Diageo and Gea collaborate on Project Phoenix

Diageo recently invested EUR 169 million in the world-famous home of Guinness at St James’s Gate in Dublin, Ireland. To enhance the production of Guinness Flavour Extract (GFE), which is exported all over the world to enable the local production of Guinness, Project Phoenix involved the implementation of new raw material intake and handling systems, a new brewhouse, a new cold process area as well as modifications to the existing cold process area to integrate the existing plant with new, improved utilities and expanded capacity.

GEA’s scope involved the new cold process area, to update the existing cold process area and the cold end of the new GFE process, and incorporate new brands into the St James’s Gate portfolio with additional processing equipment.

Within the existing cold process area, GEA designed and supplied a wide range of equipment and services, from installation to validation, including two new wort mains and a CIP supply line. Eight existing vessels were converted for use as ale and lager storage vessels. In addition, modifications and alterations were also made in an existing maturation vessel, two tanker bays, a yeast propagation vessel and the valves on 21 fermenting vessels.

The new cold process area now boasts 19 new fermentation vessels and eight new maturation/storage vessels for ale and lager.

Furthermore, special equipment required to produce Budweiser was installed and fitted. New yeast propagation and ale/lager storage vessels were also placed in the new cold process area, along with a ceramic membrane filtration-based beer recovery system and two new tank/line CIP stations.

Key to the St James’s Gate expansion was establishing a new GFE concentrate plant. To complete the project, GEA mounted a stainless steel pipe rack and walkway around the CIP, DAL and ullage tanks and positioned eight customer-supplied vessels, including three storage vessels and five bright beer tanks. Additionally, four CIP tanks, a buffer recirculation tank, a minor ingredients tank and a DAL tank were installed.

Following the completion of the new cold process area, GEA was tasked with the design, equipment supply, installation, commissioning and validation of six new storage vessels.