Tank Cleaning H&S Cleaning

Low Impact Cleaning Project

Reduced gas consumption through sustainable energy supply

At the H&S Group, we aim to minimize energy consumption in tank cleaning for the food and feed industry by optimizing current processes, leading to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. Our goal is to increase the use of sustainable energy sources, with the aim of minimizing reliance on fossil fuels.

The H&S Group

The Story Behind H&S

The H&S Group originated as a liquid food transport company and has evolved over the years into a leading European logistics service provider. They offer not only multimodal transport but also 3PL and 4PL solutions to clients. Instead of just being a carrier, H&S becomes more of a director of the entire supply chain, coordinating transport flows on behalf of the customer and employing various European carriers for this purpose.

In today’s increasingly complex business environment, producers have a growing need for external expert to fully control the logistics network. At H&S, this is managed through control tower solutions.

In addition, H&S has tank cleaning stations in the Netherlands and Bulgaria, with Filling growing rapidly. With specialized knowledge, they handle the repackaging of liquid bulk products into IBC, drum, or jerrycan, according to the customer’s wishes. In total, H&S has almost 80 years of experience in transporting, organizing, and processing liquid food throughout Europe.

Mission of the H&S Group

H&S’s mission is Safe Food, Healthy People. Food safety and personal safety are central to the customized logistic solutions that H&S offers its customers.

TBR has been approached to optimize the current processes in tank cleaning at the Barneveld location.

Cleaning

H&S Cleaning excels in ensuring quality, safety, and hygiene in line with food safety standards. Tanks and containers used in the food and feed industry are cleaned and disinfected, requiring water and energy. The cleaning process must adhere to stringent hygiene standards. H&S Group is certified for ISO22000 and GMP+ in the food and feed sectors.

Optimization

H&S Group aims to reduce its ecological footprint and emit as little CO2 as possible. They approached TBR to collaborate on sustainable energy supply and achieving this goal. In the initial stages, TBR conducted an audit to assess the process’s needs.

The audit results form the basis for optimization recommendations. TBR presented these results and suggestions to H&S. Considering growth ambitions and knowledge of current energy consumption and required energy demand, a decision was made to transition to highly efficient energy generation.

To optimize the process, several years ago, the decision was made to reuse energy from wastewater using a heat exchanger called HX EMS. All used water flows through this heat exchanger, capable of cooling warm wastewater and using this heat to warm incoming process water. The heat exchanger is self-cleaning, allowing placement in contaminated wastewater streams.

H&S has been working with TBR since 2011. In the past, an HX EMS heat exchanger was installed, recovering residual heat from rinse water, and H&S has had very positive experiences with it. In combination with the installation of the HG Zero Steam system, the previous HX EMS has now been replaced with an improved version where the residual heat is regulated through a control (PLC).

The recovered energy significantly reduces the use of fossil fuels to heat incoming water. Moreover, steam is no longer used to heat water, as it is an inefficient process for cleaning purposes. It is evident that using steam at 150°C for a cleaning process that only requires 85°C is a waste of energy and money. The use of HG Zero Steam is the most optimal solution to generate energy very efficiently for these cleanings.

Result

Through both optimizations for sustainable energy supply, the CO2 emissions are reduced by approximately 185 tons per year compared to the original process requirements.

Equipment

• HX Collector – Energy storage
• FWD – Water distribution set
• HG Zero Steam HW
• HX EMS
• HX ZS CONTROL incl. REMOTE SUPPORT – Remote assistance
• CFW CONTROL incl. REMOTE SUPPORT – Remote assistance
• Engineering
• Project guidance
• Turnkey Installation

Photos

Who is Involved

From H&S, Evan Rozendaal, Business Unit Manager, and Wim Schaap, Senior Advisor, are involved as the project leaders. Henk Klatter, as Senior Project Engineer, conducted the audit and provided advice. The engineering and installation were carried out by Project Engineer Marijn Boter.

Together, we are working on the sustainability of the tank cleaning industry!

For more information about this project, please contact:

Marijn Boter,

Project Engineer TBR Solutions