Energy mapping for food processors

Promising cheaper and more energy efficient cooking than a traditional oven, air fryers have been flying off the shelves in the past year. For the food processing industry however, cutting energy costs isn’t as straightforward as switching to smaller equipment. With energy now accounting for up to 10% of total costs for industry — up from just 2% in 2019 — Marek Lukaszczyk, marketing manager for Europe and the Middle East at WEG, gives his suggestions for saving energy in food processing.  

Food processing is an incredibly energy-intensive sector. In fact, according to the European Commission, the industry’s energy consumption accounts for approximately 11.5% of the total energy used in the European Union (EU). What’s more, the volume of energy used by the sector is increasing significantly, rising at an average annual growth rate of 3.5%.

Among the largest shares of energy are consumed by the dairy, fish and seafood, and meat industries, but there are also high levels of energy intensity in the flour milling, making and the processing of fruit and vegetable products.

Regardless of the vertical, one thing these facilities have in common is the types of processes taking place. Heating, cooling and electricity use are non-negotiables for food processors, so how can facilities managers identify where energy savings are possible — if any are at all? 

 WEG's CFW900 high-tech VSD (variable speed drive) for driving and controlling three-phase induction and permanent magnet motors. 

Energy mapping

One of the most effective ways to track energy consumption in a food processing facility is through deployment of an energy data management system (EDMS). These systems can be used to monitor and analyse energy data in real-time, allowing production operators to proactively monitor energy use on site. Using software that can communicate across numerous protocols, EDMS allows for data from different equipment — regardless of whether it is conveyors, ovens, mills, mixers or any other type of machinery — to be compared for energy intensity.

Understanding where excess energy is being used can help facilities managers to map out a better energy management strategy. These strategies often include investing in more new, more efficient equipment or retrofitting existing machinery. However, more often than not, processors will find that the primary sources of their excess energy consumption are from one common culprit — electric motors.

Electric motors consume almost half of all energy in Europe. By nature, motors need to consume high loads of energy to power the pumps, compressors, fridges and ovens necessary in food processing, but what can be done to improve their efficiency?

Motor efficiency checklist

A surprisingly common cause of excess energy consumption in food processing is due to incorrect motor sizing. As you might expect, oversized motors consume far more energy than necessary, particularly if they are continually running with a partial load. The ideal solution is to replace larger motors with smaller fully-loaded ones and only run them when it is absolutely necessary.

A way to correct this is through installing a variable speed drive (VSD) or soft starter onto the motor. As the name suggests, a VSD works by varying the speed of the motor according to parameters set by the operator. For instance, a VSD could be used to control the operation of a mixing system in a bakery facility, stopping the machinery from running when no product is in the equipment.  Similarly, a soft starter temporarily reduces the load and torque of a motor during the startup phase to minimise wasted energy, when high power isn’t necessary.

Neither of these tools are ground-breaking or new, but are proven to significantly improve efficiency in food processing and can be a valuable investment for processors trying to cut energy costs.

Motion Fleet Management (MFM)

Motor monitoring

Outside of retrofitting and new equipment, another consideration is the maintenance of motors. Many food processors still use preventative maintenance methodologies for their motors, drives and other industrial assets. In practice, this means that maintenance engineers will review the performance of the asset based on a pre-determined maintenance schedule — rather than based on any real-time data.

The obvious disadvantage to this method is an inability to identify problems with motors in real-time. Not only does this increase the likelihood of equipment breakdown or failure, but also creates an environment where motors can be running at poor efficiency levels for a long period of time.

Asset monitoring platforms are available that can monitor the performance of plant assets in real-time. Ideally, these systems will provide a holistic view of asset performance across an entire facility, allowing operators to identify areas where motors may be performing inefficiently.

In fact, WEG deployed its own version of this technology — Motion Fleet Management (MFM) — at one of its own factories in Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil, back in 2020. The technology yielded an impressive 5% improvement in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by monitoring the performance of motors, drives and other industrial assets, and highlighting when they were running efficiently.

There’s no easy fix to reducing energy consumption in food processing facilities. However, digital tools that monitor energy use and asset performance can provide powerful insights for plant managers. With energy consuming a higher percentage of total costs than ever before for food processors, investment in technology can yield significant energy savings — no air fryer necessary.