Dairy and juice plants usually come to us with the same problem: manual cleaning takes too long, uses too much caustic, and the results depend on who is on shift. A CIP unit fixes that by turning cleaning into a repeatable, monitored cycle instead of a manual job.

What the system does

A clean-in-place skid circulates heated detergent and rinse water through tanks, lines, fillers, pasteurizers, homogenizers, and heat exchangers without dismantling the process. A typical cycle runs a pre-rinse, an alkaline wash at 70–80°C, an intermediate rinse, an acid wash where scaling is a concern, and a final rinse. Conductivity sensors confirm that detergent concentration is where it should be, and a flow switch proves the loop is actually flooded before the pump runs dry.

Tank and skid configuration

Single-tank units suit small dairies and short runs. Two- and three-tank configurations separate caustic, acid, and rinse water so you are not dumping chemistry between cycles. Tank volume is sized from the wetted surface area of the largest circuit plus line volume, with a practical margin — undersized tanks are the most common specification mistake we see, and they show up as weak return flow and slow heating.

Heating, pumping, and control

Steam injection or plate-and-frame heating through a steam-to-water exchanger is common where a boiler is already on site; electric elements are simpler for smaller skids. Supply pumps are matched to the longest loop and the pressure drop across spray balls. Controls range from manual valve operation to a PLC with recipe storage, temperature and flow trending, and data logging for batch records.

Construction

Wetted parts in 304 or 316L stainless steel, with sanitary clamp or DIN connections. We fabricate tanks, frames, and piping in-house, so custom capacities, extra circuits, and skid footprints to fit an existing room are normal work rather than special orders.

Applications

Dairy receiving and processing, juice and beverage lines, breweries, distilleries, sauce and liquid food production, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical process equipment. Cleaning parameters should be validated by the user for their own product residues and regulatory requirements.

Technical specifications

FAQ

How do I size the tanks? Start with wetted surface area and total line volume. Share the piping diagram and we will run the numbers with you.

Can one unit serve several lines? Yes, with a return manifold and valve arrangement. Just confirm that circuits are not run simultaneously.

Do you supply the spray balls? We can, provided the tank drawings are available.

Request a quote

Tell us your industry and product, tank and piping details, required cleaning capacity, heat source, automation level, stainless grade, and installation location. With that, we can recommend a configuration and quote the skid.