FOOD & BEVERAGE FESTO IRELAND Quick wins to reduce B
It is incredible that, despite years of publicity, many manufacturers still waste so much money through the poor use of
compressed air. Some electric drive manufacturers advocate that the way to achieve CO2 reduction and hit sustainability goals is a simple matter of replacing pneumatics with electric drives. This is an over-simplifi cation of the reality facing machine builders and operators in the food sector. Achieving carbon neutrality is a complex process, but investing time in the optimal selection and operation of pneumatic systems can deliver signifi cant sustainability wins: reducing energy consumption, reducing waste, and driving down costs. Working for Festo, a manufacturer with roots in pneumatics but today focusing more and more on electric drive technology, I can take a step back and take a balanced view of improving energy effi ciency in food production machinery. We share the responsibility to use energy
effi ciently. When compressing air, a substantial percentage of energy can be lost as heat. However, the latest heat recovery systems can recover up to 90% of that energy to offset other energy requirements.
In our Scharnhausen factory, we use this energy to heat our offi ces and raise the temperature in our anodising processes, the biggest single energy consumer in our plant. Waste heat from compressed air generation in food production can be similarly captured and used elsewhere. Examples include milk pasteurisation and the washing of surfaces, bottles, fi lters and other equipment. At a plant level, we have also invested in
extensive energy monitoring and mapping to stagger the loading of our air and electric networks. We now use recycled and recovered energy wherever possible and have reduced peak loading. We have optimised our compressed air installation network, reducing the standard ring main to provide 4-4.5 bar. We use a far smaller higher-pressure network and local air intensifi ers for outlying, older applications that still need higher pressures.
Optimising air consumption delivers signifi cant
savings at a CAPEX plant level; paybacks are impressive and are frequently within 2-3 years. However, we also know that many marginal gains quickly add up at the individual machine and even
36 February 2024 Irish Manufacturing
compressed air use Festo UK food and packaging industry sector manager, Andy Macpherson, looks at quick sustainability wins that can be easily implemented by Irish food manufacturers to help reduce emissions and improve energy effi ciency
actuators level. Often these don’t have to cost more, other than taking the time to break from the pattern of what has been done before. Festo has compiled 10 top energy saving tips to
help food equipment manufacturers achieve a more sustainable use of compressed air (Figure 1). A recent webinar by two of my colleagues titled
‘Energy effi cient machine design – quick wins to reduce compressed air use’ provides more helpful information. Watch the webinar on demand at:
www.festo.com/ energyeffi ciencywebinar23.
www.irish-manufacturing.com
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