3 Easiest Processes to Decarbonize in Food and Bev.

Decarbonization doesn’t have to be difficult, complicated, or expensive. While we’re going to need to make significant investments to reach the Paris Agreement's target of limiting global warming to less than 2°C, it’s easier to get started than you might have thought. Instead of rethinking industry from the ground up, we advocate for first reaching towards the low hanging fruit. This means that we won’t actually change anything about the processes themselves, but rather we can improve how energy flows throughout them. Essentially, it comes down to “using every part of the animal.” Our goal amounts to reducing how much thermal energy we waste by recycling and reusing it for multiple processes. It’s about being more efficient with what we already have. Food and beverage facilities are particularly attractive targets because their processes span the range of thermal activities, from freezers to boilers, and because these processes require relatively low temperatures compared to other industries like steel or cement. You’ve got a mandate to start decarbonizing a food and bev facility. These are the 3 easiest ways to get started. #1) Boilers From cooking to sanitation to sterilization, steam is a key ingredient at every food and bev plant. This steam usually originates from burning natural gas in a boiler, and while our long-term goal should be replacing the fossil fuel with sustainable energy, our short-term vision is getting everything that we can from that boiler. First, we have to look at the byproducts of burning natural gas: carbon-dioxide and water vapor. When we send that water vapor up the smoke-stack, we’re throwing away around 20% of the energy created by the boiler. However, if we condense that water vapor (condensing economizer) we can turn that otherwise waste heat into usable heating for any number of processes. On top of the energy savings, this approach also recovers a significant amount of clean water, another major priority for fighting climate change. By simply implementing a solution to make use of what we already have, we kill two birds with one stone. #2) Refrigerators and Freezers Whether we’re freezing the product to prepare for shipping or keeping raw ingredients in an industrial refrigerator, we’re moving heat from one place to another. Just like an AC unit blows cold air on one side and hot air on the other, these systems do the same. Too often, however, we only focus on the cooling side, and we throw away the heat. Let’s use the heat that’s coming out of the other side to heat other things. Since the boiler needs to be heated anyways, let’s use some of the heat that’s coming off the chillers to do so. To accomplish this, we use networks of heat exchangers. These systems transfer heat from one place to another, enabling us to direct the refrigerator’s thermal exhaust to any number of other processes. Another key solution is the industrial heat pump. Since the heat coming out of a chiller isn’t at a high enough temperature for many uses, we need to make it hotter. The heat pump does so by compressing it into a smaller volume, thus raising the temperature to a useable level. While the amount of electricity that a heat pump uses is already far less than the value of the heat that would otherwise be lost, we can cut our carbon footprint even further by using electricity from sustainable sources like solar or wind. As the US electric grid becomes increasingly green, this is becoming more achievable than ever before.#3) Driers Many products need to be dried before packaging because moisture creates an environment for mold growth. Of course, we use heat to pull that moisture out, and then all that heat and water vapor goes up the stack and into the atmosphere. Let’s capture that heat and use it. Using the same technologies that we leveraged to maximize our boilers’ and chillers’ efficiencies, we can harness the thermal energy and clean water that are byproducts of this process. We can even feed this heat directly back into the drier by preheating the air that goes into it. This simple, circular solution requires very few steps to accomplish, and it makes the drying process significantly more fuel efficient. Conclusion Ultimately, the fastest and easiest way to begin decarbonizing food and beverage processes is by recycling heat. Our country may have long derived a competitive advantage from plentiful and cheap energy. Unfortunately, we can no longer afford to waste energy. We need to be more conscious about how we use fossil fuels. Being more diligent about recycling resources is the best way to begin the transition to a more sustainable future. We understand that it can be overwhelming. When plant operators, engineers or management receive a mandate to reduce their carbon footprint, it can be hard to know where to start. As the global effort to decarbonize accelerates, more technologies and vendors are emerging to tackle the challenge. Nobody expects you to become a specialist in decarbonization. That’s where we come in. We’re the specialists. We spend every day working to help manufacturers reduce their carbon footprints. We know what makes sense where, when, and in what order. We’ll save you the time and the headache, and we guarantee our results. Ready to learn more about decarbonizing your food and beverage plant? Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Please use this link to my calendar to schedule a short 15b minute phone call. https://calendly.com/decarbonization-roadmap/15min