Food and Beverage Industry Case Study: Heineken, Hereford Site

By removing the source of the problem at point of use, Expel stopped several air controllers from ending up in landfill sites every month.

About the customer

Heineken – the world’s most international brewer. They are the leading developer and marketer of premium beer and cider brands. Led by the Heineken brand, the Group has a portfolio of more than 300 international, regional, local and speciality beers and ciders.

Through “Brewing a Better World”, sustainability is embedded in the business and delivers value for all stakeholders. Heineken has a well-balanced geographic footprint with leadership positions in both developed and developing markets.

Heineken employ over 80,000 employees and operate breweries, malteries, cider plants and other production facilities in more than 70 countries.

Project Background

The Maintenance Manager at the Hereford site was becoming increasingly concerned about the frequent damage caused by liquid water in compressed air lines. In particular the air controllers in the boiler room were in constant need of replacement. In a matter of weeks, the air controller could be replaced up to 5 times, costing the site £1,500 to replace each time.

The Heineken site urgently needed a real solution to this expensive problem.

Why did Heineken choose Expel?

EXPEL is a high efficiency compressed air filter which uses computational fluid dynamics to continually pass all liquid water, oil emulsion fluids and solid particulates down to 1 micron through the unit and into an AVG Auto Drain. This means that the performance of Expel does not drop with use and remains 99.999% efficient and does not require any replacement filter elements or maintenance to operate.

In contrast, conventional compressed air filters simply retain the substances they collect, so the performance of these filters deteriorates as they are used. This is exactly how harmful substances reach pneumatic equipment and cause expensive damage.

After hearing about the exciting money saving and equipment protecting qualities Expel can offer, the Maintenance Manager was quick to take action and decided to install Expel.