Development of Energy-Saving Technologies for the Food Processing Industry

Abstract

Awareness of the importance of energy saving in manufacturing processes was kindled only when fossil fuels registered dramatic price increases in 1973. These increases led to evolving strategies to conserve energy resources, especially exhaustible sources, by reducing their consumption and developing renewable sources of energy. To achieve any significant savings in energy consumption in manufacturing processes, the food industry must reliably assess energy consumption at each unit operation. Estimation of gross energy requirement can be used for deciding on technology options. Two approaches for achieving significant savings in energy consumption in the food industry could be: (a) improving the efficiency of each unit operation by design improvement; (b) developing new processes or products that consume less energy than traditional processes. The latter approach may be suitable for developing countries like India, which is promoting its processed food industry on a priority basis. A few technologies that require considerably less energy to process products developed in India are highlighted in this paper.