Stainless Steel Awards 2008

Runner Up - Student Awards

Sergio Vieira
Project : Design & Manufacture of CIP (Clean in Place) Unit

The runner-up for this year’s Student Award is Sergio Vieira, an engineer at Chaswill Process Technology in Cape Town. While completing his B-Tech at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Vieira was involved in the construction of a portable clean-in-place (CIP) unit. The unit was subsequently purchased by Nestle in East London, where it is used to clean their tanks and pipe lines.

CIP units are used in factories to clean the inner parts and surfaces of equipment. The CIP unit pumps heated water and special chemicals into the tanks and pipes that are to be cleaned. After a number of pumping and purging cycles, the equipment is thoroughly cleaned and sterilised. This process is essential for industries where the same equipment is used to process different substances.

At Nestle, the unit is used to clean their tanks and pipes after a batch of chocolate has been produced and a different type of chocolate needs to be processed.

Some industries have dedicated CIP plants in their factories. This would not be entirely suitable for the Nestle factory explains Neil Smith, Project Engineer at Nestle. A portable CIP unit makes it possible to clean one set of equipment and then move on to another set of tanks and pipes, which might be located on the other side of the factory. “The unit has been successful in our plant,” says Smith. 

Grade 304 stainless steel is used in the construction of the unit. Stainless steel is appropriate because it will not contaminate food products and it is resistant to the corrosion that might develop in other metals. The CIP unit was designed and automated by Chaswill Process Technology and is unique in the food and beverage industry. The engineers and designers at Chaswill have made this unit smaller and more efficient than its predecessors, explains Vieira.