HVL Capacity Expansion: 3 x 5,000l storage tanks with CIP system, Aspen, East London

June 2019

In 2011, Anderson installed the original HVL system for Aspen in East London which is currently used to manufacture over the counter pharmaceutical liquid medicines. This plant included three manufacturing tanks and six storage tanks along with the associated ancillary manufacturing equipment. The 2019 project was an expansion of the original plant which required an addition of 3 x 5,000 litre storage tanks, the integration of these additional tanks into the existing system and the addition of a new 4,000 litre CIP system.

Integrating the new equipment into the existing infrastructure was challenging as the plant was not originally designed to cater for future expansion. We worked with the client extensively to understand what improvements we could make to the existing system and how these could be incorporated into the new facility.

This challenged our design team where a lot of scenarios were considered in the process design. The project involved the fitting of new swing bend panels, new valves and pipework, the addition of a new PLC, networking into the existing PLC as well as the major challenge of feeding the new filling line with product and CIP.  

The complete turnkey services and scope of the project included:

  • 3 x 5,000 litre storage tanks
  • Integration of the new storage tanks into the existing system and new filling line
  • 4,000 litre CIP system
  • Associated pipework
  • Test, commission, train operators and handover of the plant

The project was appointed in February 2019 and final commissioning and installation took place at the end of June 2019. Aspen are currently manufacturing on the plant and it is operating successfully at full production capacity.