Washing
As cleanliness is a main priority for the pharmaceutical manufacturer, an
important feature of any IBC system is the ability to wash containers to a
consistent, repeatable standard, both externally and internally.
An
extensive selection of washing systems has been created to suit the diverse
needs of the market – and to minimise production downtime. These range from
simple internal wash systems to fully automatic washing, drying and cooling
booths.
Buck Valve Washing
Whilst it is important to handle and
transfer powders in a contained way to prevent operator exposure to product, it
is of equal important to be able to wash the IBC and the containment valves in
place without the need for operator intervention to strip and clean the valve.
Any system that relies on the operator to remove a contaminated valve for
cleaning will directly expose the operator to the product. All the Buck IBCs
and their passive valves are designed to be fully cleaned in place (CIP) within
the Buck Wash Station.
CIP of the Passive Valve is achieved using the Buck
Wash Active Valve. The wash valve assembles are mounted in the top and bottom
of the booth to wash inlet and outlet passive valves of the IBC. The wash
valves assemblies automatically dock with the Passive Valves on the IBC and
open the valve, allow for the main wash nozzle to be inserted into the IBC and
for the wash water to drain away. The unique cruciform wash disc allows
coverage of the external face of the passive valve, whilst the dirty internal
face is cleaned using strategically placed wash nozzles.
The Active Wash Valves can easily allow 'Internal Only' washing of the IBC.
The IBC can be loaded onto a wash stand, and the Active Wash Valves are docked
in the same way. Wash water is contained within the system. With the
containment valves of the system preventing the contamination of the external
surfaces, clients now have the opportunity to remove the wash booth that
provides the external washing, saving on upfront capital costs, space and
ongoing maintenance costs.
Wash Halo
The external washing of the IBC is
carried out using the Buck Wash Halo. The Wash Halo was developed to further
improve the washing efficiency of the system, as well reducing the water
consumption of the system allowing for reduced running costs.
The Wash Halo
offers many advantages of the more traditional static gallery of wash nozzles.
The Wash Halo consists of two rings of nozzles; one for water and one for
compressed air. The Wash Halo oscillates up and down around the externals of
the IBC; by stopping at difficult to clean areas such as the flat baseframe of
the IBC, the cleaning action is concentrated where it is most needed. The
compressed air blast at the end of the wash cycle will allow the standing water
on flat surfaces to be moved, allowing for a reduced drying cycle and improving
the through-put of the system
Wash Media
Water is delivered to the wash booth from
the system's 'Fluid Handling Unit' (FHU). Depending on the available utilities,
the FHU can select between potable (towns) water or pure water, boost the
pressure of the water upto 12 Barg, and heat the water upto 85 degrees. Upto 3
different detergents can be added to the cleaning water.
Drying is carried
out using a dedicated 'Air Handling Unit' (AHU) delivering hot filtered air to
the booth.
Instrumentation is included for both the FHU and AHU to monitor
the media and to provide closed loop control to the parameters set in the wash
recipe, allowing for a fully validatable wash system
BuckWare - Process Control
The 'BuckWare™ EW' control
system is the economy ‘E’ Series controls package based on a PLC and HMI
platform.
The control system can be upgraded to the 'X' series SCADA
control, based on a PLC with a (touch-screen) PC. 'BuckWare™ XW' is a fully
batch orientated control software based on the ISA S88.01 standard for
automation of batch process, designed to be compliant to the FDA 21 CFR Part 11
guideline. Process automation offers fully manual operation, recipe handling,
automatic operation, batch handling, batch reporting and alarm reporting.