The production of environmental friendly paint strictly requires hygiene in order to guarantee high product quality. One of the leading producers of special paints in Germany, the company Schulz Ltd. located in the province Rhineland Palatinate, has discovered steam as means for sterilization in order to disinfect storage tanks after the production of organic paint. In particular, tanks need to be freed from bacteria of the family Pseudomonas.
In the mid of July 2010 first steaming tests took place under the supervision of the company Thor Ltd. located in Speyer. A steam generator manufactured by MSD Corp. with an output of 220 kg / h was used. Steam was induced into the tanks through a special pipe system. The tanks, having a volume of a bout ~8m³, were steamed for about half an hour. Steam was induced through customized injectors at the bottom of the tanks. Condensate ran off through outflow ports at the bottom.
The results were confirmed last week by the company Thor. Steaming lead to complete decontamination of storage tanks. After steaming no bacteria could be found. After the successful tests, the paint producer considers the installation of a stationary steaming system for their operations.