A major Midwestern salt manufacturing company needed to increase the production rate of free-flowing USP grade granulated salt. UPS grade salt is the highest purity salt used in medical applications. The product meets the rigid standards of the US Pharmacopeia (USP27-NF22). It is suitable for use in the manufacture of injectable dosage forms, peritoneal dialysis solutions, hemodialysis solutions, or hemofiltration solutions.
This customer already trusted the Meyer KIP II for this sanitary application. To meet increasing demand, the customer needed increased capacity. A simple speed change would not work. They reached out to Wm. W. Meyer and Sons and explained the system bottleneck they were experiencing at the valve which was decreasing their production by almost half. The Meyer sales team calculated that simply increasing the rpm would not be a solution. Pocket fill would decrease and the valve would undergo more wear than is necessary.
It was suggested that they go with a 12” Meyer Klean-in-Place II (KIP II) which is especially well-suited for this particular application in addition to industries such as pet food, baking, chemical, dairy, and pharmaceutical. The KIP II is designed for applications where frequent cleaning, sanitizing, or inspection of the bulk handling system is required and minimum downtime is critical. Its uniquely engineered features make it compliant with FDA, USDA, Dairy, and NFPA standards. The design, which incorporates two slide rails that provide stability using linear bearings, assures maximum support of the rotor while it’s pulled out so the valve can be thoroughly cleaned, sanitized, and inspected quickly and easily.
Having established the proper equipment, things then got a little interesting. Hoping to adhere to a tight, planned schedule for the replacement valve installation, the salt manufacturer needed to receive the valve in short order. Meyer sales, production, and shipping departments coordinated efforts to accomplish what seemed nearly impossible. With multiple updates per day, the customer was able to relay the status to his team which took all the guesswork out of planning for the downtime and installation. “We actually received the valve with a day to spare,” said the production engineer at the salt company. “The Meyer team was able to expedite delivery to one week. The install went smoothly and we’re up and running.”
