Holchem Laboratories Ltd – Micronics flowmeters pinpoint areas for major water savings in food factories
A Micronics Portaflow 330 was purchased in early 2015 by Holchem Laboratories Ltd and is regularly used to pinpoint areas to save on water usage in processed food factories across the UK and Ireland. Holchem, founded in 1982 are a market leading supplier of chemical cleaning solutions and often need to make rapid assessments of water consumption in different locations. For example, the Cranswick Group, one of the largest food producers in Britain who are committed to reducing their carbon footprint wanted to analyse water and chemical use on one of their sites. One of their key sustainability targets is water optimisation. Water is used in a variety of their processes, from blending product, producing ice to carrying out the hygiene of their factories. So they called in Holchem to assist. Using the Micronics unit, David Childs, Holchem’s Technical Service Manager was able to assess the total water use during the different stages of the cleaning and disinfection process at Cranswick’s Barnsley site. This identified points during the cleaning process where water and chemical optimisations could be made to help generate savings for site and help them achieve their Federation House Commitment (FHC 2020) targets of reducing their water consumption by 20% by 2020. To date, they have reduced their overall consumption by 14.6% and are now 75% towards their commitment target. Since the work was carried out, Cranswick have purchased their own Micronics flowmeter.
Crucial to their choice was the fact that the unit has the ability to monitor liquid flow velocities, liquid volumes per time and total water volumes. The Portaflow 330 can be used without having to cut into the pipes and, consequently very limited downtime is necessary, crucial in 24 hour operations. The device is very simple to use – there is no overhead for additional fittings, plant modification, or retro-fit expenditure. Also there is no contact with fluid so there is no risk of contamination of the process fluid and possible exposure of the monitoring equipment to corrosive or toxic liquids. David Childs is committed to using Micronics flowmeters. “The fact that the Portaflow is portable and can be easily transferred across a manufacturing site’s water supply system and used on various pipework diameters, providing instant readings as well as an ongoing total volume was key in our choice. We have used the Micronics unit regularly since December 2015 and will be purchasing more units, having found them to be very effective” . Similar work using the Portaflow 330 has been carried out with several of Holchem’s other customers.
For further information on this project or the Micronics range call Micronics on +44 (0)1628 810456, or visit www.micronicsflowmeters.com.
