Product category:
Separation and Membrane Systems
News Release from: Alfa Laval | Subject: BRPX 617SFV
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 12 September 2005
Centrifuge module adds the final polish
to Stout
Alfa Laval has completed the installation of a complete system for clarifying Stout at the Diageo Guinness brewery in Waterford, Ireland
Alfa Laval has completed the installation of a complete system for clarifying Stout at the Diageo Guinness brewery in Waterford, Ireland Based around a BRPX 617SFV solids-ejecting centrifuge, the installation also comprises a process module, a service module and a waste yeast pump linked to and controlled by a panel incorporating a Siemens S7-400 with an OP270 operator interface which provides direct communication with the brewery main operations control centre
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 1 Oct 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The BRPX 617 SFV centrifuge at the heart of the installation has a hydro hermetic seal device on the product inlet and outlet to ensure oxygen from the atmosphere is prevented from entering the product.
The BRPX 617 centrifuge is designed to eject solids from the centrifuge at differing intervals determined by the amount of yeast being fed to the machine in the product.
It provides throughput rates of up to 460 l/h and can remove suspended solids down to 0.5 micron from a liquid with a lower specific gravity than the solids to be removed.
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Central to its efficiency is a unique feed system which, combined with the hydro-hermetic design, ensures very gentle product acceleration inside the centrifuge bowl with minimal shear effect.
This system ensures there is no carbon dioxide loss from the product.
The high level of separation efficiency is provided by the machine's carefully designed internal geometry.
Product, in this case beer, enters the machine through a top feed system and a distributor accelerates the beer flow just prior to it entering the separating disc stack inside the rotating bowl.
Here the liquid and solids phases are separated and the liquid phase exits the top of the bowl via a centripetal pump under pressure while the yeast solids collect at the bowl periphery.
The collected solids are discharged into a cyclone where they are decelerated.
The yeast then drops to the bottom of the cyclone and into a positive displacement pump attached to it.
The solids are then pumped away to drain or to a yeast recovery plant.
Since this takes place under totally enclosed conditions, the pumping is foam free.
The centrifuge is supplied with a cooling jacket around the rotating bowl and around the solids collecting cyclone.
This ensures the product temperature rise over the centrifuge is kept to a minimum, around 1C or below.
The jacketed system also keeps the running noise of the machine to a minimum, typically below 79 Db(A) measured one metre from the machine.
The centrifuge is controlled by a central computer that monitors the inlet feed which in turn controls the flow to the machine to ensure the centrifuge bowl is not overloaded with yeast.
The amount of yeast within the bowl is constantly monitored by an electro-pneumatic device that gives a signal to the computer when a fixed amount of yeast has collected in the bowl regardless of flow, time, or solids loading.
Once the designated amount of yeast is detected a further signal is sent to the centrifuge bowl hydraulic device which momentarily opens the bowl, discharging the collected yeast from the rotating bowl into the yeast collecting cyclone fixed to the side of the machine.
According to Mr Robbie Heffernan, Engineering manager, Diageo Waterford Brewery, "The Alfa Laval system has been working for some time now and has certainly contributed to improvements both in our productivity and product quality.".
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