of Certa; the customer could see immediately its simple design and lack of wear parts,” said Smeaton. “With a single shaft and single seal, the drive unit is extremely advantageous to their operation.”

After WMFTG provided the company with a trial pump so it could assess its suitability for transferring soft cultured products, a Certa 250 was installed approximately 18 months ago. The customer has since expanded one of its facilities with the introduction of a new filling machine, for which a Certa 250 was specified, bringing the total number of units in use to 10 Certa 250 pumps.

Each is used for transferring different soft cultured products, either from IBCs to plant or from tanks to plant, or for pushing through pasteurisers. The pumps are also used for blending ingredients in various viscosities. In terms of transfer distance, the farthest is 20 m with a 4 m head. Flow rate tends to be dictated by other parts of the process.

“Previous PD pumps had always given our customer concern about wear parts, but with the MasoSine Certa this problem is essentially eliminated,” said Smeaton. “The customer reports that reliability is excellent and issues such as contamination or leaks are a thing of the past. In addition, issues with suction have been eradicated, while efficiency is improved.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/karandaev