I have recently come across a brief report on possible energy cost reduction projects in industrial baking prepared in the UK by Carbon Trust.

Key points of this article:

Tried and true solutions for efficiency

  • In order to estimate costs for improvements and energy savings, the starting point is to ensure that you have good sub-metering, to precisely determine current consumption.
  • Savings of 4.7% for bread ovens are possible by linking variable flue gas speed drives with combustion control
  • Large quantities of energy are lost through oven flues and exhausts. Opportunity for heat recovery. Low-grade heat can always be used in baking industry
  • combustion conditions are often not monitored other than during burner servicing, this causes inefficient combustion conditions. An opportunity to save up to 10% of natural gas
  • Timely maintenance of motors leads to saving up to 7% of electricity. Proper maintenance on compressors can save up to 10%. This work must be done anyway, why not do it on time and save on energy?
  • Preheat combustion air with exhaust gases.
  • Compressed air leakage is ‘in fashion’ for many plants despite being the lowest hanging fruit. The only still lower fruit is turning compressors off when plant is not working

New technologies

  • Automation reduces human errors and energy consumption. IIoT technologies provide continuous insight into what’s happening on production floor in real time
  • ultrasound humidification technology to bake bread; it helps to reduce energy consumption and also maintains the quality of the bread.
  • Infrared ovens are being adopted by commercial bakeries worldwide. Reduce energy by 50-80% and reduce time by 2/3.
  • Reflective coatings that contain high-emissivity ceramic materials reduces energy use by 20-30%. Increase oven lifespan.
  • Multilevel ovens are also helping commercial bakeries become more energy efficient and allow for higher flexibility in production process

Read the whole article here.