Many key players within the food and beverage industry, such as bakeries, dairies and breweries, account for more than 50% of utility usage across the sector (Source: energypedia). With various procedures that could cause considerable utility usage and consumption, plant personnel should consider leveraging innovative instrumentation, digitalization and reduction strategies to boost cost savings and energy usage efficiencies. Plants could start with initiatives that identify areas for process improvement, adjusting those operations, measuring and tracking energy data and using that information for progress reporting and efficiency goals.
As process manufacturers push for sustainability and environmental stewardship, companies are looking for ways to increase their operational efficiency, reduce waste and do more with less. While primary focus is often placed on reducing emissions, cutting incoming utility consumption is a frequently overlooked key area for increasing efficiency, with the dual benefit of decreased environmental burden and reduced production costs.
Utility usage is directly correlated with carbon footprint and inversely proportional to profits, incentivizing companies to minimize consumption. Because product margins are typically slim in the food & beverage industry, even slight expense reductions can have substantial impacts on overall profits.
Reducing energy consumption and increasing operational efficiency can be executed in three primary phases:
- Identify areas for process improvement or optimization.
This sometimes requires retrofits, but it is often achievable simply by using already-installed equipment more efficiently. Opportunities for improvement are revealed by accurately measuring process values and applying energy performance indicators in the right locations. - Adjust operations according to optimization insights.
- Measure and track energy and emissions data, then align this information with progress reporting on efficiency goals.
Utilities are a necessary expenditure, but there are almost always opportunities for savings. These savings can help companies reduce operational costs and meet ambitious environmental stewardship targets. However, proper energy management requires accurate data capture and appropriate analysis.
Five opportunities for utility savings
Comprehensive utility monitoring and optimization can regularly reduce energy consumption by 5 to 15%, but this requires instituting the right energy performance indicators (EnPIs) and making appropriate process operational tweaks. All reduction opportunities depend on instrumentation that can objectively quantify energy flows, energy consumption and process data, with related systems presenting this data in terms of EnPIs.
Beginning with existing assets and operations, facilities should institute the following five steps to optimize energy usage and reduce utility consumption.
1. Look for process areas to optimize by analyzing key instrument data
Optimization efforts begin with creating context throughout entire plant operations by installing the right instruments in suitable locations. These instruments generate data, which can then be aggregated and pieced together to create actionable information.
2. Decide where optimization is possible among existing processes, and then adjust operations according to insights
Installing instrumentation to measure process and utility flow, temperature, pressure and other variables is critical for energy management systems, but these systems are not complete without a means to visualize measured values and energy data, typically provided by some type of Human Machine Interface (HMI). This is the basis for detailed evaluation.
Once measurements are made and pieced together in context, process experts can delve deeper into the data to identify opportunities for utility consumption reduction. Key targets are areas where energy inputs can be reduced without compromising output product quality or plant safety.
3. Track changes using Energy Management Solutions (EMS), which provides recommen-dations for continued improvement, and then aligns these efforts with progress reporting on efficiency goals
The correct information leads to actionable insights for efficiency enhancements, but the journey does not end here. Data collection must be continuous, informing efficiency gains and supporting compliance reporting.
4. Lean on newer, advanced technologies to upgrade where it makes sense
In the past, instruments were typically limited in what they could measure, in addition to the information they could transmit, with only one or two 4-20mA analog outputs for communication with a host system. However, today’s instrumentation is capable of sensing and reporting a host of secondary process variables and internal diagnostics — leveraging Heartbeat Technology and digital communication protocols — which improves both process and instrument insights.
Some Endress+Hauser key instrumentation for monitoring utilities in food & beverage
- Proline Prowirl F 200 a versatile vortex flowmeter featuring active pressure and temperature compensated output in both mass and volumetric flow.
- iTHERM TM131 modular temperature sensors provide unparalleled response times, vibration-resistance, Bluetooth-initiated and tool-free calibration capabilities.
- Cerabar PMP21 is a compact pressure instrument, featuring a piezo-resistive sensor capable of measuring absolute or gauge pressure between 400mbar and 400bar.
- Proline t-mass F 300 thermal mass flowmeter provides unprecedented measurement stability for nitrogen and natural gas, compensating for changing process conditions in real time, including temperature, pressure, flow direction and gas type.
- Steam and water analysis systems (SWAS) are also essential for optimizing energy consumption, protecting equipment, achieving water quality requirements, and streamlining operations.
5. Implement energy-saving process flows in the plant, taking advantage of waste to pre-condition incoming utilities, such as waste heat recycling
Energy loss is often high in boilers due to inefficient combustion and buildup in the tubes. In addition to rudimentary maintenance mitigations, recycling heat waste from production facilities back to the boiler location is becoming increasingly common.
Optimization of energy consumption provides benefits for the end consumer
Getting started can be overwhelming, but reliable instrumentation selection and installation lays the foundation for effective energy management system rollouts. Endress+Hauser can ease the journey from first steps to final refinements by providing end users with high-quality instrumentation, system components, software solutions and expert consulting and support.
Conclusion
As with all process improvements, informed decision-making for utilities begins with data from accurate and reliable measurements. These elements create the foundation for developing high-level energy management strategies to increase operational efficiency and reduce production costs. Additionally, implementing these measures helps establish process manufacturers as sustainability leaders, elevating brand perception among consumers and industry peers, improving employee recruitment and retention, and trailblazing energy-efficient practices for a sustainable future.
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