Author: Shane O’Farrell, second-year chemical and biopharma engineering, Cork Institute of Technology
Photographs: Rebecca Power, second-year chemical and biopharma engineering, Cork Institute of Technology
The second- and third-year chemical and biopharma engineering students from Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) recently had a memorable trip to three production facilities in Co Cork and Co Clare.
We visited the Dairygold cheese factory in Mogeely, near Midleton, Co Cork. The factory is managed by Pat O’Mahony, who gave us an introduction detailing the co-op’s history, production facts and plans for the future. Dairygold takes in a massive 940 million litres of milk each year from local farmers and has four plants in Ireland. It also has bases in the UK, Spain, France and Germany. With the growing demand for Irish dairy products across the world, partnered with the abolition of the milk quota scheme in April 2015, the future seems bright for Dairygold.
O’Mahoney gave us an overview of what he does and how studying chemical engineering gave him the skills needed to work in Dairygold and climb up the ladder in the co-op: he rose from being a fresh college graduate working in the effluent sector of the plant to being manager of the facility in the space of six years. After being given the tour of the plant, O’Mahoney gave us an insight into the graduate programme at Dairygold. We were very interested to hear that Dairygold gives great opportunities to graduates and looks after them well, offering postgraduate programmes to its employees.
We were split into groups and given a tour of the plant. Aoife Kennedy gave my group a tour of the plant where cheese is produced. Most of the cheese produced is exported across the world, reflecting the high demand for Irish cheese. The plant consisted of old and new facilities but Kennedy told us that the plant is expanding due to the growing demand for its products. It was interesting that half the cheese is sold to Greece. Once the cheese is made, it floats in brine for many hours so as to absorb salt. This adds flavour and preserves the cheese.
Jameson Distillery
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CIT students at the Jameson Distillery[/caption]
We then visited the Jameson Distillery in Midleton, Co Cork, where we were lucky enough to get a tour of both the old and the new distillery. Employees Jonathon, Liam, Catherine, Dave and Kelly gave us a tour of the facility. The old distillery is no longer in use and is refurbished to accommodate tours for the public to see. We were given an insight into how the distillery made whiskey back in the 19th century. We were shown different regions of the distillery – from where the barley grains where crushed to make grist, to where the whiskey was stored in big oak casks in Warehouse A1.
A thousand casks are still stored in Warehouse A1 for maturation, from where the whiskey is sold as rarest reserve after a number of years. We also got to see the original old still pot that was used back in the day. After this the tour of the old distillery, we were brought to the new distillery.
The new distillery is a lot different to the old because of its sheer size and brand-new facilities. We toured the plant where the barley grist and water is mixed in reactors in a process that is called mashing. There was intense heat where this was happening. We got to see a sample of the product and the very fine white grist that is used in the process. We then got to see the distillation side of the plant.
We saw three big copper still pots, which were identical in size and shape to the pot still in the old distillery. Jameson went to a lot of trouble getting unique tradesmen to hammer copper sheets into the exact shape and size of the original still pots. We then saw the process of the whiskey casks being inspected and moved to warehouses where they would be stored for at least three years. We asked the tour guides about the role of chemical engineering in the distillery and they informed us that the current master distiller of Jameson is a chemical engineer himself: Brian Nation, another CIT graduate (
see Nation’s article on the Jameson Distillery, 28 October
eJournal).
They told us that chemical engineering gives an employee great skillset for working in the distillery. Our visit to the Jameson distillery was genuinely fascinating and I would recommend anyone to visit the old distillery in Midleton and go on the’ Jameson Experience’ tour.
Roche Ireland Ltd
We stayed overnight in Ennis, Co Clare. A good night was had by all, including a sing song which the Brazilian students particularly enjoyed (see Brazilian c
hemical engineer Fellipe Dias de Oliveira's article about his stint in CIT). We visited the Roche pharmaceutical plant in nearby Clarecastle. We were given a short introduction into what the plant makes and the history of the plant by Eamonn Noonan. The Roche Group is a leading international healthcare company with principal businesses in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. The company employs approximately 85,000 people worldwide. The Roche corporate headquarters are in Basel, Switzerland.
Ann-Marie Lanigan, one of this year’s CIT graduates, gave my group a tour of the plant. We were shown safety features of the plant, which are used in ensuring the highest degree of safety for employees. Some of the reactors we saw are used in the production of obesity medication. Lanigan also showed us the nitrogen-making plant, the waste-management facility and various other features of the plant which relate to chemical engineering.
We got to see one of the control rooms where operators where working inside, following a detailed process manual and ensuring that the process runs correctly. Roche is set to expand its production of off-patent medicines.
The distillery had just completed a major expansion, whilst Dairygold and Roche are currently undertaking major investments. Employment prospects look to be very bright for CIT graduates in the Munster region in the future.