Miwe Energy, which launched the eco:freeze system at the 2009 IBA show in Dusseldorf this week, told FoodProductionDaily.com that although the application has initially been targeted at the bakery industry, it could also be adapted to any food processing or manufacturing sector that generates hot water as part of production.
The system was lauded at the bakery expo as it picked up one of the 12 awards as part of the IBA Trophy. The company said it can reduce energy costs by recycling waste water with a system that is greener and almost maintenance free.
Cutting energy costs
Miwe said the high energy costs associated with oven and freezing costs in the baking industry were the main reasons for launching the ground-breaking absorption system in the sector.
“Energy in Germany eats up between 3-5 per cent of the baking industry’s turnover,” Miwe’s Dr Hans–Jurgen Stahl said. “More than 70 per cent of the electricity, which makes up 20 per cent of the total energy cost, is consumed for heating and refrigeration.”
While absorption technology is already available on the market, Miwe Energy’s innovation has been to develop a refrigerant that does not use chemicals, some of which can be extremely hazardous, said the company.
“Other absorption systems use either lithium bromide, which can only produce refrigeration temperatures of +5C to +7C, or ammonia which results in much lower temperatures of -30C but is a hazardous chemical,” said Dr Stahl.
He added that many bakers were reluctant to have ammonia on their premises and that Miwe’s new system offered a hazard-free solution to bringing freezer temperatures to -10C.
Non-toxic
“It does that completely without the poisonous ammonia with a newly developed natural refrigeration agent,” he said. ”Due to this low temperature, the eco:freeze can support not only refrigeration units and walk-in refrigerators , it can also be implemented in flash freezing units and freezers.”
Dr Stahl said these units “devour the greatest amount of energy” because their transitional phases from liquid to solid require a huge energy supply. He described the new system as “revolutionary” .
The company said it will produce only one type of unit that has a freeze capacity of 30kW. Units can be joined together to meet the need for higher capacities. The new system needs a thermal input of around 45kW in the form of hot water with a temperature of at least 90C.
The system is due to be launched in the Germany and other central European markets in March 2010, with a roll out to other areas to follow at a later date, said the company.