Development of energy-saving technologies for the food processing industry

Awareness of the importance of energy saving in
manufacturing processes was kindled only when fossil
fuels registered dramatic price increases in 1973. These
increases led to evolving strategies to conserve energy
resources, especially exhaustible sources, by reducing
their consumption and developing renewable sources
of energy. To achieve any significant savings in energy
consumption in manufacturing processes, the food
industry must reliably assess energy consumption at each
unit operation. Estimation of gross energy requirement
can be used for deciding on technology options.
Two approaches for achieving significant savings in
energy consumption in the food industry could be: (a)
improving the efficiency of each unit operation by design
improvement; (b) developing new processes or products
that consume less energy than traditional processes.
The latter approach may be suitable for developing
countries like India, which is promoting its processed
food industry on a priority basis. A few technologies
that require considerably less energy to process products
developed in India are highlighted in this paper.