Brecon Hills, nr Swansea United Kingdom, November 2006, Danone, the worldwide manufacturer of food and beverage products, is using Parker Hannifin's innovative NitroSource nitrogen generation system to produce a consistent and controllable supply of nitrogen on-site.
The nitrogen supply is used as part of a transfer mechanism to provide an inert blanket. Perhaps most importantly, the use of the NitroSource system has enabled Danone to blanket water storage vessels in order to prevent bug growth and hazardous chemicals for fire prevention
Danone is the leader in the beverage industry with worldwide brands such as Volvic and Evian along with UK brands including Green Valley as well as a new range of flavored beverages under the brand of Shape aimed at reinforcing the healthy lifestyle ethos which Danone promotes. The Brecon Hills manufacturing facility processes 18, 000 bottles per hour through the plant, with a six man team operating the machinery per shift.
The NitroSource system is based on Parker Hannifin's hollow fibre membrane technology, which separates air into nitrogen and an oxygen-enriched air stream. The system comprises a main unit that can be expanded with the addition of a further five subunits and, thanks to a master/slave feature, up to 11 main units and their associated subunits can be combined and controlled as if they were one.
Equipped with a digital data management system, parameters such as flow, pressure and residual oxygen concentration can be monitored, stored and communicated to other devices or control systems.
The system provides Danone with a range of benefits. These include eliminating the inconveniences and costs of cylinder gas as well as the reliance on external deliveries and outside vendors. This, in turn, means that the storage space and costs involved with cylinders are removed, long term cost stability is assured and - just as importantly - users can control their own supply by providing the volume and purity required. Reliability and robustness are also essential - as this application demonstrates.
Nitrogen is a crucial component in Danone’s safety and process systems and, until recently, the company was purchasing considerable volumes of liquid nitrogen each month from a bulk gas supplier.
Stephen Lake, Engineer at the Brecon Hills plant, explains that, 'Although the gas supplied was of a high quality, there was always the potential for a disruption in deliveries and with NitroSource the hassle factor has been eliminated from the process. Of greater importance is the fact that we are under increasing pressure to reduce our operating costs without affecting the standard of service or range of drinks that we provide to our customers'.
By installing an on-site generation system, Danone has been able to take control of the supply, quality and cost of the nitrogen required for its various production processes. As Stephen Lake points out, 'Using the NitroSource system means that we can choose when and how we generate nitrogen without affecting the quality of the gas'.
'In addition, the system has helped us reduce our gas operating costs, with payback on the unit being achieved within 12 months'. Total costs per year excluding the initial one-off investment have been reduced from £24,525 to £912’
The Parker membranes are up to 100 times more permeable than competing devices, which enables the pressure and feed temperature of the compressed air stream to be lowered to 6 bar at 20C, thereby minimising energy consumption, reducing capital cost, and extending operating life.
The NitroSource system is supplied as a compact, fully integrated unit, complete with oxygen sensor, flow meter and all connections. The NitroSource capacity to produce nitrogen can easily be extended by the addition of extra membrane modules.
Stephen Lake comments that, 'We were able to start using the system almost from day one, while the facility to expand the output capacity means that we can easily increase our production volumes as and when required'.
A further important benefit of NitroSource is that the unit has a small footprint and requires minimal maintenance; similarly, the in-built digital data management feature enables us easily to monitor, store and communicate parameters such as pressure, flow and residual oxygen concentration to our overall process control systems.
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For further information contact Charles Harris, Parker Hannifin UK Ltd, Hermitage Court, Hermitage Lane, Maidstone, Kent. ME16 9NT. Tel: 01622 723300. Fax: 01622 728703. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Web: www.parker.com
With annual sales exceeding $8 billion, Parker Hannifin is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of commercial, mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. The company employs more than 50,000 people in 46 countries around the world. Parker has increased its annual dividends paid to shareholders for 49 consecutive years, among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in the S&P 500 index. For more information, visit the company's web site at http://www.parker.com, or its investor information site at http://www.phstock.com.
