Cadbury, Heinz and Coors are testing ultrasonic imaging technology to help identify fouled or damaged pipe work in their plants.
The firms, which are working with Campden BRI and TWI (The World Centre for Materials Joining Technology), hope the technique will enable earlier detection and repair work, extend the life cycle of materials and plant, and boost safety and efficiency, said Campden BRI’s Dr Gary Tucker. “The first part of the project is looking at fouling with fatty deposits, protein and limescale and the next bit will look at pipes that are cracked because of chloride-induced stress corrosion. This is quite an issue for salty products such as soy sauce or anything processed in heat exchangers and pumped through pipe systems.”
The system works by firing ultrasonic sound waves through pipe work and looking for attenuation of the signal, which would indicate damage or fouling.
While ultrasonic imaging is established in the oil and gas industry for detecting corrosion in long pipelines, it is new in food and drink processing, said Tucker. “We’re using smaller pipes and often working at much higher temperatures, so what we’re doing with this project is very much a proof of concept. It’s too early to talk about whether it can be commercialised in the food industry yet but it’s not cheap and you’ve got to generate the sound waves and have kit to analyse the results as well.”
Because it is impossible to see inside pipes, firms frequently use excess amounts of cleaning fluids and water to clean them ”just in case”, said Tucker. They are also reliant on detective work - looking for deposits collecting in filters or other signs of corrosion, or pressure drops that might indicate fouling, but it is not an exact science. While preventative maintenance regimes helped reduce downtime caused by problems with pipes, it was very difficult to predict exactly when things might go wrong, he added.