Page 54 - AMEFT Journal 2021-2

PROCESSING & PACKAGING
GEA remotely commissions Oliyar
Oliyar, one of the leading produ- cers of vegetable oil in Ukraine, selected GEA Germany - the world's leading system supplier for the food and beverages sector, in 2019 to ex- pand and optimize its existing pro- duction facility. Being an existing GEA customer, Oliyar entrusted GEA to improve oil quality, increase machine availability and process productivity, and reduce fixedcosts while keeping their up-front investment low. GEA engineers brought their full process expertise to the task, designing a tai- lor-made refining line that exceeded the customer’s expectations. When COVID-19 made travel impossible, GEA devised and executed a plan to commission the line remotely despite the pandemic.
In standard process lines for refi- ning edible oils, the water and special degummingarehandledintwosepa- ratestages at Oliyar. GEA engineers identified this as an opportunity to cut the Oliyar’s costs by condensing this process. “GEA did not offer a simple standard solution, but instead desi- gned the new refining process to our exact needs and specifications. As a result, we can now handle both water degumming and special degumming in one stage,” explains Taras Tsybuh, Production Manager at Oliyar.
GEA RSI separators uses GEA’s ‘fine- tuner’ technology, which allows for settings to be adjusted during proces-
(Source: GEA)
sing accounting for natural variation in oil compositions. Customers like Oli- yar leverage this special feature because it allows them to maximize yield while con- sistently meeting quality specifica- tions. The ‘finetu- ner’ also increases a plant’s flexibility, given a single se- parator can carry out all refining processes.
The integrated
direct drive fea-
ture of GEA RSI se-
parators further-
more eliminates
the need for gears and belts. This de- livers significant energy savings com- pared to gear-driven machines while reducing maintenance and downtime.
In addition to the design and deli- very of the line itself, Oliyar was de- pending on GEA’s longstanding exper- tise for commissioning and training of its operators. Unfortunately, due to lockdown restrictions, GEA pro- cess experts from Germany couldn’t travel to Ukraine. To ensure on-time delivery, the German team set up an intensive training schedule for GEA’s
(Source: GEA)
Ukrainian service team via video con- ferencing. “We guided the Ukrainian team through the entire commissio- ning process so they could repeat it at the customer’s facility successfully,” explains Birger Horns, Deputy Head of Business Line Renewables at GEA.
GEA digital tools, such as Remote Access for installation and commissio- ning, proved invaluable during the pro- ject. They enabled GEA’s team in Ger- many to access the process line control system in Ukraine and therefore sup- port with the testing, running and opti- mization of Oliyar’s centrifuge systems without having to be on site. During fi- nal commissioning, the German team “attended” each test run virtually, in- teracting and engaging in the process as if they were on location. Despite all the challenges, Oliyarwas impressed with the end product: “The results have exceeded our expectations, both in terms of throughput capacity and separation results – and even better than promised in the original KPIs,” states Taras Tsybuh.
54 AMEFT 2 2021
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