Chemical Engineering February 2017 - 20

Madison Chemical Co., Inc.
FIGURE 2. To address cleaning stainless-steel process equipment, ReStore Kit provides a combination of
several cleaning and surface-preparation products that are suitable for many chemical and food-processing
cleaning, surface preparation and passivation applications
You want control of the chemicals
you are working with and processing.
They shouldn't be in places
where they aren't
supposed
to
be for safety and quality reasons.
Housekeeping and cleanliness are
extremely important and should play
directly into the whole ethos of the
company. A company that keeps
its facility clean and safe for its employees
is also likely to make highquality
product. "
Not only is it important to focus on
keeping the facility clean in order to
be safe, but what needs cleaning up
and what's being used to clean it are
Rite-Hite Door
also important considerations. " It has
been well established that if areas
aren't clean, they will quickly create
an unsafe work environment, but it
is equally important to understand
the risks and limitations of the equipment
that you are using to clean up
areas, especially in a chemical processing
facility where there are hazardous
materials and combustible
dusts, " warns Brian Farno, applications
engineering manager with Exair
(Cincinnati, Ohio; www.exair.com).
" If you aren't using the right tool for
the housekeeping task, you may be
increasing the risk and adding to the
recipe for an accident. "
Vortec
Keeping process areas clean
Nowhere is selecting the right tool for
the cleaning job of higher importance
than on process equipment, says
Delaney. " If processors are using
outdated tank-cleaning systems like
a static spray ball, they aren't cleaning
effectively. This means that at the
end of the CIP [clean-in-place], processors
are sending their employees
into tanks to spot clean the areas
that aren't being properly reached,
and that's just dangerous, " he says.
" We tell our customers, 'If you know
a better cleaning method, one that
will allow you to avoid sending people
into the tanks, you owe it to your
employees to use it.' "
He says not only is there safety
risk associated with employees
physically climbing into and out of
tanks, but also there are often dangerous
fumes and CO2 levels associated
with the materials being processed
that can harm or kill people
inside a tank. In order to increase
the cleanliness of tanks and reduce
the associated safety risks, he suggests
updating from old-school
static spray balls to a more modern
tank cleaning method, such as rotary
spray heads or more advanced
impingement cleaning
systems.
Besides reducing the need to send
personnel into tanks, Delaney says
there will also be a boost in product
quality and efficiency.
FIGURE 3. LiteSpeed HZ high-speed door is UL
listed for hazardous-rated environments. The door
has a Class II, Division 2 listing from UL, carrying
a Group Code G and Temperature Code 6, which
means it can safely operate in facilities where
combustible dusts such as flour, grain, wood,
plastic or chemicals are not normally in the air but
can be present
20
FIGURE 4. The Dual Force Vac Drum uses Vortec
technology, which is a two-way, air-powered drum
pump that can fill or discharge a 55-gal drum in 2
minutes. It can handle viscous liquids to 1,500 cP,
as well as chips and particulate, making it suitable
for cleaning solvents, hydraulic oil, liquid spills,
liquid transfers and more
" The main factors associated
with cleaning are time, temperature,
chemicals used and mechanical action, "
he explains. " When you increase
any one of those four forces,
the others have to decrease. For example,
making the move from a static
spray ball to a rotary spray ball will increase
the mechanical force by 30%,
which will decrease the other factors
by the same amount. This allows you
to clean the tank in less time with less
chemicals and lower temperatures. "
He adds that impingement cleaning
devices, also known as rotary jet
heads, increase the impact by upwards
of 70%. " If a spray ball takes
and hour, the impingement cleaning
system will take 8 minutes. What
can you do with 52 extra minutes of
process time? "
In addition to the time saved, the
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FEBRUARY 2017

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Chemical Engineering February 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering February 2017