Benefits

Thermal Energy = Increased Food Safety

Food safety is a key driver in today’s food & beverage industry; progress has been significant in the meat & poultry industry, for example, but some National Health Objectives remain a challenge:

Slaughter houses, meat product processing plants, and pre-cooking facilities all have significant food safety concerns which can be addressed with thermal energy in the forms of hot water and steam. The American Meat Institute’s Meat Safety website notes that:

Throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium, the industry's ability to
prevent bacteriaon meat and poultry products has increased dramatically as a
result of various new in-plant technologies like steam pasteurization and the
transition of the industry to the use of the prevention-oriented
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) system.

National Health Objective: 6.8
Incidence of Foodborne Illness 1996-2002: Salmonella (Preliminary FoodNet Data on the Incidence of Foodborne Illnesses --- Selected Sites, United States , 2002)

Increased Energy Efficiency = Energy Savings

Food & beverage processors are energy-intensive industries, fueled by consumer trends toward highly processed, pre-packaged meals and snacks, and even high protein diets like the Atkins diet.

Since many food & beverage processes require process heat and some space conditioning, thermal energy (waste heat) can be recovered and used for processing raw materials or vented into a chiller or desiccant for efficiencies up to 80%--as opposed to grid power at 33%.

There is also within the industry a growing interest in more efficient water usage, which can be accomplished with bio-digesters optimized by thermal energy. And environmental concerns and corporate image are driving cleaner energy choices.

By generating clean, reliable, efficient electric power, then recovering and using “waste heat” for processes or space conditioning, CHP systems can be nearly twice as efficient as conventional generation and save processors significant amounts of energy.

Reliable Power = Increased Productivity and
Reduced Costs Related to Power Outages

Food & beverage processors need reliable power to stay online during power grid blackouts and even momentary power sags. Power outages can be very expensive….

• In the chocolate processing industry, hot chocolate is piped over long distances in the “conch” process. If power is lost, chocolate congeals within 3-5 minutes—and the plant could be down for 2 hours, or entire pipelines may have to be discarded.

• C&F Packing Company, a value-added meat products processor in Chicago, recently experienced a power outage and lost $124,000 in lost revenue and wages. If power is not restored to a food processor plant, USDA regulations mandate that food be discarded after 30 minutes—resulting in further losses.