GREENFOODS branch concept for enhancing energy efficiency in the food and drink industry

Panel: 2. Sustainable production design and supply chain initiatives

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Christoph Brunner, AEE INTEC, Austria
Jürgen Fluch, AEE – Institut für Nachhaltige Technologien, Austria
Konstantin Kulterer, Austrian Energy Agency, Austria
Wolfgang Glatzl, AEE – Institut für Nachhaltige Technologien, Austria

Abstract

The major output of the European project Greenfoods will be the GREENFOODS branch concept. It is defined as a well-developed comprehensive energy audit and energy management tool as well as a realization guideline for companies of the food and beverage industry. The GREENFOODS branch concept itself will be developed using existing software tools such as MS EXCEL and MS VISIO for two different levels of user input following the same tool structure. It includes the design of the present state production process flow sheet, a mass and energy balance, the calculation of the primary energy use and CO2 emission as well as heat integration, efficient electricity consumption and efficiency of heat and cold supply. The identification of optimization potentials by the comparison with benchmark data will be supported by the use of renewable energy sources – RES (biomass, biogas, combined heat and power – CHP, industrial heat pumps – HP, solar thermal energy, absorption cooling machines – ACM), the rational use of energy sources, the calculation of profitability and the assessment of suitable technologies.

Guidelines for the implementation of best available technologies and renewable energy sources including information on existing funding systems will complete the offer of GREENFOODS to show potentials for improvements and tailor-made solutions for SMEs in the different subsectors in the food and beverage industry. Furthermore, the guidelines will be supported by best practice examples developed within the project and already existing and identified show cases.

The GREENFOODS branch concept will be closely linked to the GREENFOODS Wiki Web that will be a living document and result of the project. The target groups are energy managers in companies as well as energy auditors and experts, energy suppliers as well process technology suppliers and associations linked to the food and beverage industry.