Facts At Your Fingertips
Clean-in-Place (CIP) Systems
Department Editor: Scott Jenkins
C
leaning equipment surfaces is
critical for processes involving
biological materials to prevent
microbial contamination. Clean-in-
place (CIP) systems play a key role.
In addition to preventing contamina-
tion, CIP systems also remove grit,
scale and organic matter, which may
affect process performance. This
one-page reference provides infor-
mation on CIP system equipment
and operating considerations for
bioprocessing facilities.
CIP equipment
CIP systems supply fluid to a spray
device inside the vessel, which sprays
the solution onto the vessel walls. A
variety of spray devices are available,
including static sprayballs and fluid-
driven orbital cleaners. Sprayballs are
high-flow, low-pressure devices often
used to clean tanks smaller than 15-ft
dia., while fluid-driven orbital cleaners
are low-flow, high-pressure devices
used for tanks greater than 15-ft dia.
Tanks. Tanks are typically construct-
ed from 304L or 316L stainless steel.
Internal welds should be ground
smooth and dead spots should be
minimized. Internal polishing of CIP
vessels is usually not required. Deter-
gent tanks should be equipped with
agitators to ease the preparation of
detergent solutions.
Pumps. There will likely be multiple
unit operations and tanks using the
same CIP solutions, but with different
flow and pressure requirements. To
address this situation, variable-speed
drives (VSDs) or parallel pumps (sys-
tems with different flows and heads)
may be used to meet the range of re-
quirements. Pumps are normally cen-
trifugal, often with VSDs. Net positive
suction head (NPSH) requirements
are an important consideration, due
to the elevated temperatures required
for some CIP fluids. Hydraulic losses
for spray nozzles and equipment
(heat exchangers, sterilizers and
more) need to be calculated based
on vendor information.
Piping. Key considerations of piping
design for CIP systems include the
proper design of CIP circuits, the abil-
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CIP supply FIGURE 1. In this typical
CIP system, CIP solution
ity to drain CIP lines, is sprayed into the tank
and the appropriate to clean internal surfaces,
segregation of the and is drained or pumped
through a separate CIP-
CIP system from return line
the process be- Process
vessel
ing cleaned. Ideally,
dead legs should be
no longer than two
pipe diameters, and
the overall system
should be designed Process
to drain completely. CIP return
Lines should be
sized for fully tur- CIP return pump
bulent flow. The
general practice is to have a velocity of the cleaning fluid.
range of 5 to 7 ft/s. All horizontal lines Pre-rinse. The primary objective of
should be sloped to a drain point, the initial rinse is the mechanical re-
and low points must be equipped moval of dirt. Water recovered from a
with drains. The minimum slope of later step in the CIP sequence is used
the pipe should be at least 1/16 in. for the pre-rinse step. The pre-rinse
per ft. Valve selection should avoid effluent stream may need to undergo
non-drainable conditions or crevices a bio-deactivation process before be-
that will not be cleaned. So-called ing sent for further waste treatment.
“clean” ball valve designs are avail- Detergent wash. This step involves
able for sizes 6 in. and less. For larger chemical cleaning to remove remain-
sizes, hygienic butterfly-valve designs ing dirt. The detergent solution is cir-
should be considered. The tie-in point culated through the system. The so-
between the CIP system and the pro- lution type and concentration should
cess should be either a block-and- be determined by plant experience.
bleed connection, or a line break. While a 2–4 wt.% caustic solution is
Instrumentation. Generally recom- commonly used in this step, an acid-
mended instrumentation for CIP pro- based detergent (or both) can also be
cesses includes the following: used, depending on the type of dirt or
• Visual sightglasses for CIP supply other contaminants present.
and return lines Water rinse. A once-through rinse of
• Temperature indicators on the caus- clean water is typically used, with no cir-
tic, acid and rinse-water tanks culation. This substantially reduces the
• Conductivity transmitters in the CIP amount of residual materials from the
supply and return lines detergent wash step. If no acid wash
• Temperature indication and control is used, this water rinse step becomes
on the cleaning solution heater the final rinse prior to either sanitization
• Temperature indication in the CIP or sterilization. The rinse water should
return line be collected for reuse as the pre-rinse
• Level indicators on all tanks fluid used in the next CIP cycle.
• Differential pressure indicators Acid wash. The solution used in
across filters and heat exchangers this step may be circulated in a loop
• Limit switches confirming position (similar to the detergent wash). This
of crucial valves step serves two functions: to neu-
tralize and remove any remaining
CIP operation caustic from the detergent wash
A typical CIP sequence includes the step; and to remove any hard-water-
following elements: scale deposits that may occur within
Process heel drain. A complete the process equipment. n
drain of the heel is needed to mini-
mize waste and avoid contamination Editor's note: The content for this column was adapted from Miley,
B., Riley, J. and Zelmanovich, Y. Large-Scale Fermentation Systems:
Hygienic Design Principles, Chem. Eng., Nov. 2015. pp. 59–65.
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