Companies in the pharmaceutical industry are facing challenges in handling chemicals due to environmental protection regulations and process-related requirements. Handling with the help of professional dosing systems offers safety.

In highly specialised industries such as the pharmaceutical industry, working with potentially environmentally hazardous chemicals is part of everyday life. The safe handling of these process-relevant substances, their reliable storage and precise dosing are indispensable for occupational safety and health, environmental protection and efficiency. For example, in the cleaning of pharmaceutical production facilities, professional dosing systems from Alltech Dosieranlagen GmbH allow operators to simultaneously fulfill their responsibility to control costs and ensure that processes run smoothly and efficiently over the long term.

Storage and dosing systems for acids and caustic solutions

Various acids and caustic solutions are used in cleaning processes and wastewater treatment. Alltech offers the mother tank and numerous variants of dosing stations for the storage and dosing of various chemicals. The mother tank is a storage system for the safe handling of standard chemotainers. The tank made of PE100 has a volume of 2 m³ and is equipped with top surface for stacking on IBC. The safety bund also holds 2 m³ and prevents environmental hazards in the event of a leak. Mother tanks are available with general building authority approval from Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt), in accordance with the German Water Resources Act (WHG).

The IBCs (Intermediate Bulk Containers) are positioned directly on the container with the help of a forklift or lifting device and completely emptied into it. The volume of the tank allows a new IBC to be emptied with a liquid reserve of 10-50 % in the container. This allows a continuous feeding of the dosing system within a wide timeslot. The dosing stations for acids and caustic solutions are equipped with the robust and proven FKM piston diaphragm dosing pumps. A new feature is the intelligent iReg control of the dosing pumps.

Alltech’s piston diaphragm dosing pumps are ideally equipped for a wide range of applications. They meet the high requirements for operational safety and reliability.

The dosing capacity of piston diaphragm dosing pumps can be achieved by changing two control variables. By adjusting the stroke length, the volume of hydraulic fluid displaced per stroke can be adjusted in the dosing piston. The stroke volume is adjusted linearly from 0-100 % during standstill or operation. In addition, the stroke frequency is modified with a second controlled variable, the motor speed.

This ensures a high adjustment range with an even more precise setting.

All dosing pumps of the type series FKM are equipped with a TÜV-tested overpressure protection integrated in the hydraulics as standard.

In addition, the new, intelligent control system also monitors overpressure/underpressure and a number of other performance parameters. The piston diaphragm metering pump independently regulates and monitors the specified metering quantity and the system pressure. All operating and fault messages are displayed, stored and reported digitally. It is also an option to communicate via Profibus/Modbus.

Dosing stations for acids and alkalis can be installed in a chemical-resistant protective cabinet with a transparent sliding door. This protects both the operating personnel and the production environment in the event of any splash leaks, while at the same time providing an unobstructed view of the dosing station.

On-site cleaning of the production facilities with acids and caustic solutions

For the CIP process (Clean In Place), acids and caustic solutions can likewise be used, which are added into the cleaning process with the aid of Alltech’s dosing stations. The required dosing capacities can be freely selected and correspond to the process engineering requirements. The dosing capacity can be regulated via the intelligent iReg control system.

“Our FKM piston diaphragm dosing pumps are not only convincing in terms of maximum dosing accuracy and thus the safe and economical use of chemicals,” emphasises André Martin, Managing Director of Alltech Dosieranlagen GmbH. “They are also more than 90 % recyclable and thus make an additional contribution to environmental protection.”

Neutralisation of process wastewater: safe and compliant with the law

Since living organisms in water can only exist within certain pH value limits, the pH value is an important parameter in wastewater treatment. Industrial water is often acidic or caustic and must be neutralised before being discharged into public waters. For the neutralisation of wastewater, Alltech has standard dosing systems and also develops project-specific solutions if required.

The chemicals commonly used are sulphuric acid or hydrochloric acid, caustic soda, milk of lime or soda ash.

Alltech offers solutions for storage and dosing systems, specifically tailored to the characteristics of the relevant chemicals and process requirements.

“Our aim in all applications is first and foremost to meet the individual requirements of our customers at the highest technical level with our products and at the same time to use our know-how in an ecologically sustainable way,” André Martin describes the company’s philosophy.