Does the dairy and/or food industry (specifically but not limited to the USA)considers to replace their stainless steel SS 316 or SS 304 pipes after say 30 years or so? Could someone please share their experience or opinion. I have this question because I wanted to know if the cleaning in place procedures stand ineffective after say 30 years because the metal's surface roughness, hydrophobicity, corrosion resistance would change. If you have an idea about any beverage industry besides dairy or even meat industry, please let me know. It will be very helpful. Thank you in advance.
Replacement of pipes should be based on service conditions and fitness-for-service or purpose. To decide the suitability of component, first thing is to carry thorough in-service inspection and based on the results, we have to conclude. Mere replacement has no meaning without inspections. Inspections may include thickness, hardness, metallographic replication, weld joints, visual inspection, corrosion rate, etc.
Nelaturi V Raghavaiah Thank you for your response. Although I agree with the points you have mentioned, I was thinking if there is a general timeline for the SS 316 pipes, where we can say that after say 3 billion production cycles (or say after transferring 20000 liters of milk per hour for say 30 years) of service in the food processing plants, they start to corrode and needs to be replaced; as opposed to replacing them after say 5 years, where they are not showing any signs of possible mechanical failures or alterations in their roughness.
I understand that there are no set guidelines, however do you think there could be a number of production lifecycles, after which we conclude that the pipe will start showing the signs of corrosion (if the fluids getting transported are fruit juices, or milk for instance).
Thank you once again for taking time to respond.
Thank you for your response Amit Kumar Mukherjee . I'm also looking to gather some information related to the inspection of stainless steel pipes which serves as a food contact surfaces (mainly for transportation of bevrages), used in the food industry. Do you have some information related to a timeline for when the inspection is performed? That will be helpful too. Once again, your response is highly appreciated.
I don't think there are any simple answers. Grishma. It may depend on what they use for cleaning. I have seen components in service in dairy for 40 years. But if there are hard to remove deposits, the maintenance people may try more aggressive cleaners, increased concentrations, increased temperatures etc. to remove them, in which case the stainless surface may roughen in certain areas.
I agree with you, Gary (Gary Coates). I'm trying to find some case studies which support our belief which is that the aggressive cleaning processes undertaken by the industry to remove rather stubborn biofilms, might alter the initial roughness of the stainless steel surface. Have you come across any journal articles/conference papers/case studies/industry reports, which support this? Thank you for your response.
Also, @Nelaturi V Raghavaiah, I believe your expertise is also greatly appreciated with this regards. Thank you.
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