Relação entre a frequência de CIP e o consumo de vapor de um trocador de calor a placas em um processo de esterilização contínuo

Abstract

Plate heat exchangers are widely used in the industry for their high flexibility and good overall heat exchange coefficient. In the field of fermentation, these equipments have great application in continuous sterilization systems, acting in the heating and cooling of the culture media used for microbial growth. As a consequence of continuous operation, organic and inorganic molecules present in the culture media adhere to the surface of the heat exchanger plates, reducing their heat exchange efficiency, this process is called incrustation. Each fermentation process has its own nutrient formulation, making it difficult to predict and quantify this phenomenon. Cleaning practices must be implemented to prevent and reduce soiling levels on heat exchanger surfaces, thus reducing raw material consumption for heating and cooling. Given this scenario, the present work carried out a case study in a continuous sterilization system of a biotechnology company, correlating the impact of the frequency of cleaninplace (CIP) cleaning with the consumption of steam during the sterilization of the media. From real data on steam flow, steam valve opening and the costs of each raw material involved in the system, the current monthly cost of operation was estimated, where a CIP is performed every 24 sterilizations. Different scenarios changing the monthly CIP frequency were created to simulate the monthly costs with each raw material, reaching a financially optimal cleaning frequency of 1 CIP every 18 sterilizations.