High pressure pump upgrades in food manufacturing
An investment in hygienic positive displacement pumps allows a leading European sauce manufacturer to upgrade its production lines, ensuring gentle product handling and improved hygiene across more than 40 operational sites.
www.alfalaval.com
Application area:food processing, positive displacement pumping
Industry sector: food and beverage manufacturing, sauce production
The client operates within the food and beverage sector, specializing in high-volume sauce production. The facility faced significant technical and operational hurdles with its existing progressive cavity pumps. Sauce formulations often feature high viscosity, delicate textures, and fragile solid particles such as small onion pieces, making them prone to shear damage during transfer. Furthermore, maintaining stringent hygiene standards required frequent and time-consuming cleaning cycles between batches, leading to unnecessary downtime and high maintenance overhead.
Objectives for facility improvement
Management established clear operational improvement goals prior to the technology upgrade. Key priorities included enhancing cleanability and hygiene to reduce sanitation downtime, preserving product integrity by preventing texture degradation during high-pressure transfer, and securing a stable, consistent flow rate from mixing tanks through to final filling lines.
Technical solution and selection criteria
The manufacturer selected the Alfa Laval DuraCirc positive displacement pump to replace its legacy equipment. To validate this choice, the company conducted rigorous multi-day trials at the Alfa Laval Application & Innovation Center, testing real-life recipes across two core applications: high-volume transfer from mixing tanks to buffer tanks, and controlled dosing into filling lines. The DuraCirc pump was chosen because it combines robust pressure capability with gentle product treatment, successfully handling variable viscosities ranging from water-like liquids to thick, particulate-laden mixtures without altering product consistency.
Deployment process and supplier support
The deployment involved a phased upgrade program coordinated closely between the customer, its system builder, and the equipment manufacturer. The system provider supported the client through comprehensive hands-on validation testing using the customer's own raw ingredients, ensuring complete performance transparency prior to purchase. Following the successful trials, installation of the new hardware proved highly efficient, with each of the 40-plus units fitted into existing piping infrastructure in less than two hours.
Quantifiable and technical benefits
Although specific monetary savings were not disclosed, the technical evaluation confirmed significant operational enhancements. The pumps maintained stable flow behavior under high pressure, protecting delicate food structures and ensuring uniform texture across large-scale batches and smaller runs alike. Outstanding cleanability between recipe changes significantly reduced sanitation turnaround times, while robust mechanical durability minimized potential spare parts consumption and unscheduled maintenance breaks.
Edited by Sucithra Mani, Induportals editor – adapted by AI.
www.alfalaval.com
