World Record
It’s a very special record: the largest KHS candle filter in the world, the Innopro GETRA ECO, is now in operation at the Obolon Brewery – Ukraine’s biggest brewery.
This Innopro GETRA ECO is designed for a filtration capacity of 950 hectoliters/hr, is 5.5 meters high, and has an inner diameter of 2.6 meters. A filtration capacity that high, underscores once more the compact design of the system. An interesting aspect: With the Innopro GETRA ECO, the Obolon Brewery is basically continuing to set records. In 2002, an Innopro GETRA ECO went into production with a filtration capacity of more than 800 hl/hr. Until now, it was the world’s largest Innopro GETRA ECO, and it is still in operation today, to the brewery’s greatest possible satisfaction.
The brewery has invested in numerous KHS systems, and is setting performance records here, too. Among other things, Obolon has the largest KHS single-end bottle washer ever built, as well as the highest performance KHS glass bottle line in the world.
A special feature of the Innopro GETRA ECO filter system, responsible for the fast startup is the special design of the candle head. The candle heads in the Innopro GETRA ECO are equipped with quick-action bayonet connectors, which enabled rapid installation of the filter elements at Obolon within only a week. And when the filter is serviced in the future, these quick-action bayonet connectors ensure fast installation and removal of the filter candles. An additional key advantage of the Innopro GETRA ECO concept is a unique facility for endoscopic monitoring of the filter candles in place - simple, fast, reliable, and cost-cutting.
The candle design of the Innopro GETRA ECO allows an increase in the usual surface load. This results in an extension of the filter cycles and, associated with this, a reduction in the work effort, as larger batches can be filtered before the filter has to be cleaned and prepared for the next filtration. The Innopro GETRA ECO newly installed at Obolon is in operation around the clock, fully automatically. A further advantage of the filter system: calculated water savings. Compared to conventional KHS candle filter systems, the Innopro GETRA ECO offers potential water savings of up to 80%. Also of considerable importance for the optimum filtration process is the low oxygen pickup in the product. The air is initially bled out of the Innopro GETRA ECO by means of a jet spray system. A venting facility located at the topmost point of the unfiltered product area vents the bowl on two opposite sides. The air escapes by means of angled holes in the intermediate plate resulting in top oxygen values.
Indeed, quality traditionally plays an important role for the Obolon Brewery. In 1998, Obolon was the first brewery and one of the first food producing companies in Ukraine to receive the ISO 9001 certificate, subsequently used as the basis for regular quality audits.
