"Our product safety has increased significantly"
With the help of Protox, Skanderborg Bryghus had a new system installed to improve product safety and quality, especially for low and non-alcoholic products. Specifically, they were looking for a solution that would ensure their bottles were cleaned and sanitized as efficiently as possible before the various products were filled.
Skanderborg Bryghus is one of Northern Europe's most modern and high-tech breweries and one of Denmark's largest organic microbreweries. They produce beer, soft drinks, alcopops and ciders, and the purity of the products themselves is top notch. However, in terms of product safety, there is a greater risk associated with producing low and non-alcoholic products in terms of microorganisms and bacteria. Therefore, Skanderborg Bryghus wanted to ensure that the bottles are as clean as possible before they are filled, which is why they turned to Protox:
"Of course, we pasteurize our products before we bottle them, so the risk in our production was already low. But we wanted to improve product safety even more. We could do this by adding chlorine dioxide to the water we rinse the bottles with, because it has a disinfecting effect, but is still categorized as drinking water," says Kristian Olesen, CEO of Skanderborg Bryghus.
With over 15 years of experience using chlorine dioxide in various applications, Protox has long been aware of its many benefits and has extensive expertise in the field. Chlorine dioxide has practically become part of Protox's DNA because it is both highly effective and gentle for various disinfection tasks. In other words, you can solve many challenges with chlorine dioxide without creating new problems that can have a negative effect on people, living environments or nature. And that is exactly the essence of what Protox stands for.
Many benefits
According to Henrik Møller Jørgensen, Technical Manager at Protox, there are even more advantages to using chlorine dioxide to sanitize bottles in breweries. This is because chlorine dioxide
Using chlorine dioxide to sanitize bottles makes a lot of sense - especially when they contain organic, non-alcoholic products. Biofilm will always form in pipes and tanks if the systems are not cleaned. Chlorine dioxide eliminates the risk of biofilm build-up, and because the use of chlorine dioxide does not create a hazardous residue, it is both gentle and effective at the same time.
- is extremely effective at very low concentrations compared to other disinfectants.
- removes biofilm and cleans piping systems and tank systems during use.
- is not on the Environmental Protection Agency's list of undesirable substances.
- is effective at such low concentrations that it can't be smelled or tasted in the water used to rinse the bottles.
- breaks down into salt, water and oxygen as soon as it is exposed to light.
Using chlorine dioxide to sanitize bottles makes a lot of sense - especially when they contain organic, non-alcoholic products. Biofilm will always form in pipes and tanks if the systems are not cleaned. Chlorine dioxide eliminates the risk of biofilm build-up, and because the use of chlorine dioxide does not create a hazardous residue, it is both gentle and effective at the same time.
Tests and new opportunities
In collaboration with Protox, Kristian Olesen and his team came up with the solution that has been in use for a few months. He explains that the decision to choose Protox for the job was a no-brainer:
"We targeted someone who already had a food-approved product, and Protox had that. So it was easy for us to choose them," says Kristian Olesen.
It took a few months of dialog and various tests before the system was installed, because Kristian Olesen and his team wanted to be sure that using chlorine dioxide in the cleaning process made sense:
"It was important for us to get some kind of guarantee that this system had an effect. So, in collaboration with Protox, we did some tests that showed that the bottles rinsed with water containing chlorine dioxide were cleaner than the bottles rinsed with plain water."
Through years of experience with chlorine dioxide, Protox had no doubt that it would have an effect. But the customer must always feel comfortable using the various solutions, which is why dialog, collaboration and advice are some of the key words in Protox's work.
Fortunately, chlorine dioxide can improve product safety at Skanderborg Bryghus without creating new problems that could harm employees, the working environment or the surrounding nature. That's why the use of chlorine dioxide is an obvious choice, and the extra safety measure is perfect for the brewery's already impressive efforts to run a business that is gentler than most in terms of its impact on nature and the environment.
Part of a circular system
Skanderborg Bryghus doesn't just make organic products - it also uses its neighbors to run a more sustainable business. This is done through a "circular system" where hot steam from RenoSyd's waste incineration is used to heat the water in the brewery's production. The surplus heat from the production is then sent to the district heating plant located on the other side of the brewhouse. Finally, the residual product "worm" is used as cattle feed by a local farmer.
"At Protox, we are happy to be part of the circular system. One of our core values is that we want to protect our nature. Therefore, we are constantly looking for the product that requires the least amount of chemicals to do the job. Right now, we are probably the people in Denmark who know the most about chlorine dioxide, and because we have worked with it in different ways since Protox was founded, it has become part of our DNA."
So says Bo Mogensen, CEO of Protox. He is pleased that the brewery industry is really starting to realize the many good properties of chlorine dioxide. And it makes perfect sense to use it to sanitize your bottles. In addition to the system and the use of chlorine dioxide providing Skanderborg Bryghus with greater product safety for existing products, it also opens doors for developing new products in the future:
"For us, it allows us to develop more low or non-alcoholic products because we have eliminated the product safety risk that was
before, by using the chlorine dioxide solution from Protox," says Kristian Olesen.
Easy maintenance and top safety
Although it may sound complex with a reactor and different components to mix, it's a simple and safe system:
"Skanderborg Bryghus receives daily operational reports that the system generates itself. Protox also has access to these reports. This means we can always provide the best support. So both operational and quality assurance are top notch," says Henrik Møller Jørgensen from Protox.
Contact us to learn more about the many applications of chlorine dioxide, such as disinfecting bottles, process equipment and more.
E-mail: info@protox.dk - Phone: +45 7550 4022
