German know-how – always in demand in China
Beer brewed in China is consumed in the USA – and to clean the tanks, disinfection technology from Germany comes into play. DULCO®Lyt 400 replaces peracetic acid, significantly reducing operating costs and offering protection against corrosion.
Tsingtao beer – a highly successful Chinese export
The Tsingtao Brewery Group occupies sixth place among the top ten international beer producers (as in 2014). With an annual production of around 78 million hectolitres from 60 breweries throughout China, it is the country's second largest brewery group. Tsingtao beer has been successfully exported since 1954, being distributed to the USA since 1972. Today it is the top-selling Chinese beer on the US market and one of China's leading export articles.
One of the group's subsidiaries, Shenzhen Tsingtao Brewery in southeastern China, produces approximately 400,000 hectolitres of pure draught beer every year. Until recently the company used peracetic acid to disinfect its tanks. As well as having a pungent odour, this highly concentrated chemical requires special handling and is expensive. So the brewery was looking for a technical solution that offered optimum disinfection, caused no corrosion and would substantially lower overall operating costs.
Key data:
- Annual production of 400,000 hectolitres of beer
- Brewery needed alternative to cost-intensive tank cleaning with corrosive peracetic acid
- New disinfection solution integrated in existing system
DulcoLyt 400 – the smart disinfection solution
ProMinent's Chinese subsidiary ProMinent Trading Ltd. suggested that the brewery replace the tank disinfection process that used 16% peracetic acid with an electrolysis system DULCO®Lyse . As a smart further development of ECA technology, this system cheaply produces a highly effective disinfectant, DULCO®Lyt 400 , in situ from water, salt and electricity. This weak hypochlorous acid delivers reliable disinfection and consistent quality with a constant FAC (Free Available Chlorine) content of 400 ppm even under changing conditions.
Since June 2014, Shenzhen Tsingtao Brewery has been able to use 2,000 litres of ECA water with a concentration of 400 ppm and 6,000 litres of water at normal temperatures to supply around 8,000 litres of ECA water with a concentration of 80 ppm. In a precisely timed process lasting just under 2.5 hours, the fermentation tank, storage tank and pipework system are rinsed with water, cleaned with lye and acid and then optimally disinfected with ECA water.
Cost reduction – mission accomplished
Replacing the 16% peracetic acid with cheaply produced DULCO®Lyt 400 from a modern electrolysis system paid off – without in any way compromising the effectiveness of disinfection. In contrast to comparable systems which often convert just 5% of the sodium chloride, DULCO®Lyse converts up to 85%. The extremely low chloride content of DULCO®Lyt 400 is also significantly below the level of comparable processes, which often contain more than 20 times as much chloride. This means that corrosion is reliably prevented.
This alternative disinfection process mainly reduces operating costs by eliminating expensive peracetic acid. In the application described here, Shenzhen Tsingtao Brewery achieves annual savings of up to 590,000 yuán (around €80,000). That's why other breweries in the group are already installing DULCO®Lyse systems of their own. All that remains to be said is: Cheers!