Limescale protection first at Robinsons

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 8, 2004

Robinsons has installed the Hydroflow water conditioning system to prevent the build up of limescale on the heat exchangers of the pasteurising system on its Fruit Spring line.

Robinsons has production facilities in Norwich, which is an area of particularly hard water - a notorious production problem for drink and food manufacturers.

The factory has installed the Hydroflow water conditioning system to prevent the build up of limescale on the heat exchangers of the pasteurising system for the Fruit Spring line.

This is the first installation that the manufacturer Hydropath believes has been used to protect a water and product system.

Prior to the installation of the Hydroflow units, the Robinsons production team had to stop production lines and descale the heat exchange plates every two to three weeks.

This involved stripping down equipment and physically scraping off the limescale build up with chemicals.

This would take a full day and then involve a CIP (clean-in-place) and therefore amounted to a considerable production expense.

It was also not possible for the maintenance teams to always schedule this "service" at a convenient time such as weekends; occasionally the build-up would be so severe that the descale would have to be carried out mid-week and a day's production would be lost.

In an attempt to solve the production headache, Robinsons' Process Manager consulted Dr Fred Walker, water treatment consultant from Everett and Walker.

He recommended the Hydroflow physical water treatment system.

Hydroflow is a patented system that prevents the build up of all limescale deposits, including calcium carbonate.

Hydroflow works by emitting randomly varying electric fields throughout the system.

This enhances the precipitation of the bicarbonates from solution to suspension by introducing clusters of ions in the water to act as seed for suspended crystallisation.

The resulting suspension therefore does not adhere to pipework or internal surfaces, but is merely "washed away" with the flow and during blow down.

No other physical water treatment system operates in the same way as Hydroflow; it offers specific advantages such as treating the water both upstream and downstream of the unit.

Uniquely, it also protects standing water and is not dependent on water flowing past the unit.

Hydroflow is easily fitted to existing and new systems.

The choice of unit required is dependent on the size of the cold water feed and in turn, the size of the system to be protected.

Hydroflow requires connection to the electrical mains, but has low power consumption and the low operating costs will deliver payback in a very short period of time.

Because of the consistency of the problem prior to installation of the Hydroflow unit, the team at Robinsons knew within a few weeks that it was having the desired effect.

All that is now required is a routine inspection and clean every two months, without the need for an extensive descale.

Any residue that has built up is of a white powdery consistency and easily brushed off.

An added benefit for the consumers is that the calcium and magnesium minerals, which are naturally present in the water, are retained in the drink, offering nutritional benefits.

Richard Poyser comments: "Robinsons set very high standards for their products with stringent quality control systems in place".

"The use of the Hydroflow water conditioning system has improved production efficiency and helps us ensure the high quality beverage that we demand".