Poultry processing plant increases reliability whilst cutting energy usage with a Grundfos high-pressure pump solution

The situation

About 200 growers raise male turkeys (Toms) as part of the Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative (VPGC), based in Hinton, West Virginia, United States. Its turkey processing plant was experiencing frequent and recurring pump failures on two 150 horsepower pitot tube pumps for the high-pressure washdown and sanitation system.

“My major pain point with our old high-pressure pump system was reliability,” says Phil Miller, Engineering Manager at VPGC. “The pumps would last anywhere from maybe six months to a year, and we'd have to replace them.” Maintenance costs were averaging between USD40K-50K per year.

“During my visit at Virginia Poultry Growers, I took a tour of the existing pitot tube pumps. The first thing that I noticed was the noise,” says Steve Floyd of Carotek, Inc., a Grundfos distributor and supplier of industrial equipment and solutions for the southeastern United States. “It immediately made me think about a new high pressure pump system from Grundfos.”

The solution

Steve Floyd and Carotek proposed a Grundfos Hydro high-pressure pump solution – a multi-pump system specifically designed for high-pressure water demands in food and beverage plants. VPGC was familiar with Grundfos, having previously installed a Grundfos Hydro MPC-E system.

The proposed Hydro high pressure pump solution included a Grundfos CU352 controller, as well as two 15-horsepower jockey pumps to handle low flows under 60 gallons per minute (gpm), or around 220 litres per minute (lpm) – the typical maximum demand during first shift production. High flow is typically only required during the plant’s washdown and sanitation process.

The previous pitot tube pump system was originally designed to supply 300 gpm, or 1100 lpm at 1000 psi. The VPGC engineering team determined that 1000psi was unnecessary for plant washdown and a lower design pressure would also reduce pump horsepower required to keep the plant clean. The new Hydro high-pressure pump solution could deliver more than 400 gpm, or 1500 lpm at 680 psi.

“This application was unique because not only were we pumping at a high pressure, but we were also using variable speed drives to adjust the speed of the pumps,” says Brendan Watson, Senior Technical Sales Manager, Grundfos. “The CU352 controller’s pilot pump feature enabled us to run larger pumps at higher peak periods where demand was needed more and more water was needed and running a jockey pump at lower demand periods – thus saving energy.”

He adds that the CU352 is controlling all eight pumps on the system, but also monitoring everything about the system – from pressures to run times to alarm history to energy consumption. 

The outcome

Today, VPGC’s sanitation crew cleans the plant in the same amount of time with 300 psi less pressure, without noticing any reduction in performance. VPGC’s decision to reduce system pressure along with the high efficiency operation of the Grundfos Hydro high-pressure pump solution has reduced energy consumption of the plant’s high-pressure system by more than 50%, according to Grundfos Sales Engineer Tommy Pierce. Plant energy usage will be reduced by more than 600,000 kWh per year – the equivalent to more than USD 50,000 a year. Pierce says with energy savings and reduced maintenance costs, VPGC can expect an ROI of less than two years on the new pump system.

VPGC Engineering Manager Phil Miller says, “Grundfos is the first pump company in 20 years that has presented me with an alternative to the pitot tube pumps. The controls are a lot more bulletproof than I thought they were. They only run when we need the water. They go up and down with our flow way better than our other system. I am not even looking back.”

Grundfos supplied:

Grundfos supplied a Hydro high-pressure pump system for VPGC's high-pressure washdown and sanitation system. The Hydro high-pressure pump system is a custom-engineered, highly efficient, multi-pump system specifically designed for high-pressure water demands in food and beverage plants. The Grundfos CU352 pump controller enables the Grundfos pumps to handle this critical boosting application with ease and accuracy. 

Read more about Grundfos solutions for food and beverage applications.