Best practices in refrigeration applications to promote energy efficiency

• Main Author: Silva, Pedro Dinho da
• Publication Date: 2016
• Other Authors: Gaspar, Pedro Dinis, Andrade, Luís P., Nunes, José, Domingues, C.
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/7230
• topic: Agrifood; Refrigeration; Energy efficiency; Best practices

The food and drink industry is the largest and most dynamic manufacturing sector of the European Union. With its 286,000 companies (mostly SMEs) and turnover share of 15%, it provides jobs for over 4 million people. There is an acute need to replace energy-intensive processes in this sector by new efficient ones. The major energy consumption originates from heating, cooling and drying processes, refrigeration, electrical drive systems, among others. Refrigeration of food products can account more than 50% of the energy consumption. This chapter identifies energy-saving opportunities (technological, organisational or behavioural) and describes tailored energy-saving measures. Best practices and measures for energy efficiency improvement are disclosure, which can be applied to infrastructures, cooling chambers, vapour compression refrigeration systems, compressed air systems, steam generator/hot water systems, among others. Additionally, the use of renewable energies and procedures for analysis of the electricity consumption and power management are discussed. These best practices and energy conservation measures may substantially improve the energy efficiency and competitiveness of agrifood companies and will ultimately benefit the consumers and society by reducing food price, food waste and carbon emissions.