ABB helps clear plant production ice pigs for take-off 27 July 2011

ABB is supporting the development of 'ice pigging' technology that is set to revolutionise cleaning operations in food and drink, water, nuclear power and several other process industries.

ABB supplied all the flow, pressure, conductivity and suspended solids instrumentation, as well as PLCs, drives and low-voltage electrical products to help turn research at the University of Bristol into a working system.

Ice pigging inventor Professor Joe Quarini, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol, explains that the technique overcomes many of the drawbacks of conventional cleaning, by pushing a plug of icy slurry under pressure through pipes to remove debris.

Conventional pigging uses solid plugs, but these can get stuck and sometimes can't be used at all if the pipework is too complex.

In contrast, ice pigs can never cause a blockage since the ice would ultimately melt and drain away. The flow properties of ice pigs also mean they can also find their way around T-junctions, U-bends etc.

Following trials in the water industry last year, the Bristol engineers are now setting up pilot schemes in food production facilities.

"Conventional cleaning-in-place circulates water and caustic for tens of minutes, and the production plant is out of action for the whole time. It also generates vast quantities of contaminated waste water that needs treating," comments Professor Quarini.

"But at home you wouldn't try to wash a heavily contaminated bowl out by just rinsing it," he continues. "You'd scrape it out first, and that's what the ice does. Ice pigging could have a huge impact on reducing both the cleaning time and the amount of contaminated water generated."

Ice pigging is also expected to deliver more effective transitions between production runs, because the slurry can be used to separate different products during the switch. And because almost all of the material pushed out ahead of the pig remains undiluted by the ice, product yields may also increase.

"It may take time, but I expect ice pigging to become the standard way of cleaning pipes in a range of industries," states Professor Quarini. "These pigs will fly."

Brian Tinham

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