New hygiene auditing strategies are helping ethanol plants maintain greater overall yeast health, decrease operational downtime and pinpoint the cause and location of issues faster. Two top service providers in the plant hygiene space share insight on how leading-edge hygiene protocol, along with high-level adherence to standard operating procedures, can transform the way ethanol producers mitigate infection and stay clean.Phibro Ethanol's name is virtually synonymous with antibacterial products and plant hygiene, having provided ethanol plants with solutions to optimize performance for many years. Despite an ever-evolving portfolio of products and services that are both advanced and practical, the Phibro team still relies on a motto that is simple. They call it the “3 Es.”According to Anne Chronic, director of market analytics for Phibro, the goal of the 3 Es is to control bacteria and keep a plant in a generally exceptional condition. She says enhancing yeast health should always be the first focus. Extensively cleaning a plant comes second. And eliminating bacteria is the third “E.”“Having a healthy yeast population is vitally important,” Chronic says. Because bacteria that impact the health of a yeast strain grow five to eight times faster than the yeast itself, the process of maintaining the health of yeast is, realistically speaking, a never-ending battle.Chronic often provides producer clients with an analogy that resonates, she says. Think of plant health and yeast performance like your lawn at home. When that lawn is in nice shape and well-manicured over time, it performs better against stress versus a lawn allowed to have bare patches. A healthy lawn allows less room for weeds to grow. In a neglected lawn, issues are more likely. The same concept applies to an ethanol plant. A biorefinery will perform better under stress (summer heat, bacteria, etc.) when it is well maintained over time. Phibro's Kinetx line of extremely robust yeast products help producers maintain consistency across the inherent stressful conditions present in fuel ethanol fermentations.“Overall plant throughput requires a commitment to the process of prevention,” Chronic says. “If you reduce overall fouling and deposits from the very beginning, you can reduce the chance of something forming.”Sounds simple, right? It can be, Chronic explains, but it requires strategy. Producers need to focus on more than just the frontside of the plant. Keeping backend processes healthy also helps eliminate overall downtime.Phibro’s team has created a blueprint for implementing strategies that work throughout the plant. They also have new tools, along with tried-and-true products, that work in conjunction with their strategies.Phibro Ethanol has developed and refined a Total Cleaning Program (TCP) for producers that is turnkey. It combines clean-in-place (CIP) with improvements to plant operational efficiencies. Because every plant is unique, Phibro’s TCP is customizable. However, each approach utilizes deposit-prevention tech along with advanced detergent rinse aids with CIP formulations.Phibro's TCP focuses first on reducing the rate and degree of deposit formation in ethanol plants with Phibro SI inorganic scale inhibitor and Phibro DC organic deposit control formulations.This technology is coupled with the application of PhibroClean detergent cleaner in pre-CIP rinse cycles, and the use of Phibro AC acid plus detergent for CIP to provide ethanol plants with a highly effective deposit control and CIP program.&nbsp;Phibro will work with lab managers and plant managers to develop an administering process for a suite of Phibro products. Or, plants can now automate the use of cleaning products. &nbsp;Automating Clean&nbsp; Chronic calls Phibro’s TCP automation system a game changer. The system utilizes a PLC-driven automated dosing and reporting system that delivers reliable, accurate and­ consistent application of Phibro's range of deposit control and CIP cleaning formulations. The &nbsp;system also provides a means for ethanol plant management to track chemical usage and overall CIP costs in real time.&nbsp;The PLC system controls multipurpose dosing skids that are capable of dosing at different application rates to multiple plant locations automatically, without the need for additional interaction or control from plant operators. This frees up plant personnel to focus on other plant operations while the system provides reliable and consistent automated dosing of deposit prevention and CIP formulations. The system can also include a VPN link to allow for remote access to the PLC control system, enabling remote technical support, performance monitoring and software updates along with Phibro's in-plant technical support.&nbsp;“The really nice part about the TCP automated process is that it reduces complexity,” Chronic says.Producers trying to manage the purchase and acquisition of multiple products from multiple sources can eliminate that hassle. The TCP automated system was built for multiple products that all have proven chemistries and work together. Phibro can customize the system per the individual plant, set up monitoring parameters and problem solve based on data.“If a producer comes to us and says ‘We &nbsp;are all over the map on our cleaning program,’ the automated system is a great option,” she says. Or, if they can’t seem to get their yeast health or overall plant throughput dialed in correctly during the summer or other common times of disruption, “we have solutions,” Chronic says, “automated or otherwise.”Good Hygiene Requires Good Data&nbsp;&nbsp; Prior to starting in ethanol around 2006, Chronic worked in brewing. Her food science degree has, in part, informed her work in ethanol production throughout her tenure at Phibro. She’s done fermentation analysis, brought production data more into the fold, and is now the director of market analytics. She does training, helps keep Phibro on the leading edge of technical content and provides insight for a self-paced online course called Ethanoledge.“I make it a priority to stay up on our technical content,” she says. “I also do most of our internal data management.”According to Chronic, the data is very telling. “The data shows, for us, that we can reduce deviation and improve overall performance,” she says.But to do that, ethanol producers need to know when, how and where to collect data. Fortunately, Phibro has specialized experience in that area. The company’s work with clients troubleshooting ethanol plant processes starts with the idea that data collection—whether its related to “dead legs,” fermenters or other high-impact areas of a plant—is extremely important for ethanol plant decision-making. The approach to sampling should be coordinated and consistent. Yes, it is good to have data about a specific sample location. But it is even better to be systematic and collect a series of samples throughout a process flow (from beginning to end) or across fermentation to understand each sample, at a specific time under a well-documented set of variables. It is easier to find issues, or solutions to issues, when data sample comparisons are true “apples to apples” scenarios.The process doesn’t all have to be done at once, Chronic explains. Some samples can be collected one day, and others later. They just need to be done with a goal in mind. Doing so will provide better data and, likewise, help service providers like Phibro get to the root cause of an issue—and prescribe a solution—sooner. Ethanol producers ready to get more strategic about their data and sample collection can work with Phibro to start mapping out a custom system.Hygiene Auditing Specialists&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Caleb Ogden, senior technical services manager for Lallemand, also works with ethanol plants on hygiene auditing. He has presented on the topic at industry conferences and possesses firsthand knowledge of how data monitoring and consistent auditing procedures can benefit a plant. Continuous monitoring is crucial to high-efficiency fermentation, he explains.&nbsp;For Lallemand, Ogden goes into plants and manages trials, optimizing and leading hygiene audits. The team looks at process parameters and standard operating procedures, or SOPs, &nbsp;for cleaning across the facility. On the hygiene front, they utilize bacteria analysis, including borescopes in isolated pipes, to find biological film and other organic material that might be built up. They also use thermal imaging to detect heat differentiation on the fermenter shell during CIP to verify CIP solution coverage.”Along with those steps, the audit team looks at prime trouble spots like mash coolers and heat exchangers. If a big problem shows up downstream of the heat exchangers, they use microscope technology to diagnose further. The audits also include discussions with plant operators and management to determine if cleaning processes are optimally placed (more on that later).&nbsp;After the audit, Lallemand can provide a full suite of antibiotics that are proven and effective for a range of issues related to fermentation bacteria management, coproduct integrity and other considerations. In some cases, plants have worked to wean their hygiene control methods away from antibiotics to target markets that put a premium on products that can guarantee the absence of antibiotics. But at the end of the day, antibiotics work and are proven, Ogden says, and most plants rely on them to safely provide consistent, reliable results.The Importance of Self Auditing&nbsp;&nbsp; It is crucial to regularly measure and verify the effectiveness of an ethanol plant hygiene regimen, and that starts with self auditing. The audits need to look at the data collection and measurement tools being employed at a facility. This should include the calibration of measurement tools in both the lab and process.“I go back to these areas all the time because I see issues there so often,” Ogden says. “You can’t separate process parameters from the success of plant hygiene. You have to consider everything.”&nbsp;Ogden stresses the importance of regularly checking the operability of temperature probes and transmitters throughout the plant. They don’t need to be checked every day, but a regularly scheduled verification is important. As a former lab technician, Ogden knows how important the tools of data collection are, and how time consuming it can be if someone questions the results from the lab, requiring lab personnel &nbsp;to check their equipment to provide certainty.When Ogden’s team performs a hygiene audit, they include an extensive list of findings. Often, the process-related issues are prominent and clear, along with the need for certain antibiotics.&nbsp;“No matter the situation, stress reduction at the plant that results from hygiene related solutions almost invariably leads to improved monetary return, which is important given the increasing input costs ethanol facilities are facing,” he says.Author: Luke Geiver&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Contact: writer@bbiinternational.com&nbsp;

2023-12-06 - Watching Over Plant Hygiene (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

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Specialized hygiene strategies, increasingly layered with automation, are helping today’s ethanol plants stay healthy. Consistent, accurate monitoring is the key.   

Watching Over Plant Hygiene

Watching Over Plant Hygiene

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Watching Over Plant Hygiene