Dairy plant cuts costs by over $60k by switching from water pasteurization to Hydro-Optic Disinfection

Upgraded dairy plant

Atlantium technologies successfully inaugurated its new Hydro-Optic Disinfection (HOD) system when it replaced a dairy plant’s conventional water pasteurization system. The installation of the PR-20 unit — a specialized HOD product for applications demanding highly aseptic water — effectively cut the plant’s operating costs by over $60,000. The plant uses 25 m3/hr of highly sterile water 12 hours a day, 300 days a year. Significant cost reductions were due to two main factors – a precipitous cut in electricity and fuel oil consumption (typically required for steaming in flash pasteurization), and reduced labor hours previously devoted to servicing the production line. An additional benefit was a reported longer product shelf-life.

The Food & Beverage industry requires sterile water mainly for rinsing and cleaning components to maintain a sterile environment, generally involving the use of sterile filling chambers; and for mixing with concentrates to produce juices, flavored water-based drinks, and so on. Modern installations employ a variety of disinfection methods to achieve sterile water, the most common of which is heat pasteurization. This method is based on the germicidal heat-energy applied to a unit volume or a unit surface (heat-transmission multiply by the contact-time).

Atlantium has developed a large-scale system that changes the paradigm of traditional disinfection methods. Based on its innovative HOD technology, Atlantium’s PR-20 unit achieves high-performance, environment-friendly, primary water disinfection, with unmatched reliability and cost effectiveness. HOD combines UV technology with fiber-optic principles such as “Total Internal Reflection” that yield continuous high log reduction. The HOD system’s cost-effective performance and small unit footprint translate into a tenfold reduction in operating expenses. The heating and cooling processes used in flash pasteurization, on the other hand, tend to consume significantly more energy, and add up to considerably higher maintenance costs due to system complexity. A third party validation of the HOD system for water sterilization application showed a > 9 log reduction at only 50% of the HOD unit’s maximum output.

Atlantium's HOD technology exploits the power of the high-intensity, medium pressure UV lamp and implements it within an innovative out-of-the-water lamp configuration. By separating the electrical mechanism from the wet chamber, it eliminates the threat of mercury contamination in the water, avoids electrical hazards, reduces potential heating of the water and minimizes fouling and deposits. This separation also removes the traditional intensity constraints on lamp power so that HOD technology doubles the usual germicidal and light intensity per centimeter.

Accurate control and monitoring is achieved by dual sensors, each of which independently track performance in real-time. One sensor directly measures lamp output for accuracy, while the second sensor monitors water UV transmittance to provide precise feedback for light intensity control. Readings from the sensors are fed into a sophisticated control system that optimizes dosage and minimizes power consumption. The system adjusts its UV-output and power consumption dynamically, according to flow rate and water UVT, as well as according to a set of user defined min/max thresholds.

Atlantium’s HOD technology provides advanced water disinfection solutions to a variety of industries and applications enabling water-intensive operations to fully meet today’s regulatory, operational and environmental safety challenges. Atlantium's HOD technology has proved its applicability in areas demanding for disinfection-power, reliability and dependability.
The system’s extraordinary disinfection results and its reliable and cost-effective operation has led some large multinational food processors to explore Atlantium's solution with a view to replacing both their water purification and pasteurization systems, truly revolutionizing the way water disinfection is done today. For more information, visit www.atlantium.com