Portable CIP skids make sense when cleaning circuits are spread across a building and hard-piped systems no longer pay for themselves. This unit is built on a movable frame — casters or forklift pockets — so one system can serve a filler, a pasteurizer, and a pair of fermenters on the same shift.

A typical cycle runs rinse, caustic wash, intermediate rinse, acid wash when the soil profile calls for it, then final rinse. The pump pushes solution through the circuit at a set flow and pressure while the operator or PLC holds temperature and watches the return line. Return flow and conductivity tell you more than supply pressure ever will. If the pump is undersized for the longest loop and the largest spray ball, the gauge looks fine and the far end of the line stays dirty.

Tank configuration and capacity

Single, double, triple, or four-tank frames. A two-tank setup (caustic plus rinse) covers most beverage and dairy circuits; a third tank adds a dedicated acid or sanitizing stage. Size tanks so total volume lands around 1.5–2x the largest circuit — go smaller and the pump starts pulling air.

Where these units run

Dairy lines and silos, brewery fermenters and bright tanks, juice and beverage transfer lines, sauce and liquid food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical process piping. Cleaning recipes and any validation for your product remain with your QA team — we build the equipment, not the compliance file.

Heating, pumping, control

Steam through a plate or shell-and-tube exchanger is faster and cheaper to run if you already have a header. Electric elements suit a skid with no boiler nearby. Instrumentation is modular: temperature first, then flow, pressure, and level transmitters as the recipe demands.

Common questions

Can it move between rooms? Yes, within the limits of your power and steam connections. Long hose runs kill flow, so keep the skid close to the circuit.

Do I need a separate rinse tank? Only if your water quality or recipe requires it. Many plants rinse from a dedicated tank to avoid contamination.

What flow do I need? Work back from the furthest spray device and pipe diameter, not from the pump curve.

We build these skids in-house and support the engineering side — circuit layout, pump sizing, tank volume. Send your circuit list and pipe diameters, tank sizes, soil type, required flow and pressure at the farthest spray ball, available heat source, automation level, 304 or 316L, site voltage, and install location. We will come back with a configuration and a quote.