Cleaning-in-place was first applied in the dairy industry in the late 1940s. The name used to stress that pipes no longer needed to be assembled. The dairy industry started with the spray-cleaning of milk tanks.
At that times tinned –copper tubing and stainless steel tubing, the normal materials for construction of ‘sanitary’ piping systems became relatively scarce.
Early applications of cleaning-in-place were restricted to piping systems and generally to only longer piping systems.
Some operators experimented with Pyrex glass lines which, due to the ‘breakage’ hazard, were of necessity cleaning-in-place. The development of special joints and gasket for stainless steel piping systems permit them to be recirculation cleaned.
The results achieved suggested that even greater benefits could be obtained if similar procedures could be applied to the cleaning of vessels such as tank trucks, storage tanks, processing vats and valves.
Cleaning-in-place has since been used in all industries where sanitation is important.
Cleaning in place (CIP) in history
