PCI provided engineering and construction management services to upgrade Mead Johnson Nutritionals’ Liquid Corn Syrup Receiving Facility located at the Evansville Supply Center. The facility is used to receive and store 120ºF liquid corn syrup with a viscosity of 7,000 centipoise, and distribute it to each of the processing centers.

Prior to retrofit of this system, the piping and tanks were cleaned only annually. The cleaning process was labor intensive and sometimes required pump transfers from one tank to another to manage tank inventory. When the system was cleaned, all tanks had to be taken out of service, thereby requiring the cleaning to be timed with a plant shutdown.

The existing system comprised of five 4,700 gallon storage tanks, a CIP unit, and an extensive system of stainless steel piping, valves, and pumps. The facility was completely retrofitted to improve cleaning ability and overall system performance

Each of the pumps in the system and most of the sanitary stainless steel piping was removed and replaced. A 40” x 94” flow panel was installed in the tank storage room and diverter valves were added at each storage tank to allow individual cleaning without interrupting use of the adjacent tanks for production. Variable speed controlled pumps were installed at each tank to replace the existing fixed speed agitation pumps and improve control of product delivery while maintaining a uniform agitation rate.

The valve cluster was replaced with a cluster that allowed cleaning with one flow stream. A dedicated CIP line was also added that allows independent cleaning of the cluster and distribution systems.

A new piping heat-trace and insulation system was designed to replace the original system which had failed due to age and poor design. The controls system was upgraded and HMI interfaces were added in the liquid receiving room.

Each tank’s UV sterilized air circulation system was modified to add heaters and variable speed control fans in order to eliminate liquid corn syrup “skinning” in the storage tanks.

The total installed cost of all improvements was approximately $900,000.00. The engineering project was completed on schedule and the improvements were made during the planned outage. The system was started up on time for scheduled receipt of corn syrup for production.