Food producers that have invested in heat recovery in recent years are reaping the benefits in the current energy crisis. They are less dependent on the price fluctuations for gas and electricity and save considerably on energy costs.
The current energy crisis is holding the agricultural sector in its grip. Explosively increased gas and electricity costs are resulting in increasingly thin margins. An increasing number of growers can no longer pay the energy bill. Investing in sustainability is therefore becoming increasingly necessary, says Frank Vanaert, storage specialist at EQUANS Refrigeration. "Why should you buy energy when you can get it from your own processes? It makes you less dependent on fossil fuels and their price fluctuations and gives you a competitive advantage."
Reuse heat from the cooling process
Heat recovery systems are certainly interesting for companies in the agro and food processing industry. Vanaert: "That's because cooling and heat are needed at the same time. When cooling products, you can extract heat that you can use elsewhere at that time. For example, when heating production or office spaces. smart technological solutions in heat recovery and generation EQUANS can link those existing energy flows and effectively reduce energy consumption."
Saving residual heat economically
If the temperature of the residual heat from the cooling process is not high enough for the next process, it can be upgraded. "With a heat pump up to 90°C and with other technologies up to 180°C. For a temperature lift to, for example, 90°C, only 25% electrical energy is needed, a quarter of what is normally required in energy. The generated heat can then be used in a process with a high heat requirement that is normally heated with gas, which means you can significantly reduce gas and energy consumption, and in some cases it is even possible to heat without gas," explains Vanaert.
Sustainable investing pays off
The experience of various EQUANS clients shows that technology for heat recovery pays off. Chicory production company Nature's Gold consumes much less gas and electricity because it pumps the residual heat from the cooling installation back to the production area. Arable farm NIVU does the same with the residual heat from the potato cooling installation. As a result, the company uses valuable energy flows in a much more sustainable way.
Cooling installation as a heat source
Food producer Zwanenberg even saw the energy bill drop by 95% due to an investment in heat recovery. "Here, water for production and cleaning processes was heated with a steam boiler, an expensive operation due to the high gas consumption. Now an ammonia cooling installation extracts heat from products. Where that heat was previously released to the outside air, a heat pump extracts warm gases from 30 °C. An exchanger in the heat pump ensures that water from 10°C is thus upgraded to 53°C," says Vanaert.
Would you like to know how EQUANS can drastically reduce your energy consumption with heat recovery? Then ask free knowledge document 'Sustainable fulfillment of your heating needs'.