WHITE PAPER Improving Energy Efficiency In The Food And Beverage Industry

—W H I T E PA P E RImproving energy efficiencyin the food and beverage industry

2IMPROVING E N E RGY E FFICIE NCY—Opportunities to reduce energy usein food and beverage productionThe food and beverage industry provides the nutrition essential to our dailylives and it will always be required. However, providing food for all 7 billionpeople on the planet consumes a lot of energy.It has been estimated that the food industryconsumes 30% of global energy and accounts for20% of greenhouse gas emissions. 1 Demand forfood is likely to increase because the globalpopulation is projected to grow to over 9 billionpeople by 2050. 2 This, combined with the challengesof reversing climate change, mean that it isbecoming increasingly important to reduce boththe emissions from and energy used in the food andbeverage industry. This white paper takes a look atsome of the ways to improve energy efficiencyacross the industry.—The food industryconsumes 30% ofglobal energy.

IN THE FOOD AND BE VER AGE INDUSTRYAssessing energy use in the food and beverage industryBecause of the importance of food production to society,companies, governments and authorities around theworld have assessed the amount of energy used in theindustry, and which parts of the value chain consume themost energy. For example, in the EU, the food andbeverage industry is one of the most energy-intensiveindustrial sectors. Looking more closely, it is estimatedthat processing alone accounts for 28% of the totalenergy use in the EU. 3 While globally, food processing andtransport are estimated to account for about 40% ofend-use energy demand.4 As a result, leadingorganizations like the European Commission, as well asthe UN and the OECD, are trying to drive energyefficiency measures throughout the industry. 5Energy assessments guide decision-making at all levels.At the government level, these assessments are industrywide reviews which are used to inform energy efficiencypolicy and the development of new regulations. At thecorporate level, the assessments are consultants’ reportsthat give an overview of the business and its operations,and these are used to set sustainability goals andimprovement targets. However, it’s at the facility levelwhere the real changes are made. This is where newregulations and company guidelines are put into practice.It's where the energy is used during food and beverageproduction. And it’s where equipment and processescan be updated and improved to reduce actual energyconsumption.3—Food processing in the EUaccounts for 28% of totalenergy consumption.At the facility level, too, energy assessments help supportbusinesses in making better decisions and they are the firststep in improving energy efficiency. With the right tools,customers can perform assessments themselves or they canask an expert service partner for help. Energy assessmentswill provide the information and insights needed to identifythe energy saving potential of the installed electricalequipment, including motors and drives.ABB offers expert Energy Appraisals as a service. In additionto our in-depth knowledge of motors, drives, and food andbeverage processes, we can offer complete solutions toimprove energy efficiency and reduce energy costs.

IMPROVING E N E RGY E FFICIE NCY4—Identifying areasto improveIn the food and beverage industry the processes thatconsume the most energy vary by segment. In somesegments fans and pumps are responsible for most ofthe energy use. For example, in the agriculture segmentthese are feeding and ventilation applications for animals,while in the dairy sector they are cooling and refrigeration.In other segments milling and mechanical processing usethe most energy. For example, milling and centrifuges insugar processing, and grain milling in the ingredientssector. And in confectionary, milling as well as conches,compressors and mixers use most of the energy.—A sugarcane mill was using asteam turbine to run their crusher.When they replaced the turbinewith a variable speed drive andelectric motor they reducedenergy use by over 40%.⁸—The processes that consume the mostelectricity in the food industry rely on motors.6Percentage ofenergy consumptionMost of these processes rely on electric motor systems,including steam systems, pumps and compressors, andheating, cooling and refrigeration systems. However, althoughelectricity consumption in the industry is high, electric motorsystems also offer opportunities to save energy, especiallyin processes that do not run full speed all the time.—Relative energy in sugarcane processing.⁷Main costdriversWater covery35Relative energy consumption(calculated for the whole plant)17.5 %25 %Cane preparationMilling12.5 %Juice purification17.5 %Sugar crystallization12.5 %Sugar centrifuges15 %Other302520151050 Cold Ventilation Pumps Compressed OthersupplyairProcess Lightingmotors technologyLet’s take a look at sugar processing to illustrate some ofthe potential savings that can be found. Sugar productionis very energy intensive and therefore sugar factories oftenhave their own power plants. These power plants generallyoperate on a cogeneration basis, producing both steam andelectricity. The amount of energy used by each process stepvaries and, for example, sugarcane preparation and millinguse around 40% of all the energy used in a plant. However,many older sugar factories use a large amount of steamfrom their co-generation boilers to power their processes,which is inefficient. Converting steam-driven processesto electrically driven ones can significantly improve energyefficiency. For example, an ABB customer was using a steamturbine to run their crusher. When they replaced the turbinewith a variable speed drive and electric motor they reducedenergy use by over 40%.

IN THE FOOD AND BE VER AGE INDUSTRY5—Ways toimprove energy efficiencyOnce inefficiencies have been identified, then the most effective solution orcombination of solutions can be proposed. This is where domain expertise andknowledge of food and beverage applications is vital. In particular, it is important tounderstand how modernizing and upgrading individual components will affect theprocess as a whole. It’s also useful to know what the state-of-the-art is and whatnew options are available.There are several technologies on the market thathave great potential for reducing energy consumptionthroughout the production chain, including digitallyenabled services. In this section, we will take a lookat some of the possibilities that these offer.Optimize operations with variable speed drivesMany applications in the food and beverage industry areusually run at partial load, like fans, pumps, compressorsand conveyor belts. However, these traditionally usemechanical control methods like valves, brakes andthrottles to control their speed. In this kind of system,the motor is doing more work than necessary and energyis being lost through the mechanical speed control.Variable speed drives (VSDs) offer a more efficient way ofrunning applications at partial load because they can controlthe speed and torque of an electric motor directly. Thiseliminates the need for mechanical speed control andoversized motors. With direct control of a motor, it can becontrolled to match the actual process demand, enablingapplications to run with high efficiency at a range ofdifferent speeds. As a result, VSDs can significantly improveenergy efficiency throughout whole production chains.ABB offers VSDs and control software that, togetherwith our application expertise, can be used to optimizevarious processes throughout the food and beverageindustry, ensuring that motor-driven applications, suchas compressors, pumps, extruders, conches and conveyors,do the right amount of work at the right time.—Adding a variable speed drive to a fan,pump or compressor can typicallyreduce energy use by 25%.9—Globally, around 14% of foodproduced is lost before itreaches the consumer.10Another benefit of VSDs is that they enable precise speedcontrol and this capability can be used to prevent energy andfood going to waste during production. This is becausemaintaining the right machine speed, e.g. in mixing, is veryimportant in the food industry, and entire product batchescan be ruined if the ingredients are mixed too fast or tooslow. However, since VSDs can ensure the correct mixingspeed, they can also help minimize food waste and theassociated energy consumption during production. Inaddition, because food waste is also a major source ofgreenhouse gas emissions, reducing waste duringproduction also improves a company’s sustainability.

6IMPROVING E N E RGY E FFICIE NCYModernize to more efficient motorsIn addition to adding VSDs to improve the efficiency ofexisting applications, upgrading motors to more efficientmodels can also improve the overall efficiency of food andbeverage applications. Currently, many motors in usein the food and beverage industry have IE3, IE2 or evenIE 1 efficiency. However, motors with much better efficiencyare available. For example, induction motors are availablewith up to IE4 efficiency and synchronous reluctancemotors, like ABB’s SynRM motors, are available with IE5efficiency. Since each IE class delivers 20% lower losses,upgrading offers the potential for clear energy and costsavings. Furthermore, in some markets modernization isalso supported by tax breaks, government grants and otherfinancial incentives to encourage businesses to improvetheir energy efficiency.Recover energy from processes with regenerative drivesAlthough VSDs can run applications at the optimum speedwithout the need for brakes, some applications in the foodand beverage industry do require some form of braking.For example, in the sugar industry batch centrifuges areused to separate sugar crystals from molasses and theseuse repeated cycles of acceleration and deceleration.If traditional mechanical braking systems are used ina process like this, the kinetic energy of the rotatingcentrifuge is lost as heat as the brakes are applied. Ifelectrical braking is used in conjunction with a VSD,the kinetic energy is dissipated through braking resistors,and again it is lost as heat.However, using regenerative drives, it is possible to useelectrical braking and recover the energy as electricity.The energy recovered by regenerative drives can either beused elsewhere in the plant, for example, in the accelerationphase of another centrifuge, or it can be fed back into thegrid. By recovering energy that would otherwise be lost,regenerative drives can improve overall energy efficiency,as well as reducing or eliminating the need for coolingsystems that handle the waste heat.Reduce electrical energy consumption and CO₂emissions with energy efficiency solutions and servicesPlug and play digital solutions securely collect data fromapplications, providing deeper status insights and a trueindication of the condition of the installed base. Bycollecting and analyzing information directly from yourpowertrain, cloud-based technologies are utilized to helpunderstand and predict any potential downtime, enablingthe scheduling of maintenance services at a time that issuitable.Using ABB’s domain expertise and digital solutions helpsyou make better decisions to identify potential energysavings and CO₂ emission reductions as well as to trackand trace equipment to enable efficient operations,reduce waste, and comply with regulations.Energy efficient solutions and services can also beimplemented by modernizing motors and drives at the righttime based on data and advanced analytics to determineoptimal energy savings, minimize waste through circularservice models, and improve financial returns for specificassets and applications.