Cleanliness may be next to Godliness, but it’s also very close to potatoes, yogurt and sweet rolls. That’s because cleanliness and a sterile environment is critical to food production processes. Food recalls can be costly – financially, regarding production setbacks, and, most importantly, with public safety and trust for a brand. A great deal can be lost with one small misstep.
Compressed air systems are a critical part of many food manufacturing and production processes. On average, air compressors represent 10 percent of the industrial electricity consumption. In some companies, compressed air production can represent up to 40 percent of the energy bill. That’s why food manufacturing facilities that harness heat, a byproduct of the compressed air process, and reuse it in production lines can help maintain a clean, sterile environment while they reduce energy costs as well as their carbon footprint.
Hot water recovered from the compressed air system can be used for sanitary purposes, as well other ancillary uses (including space heating) and is particularly suitable for process applications. Using the hot water as boiler pre-feed or directly in processes requiring 155-195°F hot water can save costly energy sources such as natural gas and heating oil. Steam is a preferred medium due to its high heat carrying capacity. It is also intrinsically safe (non-flammable). High-level applications require large amounts of hot water, as process hot water or boiler feed. The use of hot water from the compressor can dramatically reduce or even eliminate heating fuel consumption in this regard.
Hot water and steam are used in many food production processes, including production of dairy goods. In larger dairies, huge amounts of hot water and steam are required in continuous processes and the hot water energy recovery system of the compressor can provide substantial energy savings; it is possible to integrate the flow of hot water into plant processes and recover 90-95 percent of a compressor’s electrical energy input as hot water. Steam is commonly used for pasteurization, scalding, melting, cleaning and sterilizing cooking vessels, drying products, and so on, while hot water is used to pre-heat yogurt bases, thus eliminating the need to generate steam and the running costs of two gas-fired boilers that used to be incurred in the process.
Nearly half of all industrial applications use hot water in their process operations. The highest degree of thermal efficiency is generally obtained when a compressor’s hot water outlet is connected to a continuous heating demand, such as a heating boiler’s return circuit. With energy consumption representing over 80 percent of a compressor’s lifecycle cost, across a wide spectrum of manufacturing industries, energy savings in compressed air systems have a significant impact not only towards preserving the environment through the reduction of CO2 emissions but also on the end users’ bottom line.
Like bread and milk in a Southern snowstorm, oil-free compressors are a staple of the food manufacturing industry. And so is finding ways to recover otherwise wasted or lost energy to reduce costs.
Have more questions about ways to recover energy from the compressed air process? There are more answers here. If you have any innovate energy recovery uses you’ve used or seen elsewhere, please share them in the comments section below.
