Ice Pigging™

icepigging-slider-15 Manufacturing

Ice Pigging™ is a highly effective, innovative pipeline cleaning solution that uses a slush ice mixture to clean and clear unwanted contaminants, materials or remaining product from manufacturing pipework.

Ice Pigging™ employs the special properties of a multiphase ice and liquid mixture. This allows the ice to flow like a liquid and move like a solid. An additive in the ice is used to control the composition of the ice slurry allowing it to flow like a liquid. The ice slurry is injected directly into the pipe system via a normal process connection point. It can then be moved through the pipe network under pressure.

 

The Ice Pigging™ technology is highly flexible, making it suitable for a diverse range of products and manufacturing industries including aerospace, automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical, electronics, paint and coatings.

As part of a preventative maintenance regime, Ice Pigging™ can provide a solution for pipes that suffer from restricted flow due to product build-up and other unwanted materials, such as biofilm. Ice Pigging™ can remove highly cohesive and high viscosity materials that conventional water flushing will not remove.

 

Ice Pigging™ is a rapid process, achieving excellent cleaning results compared with conventional water flushing.

The process

When a factory pipeline is nearly ready to be cleaned, the factory operating system will call on the Ice Pigging™ machine (AQL500) which will prepare the ice for the Ice Pigging™ process. The additive used to make the ice may be salt, sugar, various types of acids or a process compatible material agreed with the customer.

A start signal is sent to the AQL500 Ice Pigging™ machine. The machine then injects the correct volume of ice for the selected recipe into the allocated production line. Upon completion, the factory receives a confirmation signal and can proceed to the next stage.

The Ice Pig™ must be propelled to the line end. This task can be achieved using several methods: water push, clean-in-place liquid push or even using the next product.

The Ice Pig™ along with unwanted contaminants, materials or product can be captured in a quarantine tank or ‘re-work’ tank or disposed of to a drain.

Low Risk: Exceptionally low risk – if ever the ice gets stuck, it will simply melt

Cleans: Greatly enhanced cleaning of complex pipework. Ice Pigging™ reduces product contamination by increasing the system cleanliness and reduces spoil

No-dismantling: Ice Pigging™ can remove materials and residues that have built up over time and may otherwise be impossible to remove without disassembling pipework

Cost: Overall costs can be significantly reduced as a result of time savings and cleaning efficiency

Environmental Benefits: Minimal volumes of water and therefore effluent are involved, compared with conventional cleaning

Example of Ice Pigging™ in operation

“Ice Pigging™ has proved to be a ‘game changer’ for us. Ice Pigging™ has now been adopted for other production sites,” Johnson Matthey

The Issue: A manufacturing customer making high value compounds had concerns about the time being taken to achieve the high level of clean they needed in their production lines. They wanted to reduce the long flushing times associated with water.

 

The Solution: An AQL500 was installed at their factory site to service multiple production lines. An AQL200D was added to provide the Ice Pigging™ cleaning service to an occasionally used production line in a neighbouring building.

 

The Results:

  • A much faster clean – from 8 hours down to 4 minutes
  • Unwanted materials removed from the production line
  • Exceeded the high-quality cleaning standards required
  • Significantly reduced downtime
  • Reduced water consumption
  • Improved production efficiencies

With a wealth of collective knowledge and practical experience, The Ice Pigging™ team have developed and delivered this award-winning, patented technology across a variety of sectors worldwide. If you want to know how Ice Pigging™ can solve issues with your pipework systems and processes, and make your cleaning processes more efficient, get in touch.

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