INDUSTRY FOCUS FOOD & BEVERAGE HOW BEST TO RECAPTURE AND REUSE HEAT
Matt Hale, international sales & marketing manager, HRS Heat Exchangers, offers assistance in selecting the correct heat exchanger
H
eat is fundamental to the food and drink industry. From cooking and
drying to other treatments such as pasteurisation, heat is widely used. As you would expect, this demand for
heating (and cooling) requires a large amount of energy. The Carbon Trust* estimates that the UK’s food and drink sector is the fourth highest industrial energy user in the country, with a total demand of 37 TWh a year, of which up to 60% is attributed to heat. This includes ovens, boilers and space heating, as well as processes such as drying, sterilisation and concentration. Many reports which consider the greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts of food production do not fully distinguish between those emissions associated with primary production (both direct and indirect) and those associated with processing and distribution, making detailed analysis difficult. However, based on average statistics, 37 TWh of energy production is enough to power more than 1.8 million homes and could account for up to 11 million tonnes of CO2e emissions. In order to reduce their environmental
impact and make best use of their by- products and biomass wastes, many food producers have invested heavily in bioenergy production projects such as anaerobic digestion and biomass combustion in recent years, as well as other forms of renewable energy. While this has helped to reduce the sector’s environmental footprint, maximising
As with any capital expenditure, it is important to compare not just the initial capital costs, but also operational and maintenance costs across the life of the machinery. All heat exchangers are not alike, but these differences mean that there is undoubtedly a heat exchanger solution that fits your food processing needs
process efficiency and thermal efficiencies in particular, is sometimes overlooked. Recapturing and reusing heat from other sources (such as surplus heat from cooling operations or spare boiler capacity) can be an effective way of increasing capacity or adding a new production process without the need for major new heating or energy infrastructure. Depending on the application, HRS Heat Exchangers’ equipment has been shown to recover as much as 50% of previously wasted heat, which can then be used for water, space or process heating, waste treatment or other thermal applications. While some processes and materials will
*
https://www.carbontrust. com/media/39212/ctv004 _food_and_drink_ processing.pdf
require specific equipment, such as ovens or retorts, for others, heat exchangers are an effective and efficient solution, and are also more likely to enable heat regeneration than other systems. The
ROBOTS GET TO GRIPS WITH SAFER HANDLING OF BOTTLES
AirGrip is an efficient, safe and flexible bottle gripping system which has been developed by YASKAWA for use with MOTOMAN robots in today’s bottling plants. This combination ensures safe handling of bottles at very high speeds without damaging the screw caps. The AirGrip gripper tool meets the increasing demand for a flexible application in bottling plants where the
same basic concept can be used for both small and large applications and for a wide variety of purposes. The bottles are lifted by compressed air with minimal mechanical stress which helps to reduce maintenance requirements. Also, because the cuffs are open at the top there is no restriction in bottle height. The cuffs are available in 5 standard sizes which cover most popular bottle sizes from 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 litres while customised designs are also possible. In one bottling application for a major soft drink manufacturer, 1.5 litre PET bottles are being handled at a rate
of 47,000 bottles per hour. AirGrip is available as a basic model in which the rubber gripping cuffs can be easily replaced when worn. The technology can be adapted to meet the requirements of
individual production lines, speeds and product development. Depending on the application, for example handling trays from a pallet, or bottles into trays, the AirGrip concept includes a MOTOMAN- MPL160, or MOTOMAN-MPL80 robot, the AirGrip device, a conveyor, a pallet magazine and an operator’s control panel. When the requirement is bottles into trays, a configuration table replaces the pallet magazine. Yaskawa
www.yaskawa.eu.com www.airgrip.com
choice of heat exchanger will depend on many different factors, such as the nature of the process to be carried out (pasteurisation, sterilisation, dehydration, etc.); the viscosity of the food or drink being processed; whether it contains particles or pieces; and whether the fluid is Newtonian and non-Newtonian, as they will behave differently under different temperature and pressure regimes, affecting the handling during processing. So selecting the correct heat exchanger and careful system design is important. Corrugated tube heat exchangers, like the HRS MI and MR Series, are available in various configurations, so that delicate materials such as cream can be processed without damage. The corrugated design also minimises fouling in the heat exchanger, which increases the thermal efficiency and prolongs operational periods between cleaning. For some materials, such as curd
production in the dairy sector, increased turbulence can be beneficial. Alternatively, where low pressures are required, scraped surface heat exchangers, like the HRS Unicus Series, keep things flowing smoothly while handling the product gently. Using the right type of heat exchanger can also help to reduce product losses caused by materials remaining in equipment at batch changeovers or when cleaning is required. Some scraped surface heat exchangers, such as the HRS R Series, can be configured to run in reverse, effectively removing product from the heat exchanger without damaging it or affecting its quality.
HRS Heat Exchangers
www.hrs-heatexchangers.com
24 MAY 2018 | PROCESS & CONTROL
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