Food and Beverage Industry Case Study: Carlsberg Group

Expel acted as the perfect warning signal to a failed desiccant dryer without compromising the protection against liquid water of the pneumatic equipment at the site.

About the customer

Carlsberg Group are one of the world’s leading brewery groups. They are a global brewer, powered by strong local brands. Carlsberg have more than 140 brands in their beer portfolio, which spans core beer brands, craft & speciality and alcohol-free brews. Their core beer includes the international brands Carlsberg and Tuborg and strong local power brands, such as Ringnes in Norway, Lvivske in Ukraine and Wusu in China. The largest craft & speciality brands under the Group are the sophisticated French 1664 Blanc and the Belgium abbey beer Grimbergen. The Russian Baltika 0 is their largest alcohol-free brew.

Project Background

At the Marston Eagle Brewery site, huge temperature fluctuations occur across different areas operating pneumatic equipment. This meant that water vapour would condense in the compressed air lines in different areas, which eventually reached pneumatic equipment, causing damage and production downtime.

Further problems with liquid water in the compressed air lines would arise at the site because the compressed air dryer at the site was prone to failing when it was due a service. When this problem arose, the traditional filters that the site was using before installing Expel would rapidly become overwhelmed with liquid water. This is because standard compressed air filters contain internal elements that retain any water that they collect. These elements then become saturated and eventually allow liquid water to pass through and cause damage pneumatic equipment.

Convinced that there must be a more efficient solution than the ineffective compressed air filters that the site were previously using, Brewing Engineering Manager Duncan Whitbread decided to take decisive action against these costly problems. So, Mr Whitbread installed an Expel unit prior to the centrifugal fan in order to protect the micro solenoid valves failing, as this was where the most prominent and expensive issues were occurring. Every time moisture was coming into contact with these valves, it was leading to production downtime, maintenance, repair and replacement equipment costs.

Why did Carlsberg Group choose Expel?

Whilst trialling Expel, it became apparent to the Brewing Engineering Manager that he had now found a real solution to the issues he had been experiencing in compressed air lines. Not only did Expel stop the micro solenoid valves from failing but the sites dryer also failed whilst they were testing the Expel unit.

This proving that Expel was providing a superior level of protection in the most extreme conditions at the site, even when the dryer failed, they still did not have ANY problems with liquid water passing through to expensive machinery.

Expel acted as the perfect warning signal to a failed desiccant dryer without compromising the protection against liquid water of the pneumatic equipment at the site.

Because Expel does not contain replacement filters elements and always remains 99.999% efficient, Expel has the capacity to continually remove larger volumes of water and is able to stop damage caused by liquid water.

Furthermore, when the Engineering Team see a larger than normal volume of water passing through the Expel filter, the team are provided with an early warning sign that there may be a problem with the dryer.