Electrol Specialties Company is best recognized by the Biopharm industry as a supplier of CIP skids and more recently as a supplier of process skids, fixed and portable.  

For nearly 40 years ESC was the preferred supplier of SINGLE TANK SINGLE USE CIP systems to three successive design/install engineering and marketing companies. These skids, and the associated control systems were designed to accomplish wash recycle of a vessel with only the water required to fill the CIPS/R piping, and a minimal puddle in the vessel being cleaned. These systems cleaned transportation,storage, and processing vessels in a "By-pass" mode; i.e., no solution flow through the solution tank. Tank (vessel) circuit balancing problems were totally eliminated by placing the CIP return and supply pumps in series for all program steps requiring recirculation. Line (process piping) circuits used the single tank for both the water supply reservoir for flushing and rinsing, and as the solution tank for recirculation of alkaline and acid solutions and air disengagement.

The benefits included minimal water, chemicals, and time required for filling the circuit, heating and discharging spent solution to drain, and most importantly, the control of chemical concentration which was achieved by making up the smallest possible volume of solution, and using it only once, thus cleaning every circuit in a facility with fresh solution. During the first 30 years of CIP there were no instrumental methods of verifying chemical concentration. The quantities of water, and times required, for pre-flush and final rinses are related to the type (vessel or line) and size of the circuit, and are hence equal for all variations of CIP Skids. As ESC began custom fabrication of CIP Skids to user specifications for the Biopharm user, every effort possible was made to retain the operating characteristics long enjoyed by dairy, food and beverage clients.  As these systems were introduced to the phamaceutical and biotech markets on applications requiring greater air disengagement capability, a modified system provided for return flow through the water supp/solution tank for all circuits, via tangential or spray based return flow entry to the solution tank.

The Single Tank By Pass (STBP) system originated by ESC can accomplish solution recycle with the absolute minimum volume of heated chemical wash solution possible as a tank of any size can be washed with only sufficient solution to fill the CIP supply and return piping, plus a minimal puddle in the vessel (as small as 1-2 gallons when properly installed vortex breakers are utilized.  When cleaning piping circuits, with return flow back to the solution tank, the unique conical bottom and leg configuration permits recycle at flows of 60-80 Gpm with only 10-12 gallons of solution in this tank, plus that required to fill the piping, as the circuit wash volume.

The Single Tank Tangential Return (STTR) skid can nearly match the minimal water requirements of the by-pass system while also enabling full time disengagement of air in the CIP return flow from either tank or line circuits. If facility water and drain flows match CIP flows, only a single tank is needed.  The photo on this page is of a STTR sytem capable of cleaning perhaps 85-90 percent of all the CIP circuits in operating biopharm facilities with which ESC is familiar.  The same operating concept can be achieved when a small solution tank is used in combination with a larger water tank when facility WFI or PW systems are inadequate to match flush and rinse flow rate requirements (See SUMT below).

Single Use Multi-Tank CIP (SUMT) skids may be fitted with a larger solution tank for applications requiring the added capability of single-pass cleaning required for absolute protection against cross contamination by possible product residuals on the CIP equipment. And, two water tanks if waters of differing quality are required by the CIP program.

ESC's flagship Single-Use Eductor Assisted (SUEA) skid has received substantial acceptance in large scale production facilities for it's superior ability to enable recycle with a minimal volume of wash solution, and also fast and complete evacuation of the total circuit after each phase of the program. The SUEA skid always requires a separate water tank, but one tank may serve multiple SUEA skids.

A variety of Portable CIP Skids have been fabricated to user requirements use in small scale production and product development facilities. These have been mostly single tank by-pass skids, fully featured in all other respects.

ESC also fabricates a complete assortment of Optional CIP System Components which are complimentary to the application of any of the above CIP skids.

In recent years ESC has custom designed and fabricated many types of Fixed Process Skids and Portable Process Skids. These skids feature the same quality engineering design and fabrication workmanship as the CIP skids for which the company is highly recognized.

Other pages on this site will describe the fixed spray devices, valve manifold assemblies, U-Bend transfer panels, and Control System Components and software that Electrol Specialties Company supplies to meet user specified requirements, or to support the engineering activities of it's Process Design Consulting group.