Tim McDougle, Hanovia’s sales and marketing director, told this website that the latest designs offer key advantages.
“Everything to do with UV when you're disinfecting, is sizing a chamber so you can get the optimum flow and dose to give you the most efficient kill,” McDougle said.
“We've spent three years looking at the hydraulic optimum design for a UV chamber, and that includes everything from the position of the connections - the inlet and outlet - to the position of the lamp, how it's positioned within the chamber, the flow of water through the chamber; and what we've come up with is an optimized efficient hydraulic design which means we can improve the efficiency of the system by 40% to 60% depending on the model.”
Balancing efficiency and cost
Halim Mirza, Hanovia’s MEA manager, said ensuring product quality in the beverage production process, while also being price conscious, can be a difficult balancing act for producers.
“They need to know that the disinfection technology they’re using is fit for purpose and will protect the product from pathogens such as Cryptosporidium or bacteria like E.coli. At the same time they need to balance the cost of the technology with the financial realities,” Mirza said.
He added that the PureLine UVEO range at particular points in the water treatment process also allows customers to prolong the life of other components, such as reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, by eliminating the risk of downstream contamination.
UV for soft drinks
McDougle said that the new technology means it is possible to either treat a higher flow of water with the same UV power or, in the same flow of water, a higher dose can be administered.
The technology can be used in any dairy or beverage plant, McDougle said.
“In a dairy, it would be used in the process water that's used throughout the dairy. Any beverage is on average 80% water, so the water that's going in needs to be biosecure. In the Middle East, we have bottled water plants where they are taking potable water, treating it, and then bottling it and selling it. So UV will be used to guarantee the microbial security.
“If you carbonate a soft drink, they would also use water that has been irradiated with UV so you're getting consistency and security in the soft drinks, and you could say the same for breweries as well.”
McDougle said that while there were other companies with UV technology, their focus is on optimizing the design to get more efficient process.
The company sells worldwide from its manufacturing base in the UK, and has offices around the world.
Other uses for UV
While the main market for the products is in the food and beverage industries, making up about 38%, McDougle said there are other applications. Their UV products are also used in the pharmaceutical industry – and in swimming pools, where UV is used to control the amount of chloramines.
The other application, he said, is for ballast water treatment.
McDougle said that launching products at beverage events is important for their overall business.
“We will do at least one major drinks show in all the regions where we have a Hanovia office.
They are really important to us, because it's focused on one of our core markets, which is beverage, so we are closer to our customers. We've seen real success in coming into shows like that with a more educational piece, so bringing to the market new technologies where we can explain the real benefits.”
Working with different sized companies
Both large and small companies work with Hanovia. McDougle said the multi-nationals often sub-contract to franchise bottlers.
“You might actually be working with a local company in UAE who has suddenly secured a contract bottling process for Pepsi. So we're working with smaller companies, but they are looking to work with the multi-nationals.
“We can work with the multinationals or their preferred integrators, or we can work with franchise bottlers who are working on behalf of these multinationals - all the way down to people making their local product.”
McDougle noted that the beverage industry is, “probably the most in-tune industry in wanting to understand how UV can benefit them.”
Two systems available
PureLine UVEO systems come in two ranges for water disinfection:
- The ‘H’ Edition is designed specifically to meet highly stringent food, beverage and brewing industry regulations. All wetted parts use food grade-approved materials, while a UV chamber with a high specification internal finish is available if required.
- The ‘Standard’ edition, which provides required levels of disinfection and prevents downstream contamination before reverse osmosis (RO) membranes.
All Hanovia UVEO systems are provided with its patented ‘UVGuard’, which allows safe checking of the UV sensor (performance monitoring instrument) using a unique ‘eyelid shutter’ design, which protects the operator from exposure to UV light.