Energy efficiency technologies for sustainable food processing

Abstract

Energy conservation is vital for the sustainable development of food industry. Energy efficiency improvement and waste heat recovery in the food industry have been a focus to increase the sustainability of food processing in the past decades. Replacement of conventional energy-intensive food processes with novel technologies such as novel thermodynamic cycles and non-thermal and novel heating processes provides another potential to reduce energy consumption, reduce production costs, and improve the sustainability of food production. Some novel food processing technologies have been developed to replace traditional energy-intensive unit operations for pasteurization and sterilization, evaporation and dehydration, and chilling and freezing in the food industry. Most of the energy conservation technologies can readily be transferred from other manufacturing sectors to the food processing sector.