How to Size a CIP System for a Dairy or Liquid Egg Plant
Published · 2 min read
CIP is the equipment most often bought too small. How to size tank volume, flow and the number of tanks from your circuits and cleaning window.
An undersized CIP system does not break down. It simply cleans inadequately — and the result appears weeks later as shelf-life complaints that get blamed on the pasteuriser, the packaging or the raw milk. That is why CIP deserves the same attention as the process equipment it cleans.
Size from circuits, not floor area
The figures that matter are:
- The volume of the longest circuit (tanks, pipework and equipment cleaned in one go)
- The flow rate needed to clean that circuit properly
- How many circuits must be cleaned in the same window
- How long that window is between production runs
The longest circuit sets tank volume and pump flow. The number of circuits and the length of the window decide whether one tank is enough or whether separate detergent and rinse tanks are needed.
Single-tank, two-tank or multi-tank
A single-tank system prepares each solution in turn. It is cheap and suits small plants with long cleaning windows. Two or more tanks keep detergent and rinse water ready, recover solutions for reuse and shorten each cycle — worth it once cleaning time starts limiting production time.
Manual, semi-automatic or automatic
Manual control is fine for a few circuits and trained operators. Automatic control records temperatures, concentrations and times for each cycle, which auditors increasingly expect to see. Semi-automatic sits between the two.
Dairy and egg: keep them apart
If one site runs both a milk line and a liquid egg line, a shared CIP circuit is technically possible but rarely accepted by food safety schemes because egg is an allergen. Plan separate systems or a properly validated changeover procedure.
Utilities to check
- Water quality and volume per cycle
- Drainage capacity for discharge
- Steam or electric heating for hot solutions — add this to your boiler load
Send us a list of the circuits you need to clean, the volume of the longest one and your cleaning window. We will size the system around them and tell you whether one tank will do.