Nutricia | Hygienic ventilation, cooling and heating in new Nutricia building

In Haps, Brabant (municipality of Cuijk), Danone's new, state-of-the-art production facility for Nutricia Cuijk was formally delivered in early December. Colt International was responsible for the design and delivery, assembly and validation of the climate systems, which make an important contribution to increasing productivity and food safety. The result: better hygienic conditions, higher product quality and lower energy consumption.

"We came into contact with Nutricia Cuijk in December 2015," says Kees Sietsma, Business Development Manager Climate Control North, West & South Europe at Colt International. "When we heard about the new construction plans in the municipality of Cuijk - where we ourselves are located - we investigated whether we could take up this project as neighbors. As an organization we specialize, among other things, in industrial climate control. In doing so, we have our own way of working, in which we not only take on and guarantee the installation management, implementation and validation, but also the complete design. An approach that we also proposed to Nutricia Cuijk. But initially, parent organization Danone proved more keen on the conventional structure, in which a consultant is responsible for the design and specifications and a choice of executing parties is made on the basis of quality, investment and organization."

CoolStream and a ventilation hood.

Full warranty
"To convince Danone of our approach, we shared our references in the industry," Sietsma says. "We also offered to work out a design for the climate systems free of charge, so Danone could assess us based on our TCO (the total cost of the installation over a 20-year useful life). However, the organization decided to stick to its established procedures. A year later, Danone nevertheless contacted us again. In the end, the specifications did not meet the requirements, so the organization still chose Colt's design and procedure, based on Colt's best practices for the dairy industry. We created a completely new design for the new building, providing a warranty not only on all rotating parts, but on the entire design. On this basis, we were awarded the execution and validation. The entire design was done in 3D/BIM, which prevented conflicts and bottlenecks during construction."

Specific requirements
"The new Nutricia Cuijk plant is divided into four zones - out of care, low care, medium care and high care - in which open products may or may not be handled," says Sietsma. "To optimally protect these products, specific requirements were placed on the room temperature, relative humidity and overpressure, as well as on the filtration of the air. To ensure proper filtration, different filter classes are used, up to and including special HEPA filters for the high care areas. To create proper overpressure in the high and medium care areas, we carefully supply (post)heated, (post)cooled and filtered outside air."

HVAC climate systems.

In total, Colt International installed 30 air handling units, with a total air volume of approximately 500,000 m³/h. "Stainless steel air ducts were used throughout the project to prevent contamination of the air during transport," said Sietsma. "To ensure optimum hygiene in the high and medium care areas and to prevent draught problems, we installed airsocks wherever possible. These qualified textile air distribution hoses are guaranteed clean and bacteria-free. Air is blown into the room at very low speeds, ensuring minimal air movement. In the low care areas, blow-in diffusers were chosen."

Because temperatures rise significantly in most rooms, cooling is especially desired in this project. "To reduce energy consumption, mechanical cooling is avoided as much as possible. Instead, we are using adiabatic cooling in 40% of the facilities. In addition, free cooling with outside air is used, which reduces energy consumption - compared to the original specifications - by 15 to 20%. Heat wheels are used in a number of air handling units, which provide efficient heat recovery."