Pasteurization vs UHT: How to Choose Milk Heat Treatment for Your Market
The choice between pasteurized and UHT milk is decided by your distribution chain, not your budget. A practical guide for new dairy plants.
Dairy Equipment
CIP Cleaning Systems
A CIP system is sized to the circuits it has to clean, not to the floor area of the plant. The relevant figures are the volume of the longest circuit, the flow rate needed to clean it properly, and how many circuits have to be cleaned in the same window.
Overview
What decides the result
This is the piece of equipment most often bought too small. An undersized CIP unit does not fail — it just cleans inadequately, which shows up weeks later as shelf life problems that get blamed on something else.
Equipment in this category
Standard construction
- Single-tank, two-tank and three-tank skids (acid, alkali, hot water) on one stainless frame
- Heating coils inside the tanks to reach cleaning temperature
- Sanitary CIP supply pump sized to the flow your longest circuit needs
- Manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic control with PLC and touch screen
- SUS304 stainless steel on all product contact surfaces, polished to Ra 0.6 μm, argon-shielded welds
Built to order
Single-tank and multi-tank CIP skids are built to order, with manual, semi-automatic and automatic control. Send us a list of the circuits to be cleaned and your production window.
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CIP Cleaning Systems built in our workshop
Where the CIP station goes in a plant
Central position
Because it has to reach every tank and pipe, the CIP station is usually placed near the middle of the line, between processing and filling. That keeps supply and return pipes short and saves both cost and cleaning chemicals.
Separate circuits, same window
Raw and pasteurised sides are cleaned as separate circuits. If several circuits must be cleaned in the same short window, a multi-tank automatic skid pays for itself in labour and water.
What automatic control adds
Automatic CIP holds temperature, concentration and time for every step and records it — the evidence food safety auditors ask for. Manual CIP works, but depends on the operator doing it the same way every time.
Where this equipment fits in your line
Engineering guides
How to Size a CIP System for a Dairy or Liquid Egg Plant
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.
Starting a Liquid Egg Plant: Capacity, Yield and the First Equipment List
Work back from your egg supply, not forward from a machine rating. How to size a first liquid egg line and which stages buyers most often forget.
Information we need to quote
- Which circuits need cleaning, and what is the volume of the longest one?
- How many circuits have to be cleaned in the same window?
- What is your available cleaning window between production runs?
- What water quality and drainage do you have on site?
- Local voltage and frequency?
Questions buyers ask
How is a CIP system sized?
From the circuits it cleans. The longest circuit sets the tank volume and the flow rate; the number of circuits and your available cleaning window decide whether one tank is enough or whether separate detergent and rinse tanks are needed. Floor area is irrelevant to the calculation.
Can one CIP system serve both a dairy line and an egg line?
Technically yes, but most food safety schemes will not accept a shared circuit between two very different products because of the allergen and cross-contamination risk. If you run both, plan for separate systems or a properly validated changeover procedure.
One-tank, two-tank or three-tank CIP?
One tank suits small plants that mix each solution fresh. Two tanks hold alkali and acid ready to use. Three tanks add hot water for rinsing and are the usual choice for plants that clean several circuits a day.