Lock-down unlocks fresh thoughts on plant cleaning

The exceptional set of circumstances provided by COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom has catalysed some insightful reflections upon the subject of pharmaceutical plant cleaning on the part of Britest's Rob Peeling.

Rob's "Eureka!" moment came upon him in a rather unlikely location: standing in front of a rather weather-worn garage door whilst struggling to get it sufficiently grime and grease free to apply a fresh coat of paint. From these humble beginnings Rob has gone on to develop a structured analysis of the driving forces at work in the most commonly used methods of process vessel cleaning, and to identify the nature and estimate the scale of the forces crucial to the success or failure of attempts to remove particulate deposits from vessels by either filling and stirring or jet wash (spray ball) cleaning.

Rob's analysis and conclusions, which present a challenge to certain aspects of received wisdom and practice when cleaning process vessels, are laid out in this highly readable white paper from Britest Limited, available to download without restriction.

     

Read more: Thoughts on effective pharmaceutical process plant cleaning: a practical home ‘experiment’ during COVID-19 lockdown