Ice pigging and cleaning batch reactor tank

[FamousLastWords]

Hi, hope this is the right forum for this, if not please kindly correct me

Context: Margarine and shortening factory. approx ~1000 litres line

I'm an intern researching possible ways on how to save money for the plant, If found feasible, I make a recommendation.
I identified ice pigging to recover more product from the production line as one possible avenue to do this. Current practice is to (after the production run is completed) flush reactor tanks and pipe lines with very hot water, circulate this water, flush dirty water, repeat with new/clean hot water and then flush again and blow the lines with nitrogen. Some of this effluent is remelted into crude oil and the bulk of it is sent to the waste treatment facility

Due to the small batch sizes I've estimated the potential savings is ~$200 per flushing event after only taking into account the electricity cost required to produce the ice slurry and assuming 80% product recovered. I guessed I need around 200-300kg ice to pig the 1000 litres line.

What I'm trying to find out is,
a) How much does the slurry ice machine cost approximately? I haven't been able to get a quote anywhere.
b) Do I need a storage tank to store the ice before use? or can I generate enough ice to flush the line on the fly? which is cheaper/easier sell?
c) There is an obsolete crystallizer/scrapped surface heat exchanger that was used to make margarine, now it's waiting to be sold or scrapped, is it possible to convert this to an ice slurry generating machine?
d)Does the ice only need to go through the line once? the line starts from the tank, goes around the production equipment and either ends at the filling station (close shut when flushing,) back to the tank, or to the purge line. Is it possible to run the ice/dirty ice through the tank and back?
e)How do I clean the tank? the ice slurry will pig the line, but won't clean the tank
f) can I reuse the waste ice/effluent for anything? cooling something? Cool what?

Ultimately, is ice pigging appropriate for this line given the circumstances? Or should I look into something else?

Thank you kindly

 

[BigInch]

Why use ice? Install a sphere launcher and receiver. Pump butter. Insert sphere. Pump water behind it until sphere reaches receiver. Stop.
Insert sphere behind water. Open water drain valve at the sphere receiver. Pump butter behind newly inserted sphere while water ahead of it is diverted out the drain near the receiver. When butter reaches the receiver drain, close the drain and remove that sphere.

 

[bimr]

Probably best to contact GEA as this is a new application and few have experience with it.

http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Innovations/This-pig-will-fly!-GEA-to-roll-out-ice-pigging-trial

 

[LittleInch]

What is the performance requirement from this cleaning. Using very hot water and Ntrogen sounds like you need to clean this pipe and leave very small amounts of material behind.

You can use gel pigs or other mechanical scrapers to remove 99.5%.

How does Ice slurry work better than the current method or a mechanical scraper method?

Making "slurry" will be difficult as the margins for error in terms of temperature are so low unless you start adding additives

for 200 - 300 kg you probably need to get a mix ready in one place

Most of your questions though are so site and system specific we can't answer then without seeing what you're seeing - not really possible in a internet forum, but post a few more details if you can.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[dicksewerrat]

Call up the closest"ice Pigging " equipment manufacturer for more info on the pigging process and costs.

Richard A. Cornelius, P.E.

http://WWW.amlinereast.com

 

[FamousLastWords]

Thank you for your replies, @BigInch
(Why use ice? Install a sphere launcher and receiver. )
ice require less modification to current piping, less "risk"? The pipeline itself has quite a few bends and branches of varying thickness (noone seems to know why) and I want to clean "all" the lines, including the insides of the scrapped surface exchanger that the margarine goes through, that's why I thought ice would be a good way to do this. Still leaves the reactor tank dirty though...thoughts?

@LittleInch
( You can use gel pigs or other mechanical scrapers to remove 99.5%.)
I don't know anything about gel pigs, do they need additional launcher and receiver like solid pigs? can they operate at standard/low pressure? I'm not aware of other mechanical scrappers, could you elaborate?

(Making "slurry" will be difficult as the margins for error in terms of temperature are so low unless you start adding additives)
salt/brine is a common additive for ice pigging, I think

(for 200 - 300 kg you probably need to get a mix ready in one place)
was afraid of this, having to stir the slurry so it doesn't agglomerate is an additional tank and agitator

(but post a few more details if you can. )
sure, like what?