New Technologies to Reduce Emissions
UK - Two separate events last week gave leading UK dairy processors a chance to explore new ways to reduce emissions.Novel technology to increase energy efficiency was explored in a workshop hosted by Dairy UK, Camco and the Carbon Trust as part of the Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator (IEEA) programme. And another event saw processors evaluate ways to make refrigeration more efficient.
Dairy UK Environment Manager Fergus McReynolds said: “Reducing the carbon footprint of dairy products by making processors more efficient remains a key concern for the sector.
Dairy UK is doing everything it can to help sustain the pace of improvement.
“The IEEA programme will enable the dairy companies to drive forward technologies which help deliver the environmental improvements championed in the Milk Roadmap.
Work on refrigeration also has a big role to play because keeping dairy products cold represents a significant proportion of the total energy used in dairies.”
The IEEA workshop discussed alternatives to heat pasteurisation, such as ultraviolet, microwave and pulsed electric field pasteurisation.
Participants also heard about novel cleaning systems such as ultrasonic cleaning and whirlwind and ice pigging.
Each technology was assessed for its potential energy saving and for barriers to implementation.
The results will be fed into a broad report on further opportunities for emissions reductions from energy efficiency in the dairy sector.
A separate event hosted by Dairy UK and the Brewing, Food & Beverage Industry Suppliers' Association at the West Midlands Regional Food Academy, focused on more efficient refrigeration.
Experts speakers highlighted the importance of monitoring and managing energy use on site and detailed savings from upgrading old systems.
They also explained the potential of heat pumps and new technology for treating water from evaporative condensers.
TheCattleSite News Desk