Water & Soft Drinks

Bottled water, sugar-free alternatives and energy drinks still lead the way in sector NPD and with a soft drink solution for every possible drinking occasion, there is a wealth of manufacturing diversity with each drink, their preservative and packaging systems requiring their own system in place to manage both microbiological and brand protection needs.

The non-alcoholic beverage market, typically containing carbonated water, a sweetener and flavouring agent, whilst potentially also containing caffeine or fruit juice has its own demands when it comes to true hygiene solutions.

High energy to low in sugar, functional to long life, carbonated or still, most of the cleaning associated with a water or soft drinks plant will involve cleaning in place (CIP). This type of automated cleaning makes the cleaning of vessels and pipework more effective and efficient. CIP systems can either be single use sets where fresh detergent solutions are used every clean or rinse recovery sets where the detergent solution is recovered to be used on a subsequent clean.  Pipework internals are cleaned by the turbulent flow of liquids along the pipework and vessels are cleaned by static or rotating spray heads in the vessel.

The external cleaning of fillers, conveyors across the process and packaging plant will, in the main, be undertaken using a medium pressure washdown system to foam, rinse and disinfect them.

Conveyor systems in these plants also require lubrication, which can either be dry or aqueous based. The function of a lubricant is to allow the conveyor track to run freely under packages. Lubricants also provide detergency to wash away any spillages and lubrication of drive bearing. Some lubricants also contain biocidal properties to prevent slime growth.