15.04.

2020

ENERGY INPUT AND AIR POLLUTION IN FOOD INDUSTRY

FATMA EDA AYDOĞAN

21624964
 SUMMARY
This paper explains the findings of the research about enery consumption and air
pollution in food industry. It notes products of food industry, uses of energy and
required fuel properties in different processes and makes recommendations about
energy efficiency. It gives some information about air pollutants in this industry and
some performance establishments to prevent air pollution.

ENERGY INPUT IN FOOD INDUSTRY

Food Industry plays an important role in world’s economies due to its large size,
growth and diverse products. The food industry produces a wide variety of products
that include meat products, dairy products, preserved fruits and vegetables, grain mill
products, bakery products, sugar and confectionery products, fats and oils,
beverages, miscellaneous food and kindred products.
The production of food, which sustains the human energy balance, requires a
considerable and continuous supply of energy delivered from natural resources. In
the production of food for human consumption, the processing of food and drink
requires a considerable part of this energy. The fifth largest energy consumer in
manufacturing sector is the food industry. The total cost for purchasing fuels and
electricity in the food industry was $9.92 billion in 2006, which was 9.57% of the total
energy costs for all manufacturing industries in US. The amount of energy necessary
to cultivate, process, pack and bring the food to European citizens’ tables accounts
for 17% of the EU’s gross energy consumption in 2013, equivalent to about 26 % of
the EU’s final energy consumption in the same year. The steady increase in the
human population of the planet and its growing nutritional demands has produced an
annual increase in the energy consumption of the food and drink industry of up to
40% in the last decade.
Two main types of energy: fuels such as coal, natural coal and petroleum oil and
electricity are used in food processing facilities. Steam and electricity are two direct
energy carriers used in food processing facilities.
Agriculture is the most energy intense phase of the food system. The second most
important phase of the food life cycle is industrial processing. Lastly, food waste
technologies requires the least energy in the whole food-cycle.
Different food products need very different amounts of energy per unit of mass
depending on their nature, their origin and the kind of processing they have been
subjected to. Refined products and products of animal origin generally need an
amount of energy several times larger than vegetables, fruits and cereal products.
The food supply chain consists of several successive steps, each needing energy for
its specific processes;

The food industry is dependent on energy for key processes food preservation, safe
and convenient packaging and storage. Fuels and electricity are used in heating
processes that include roasting, baking, cooking, frying, and boiling. Roasting and
baking require a direct application of heat, while cooking, frying, and boiling use a
transfer medium. Cooling processes such as freezing, cooling, and refrigeration are
almost completely dependent on electricity. Safe and convenient packaging is
extremely important in food manufacturing and is also energy intensive. Freezing and
drying are the most crucial methods offood storage. Freezing operations require a
large portion of electricity used by industries while drying procedures usually depend
on fossil fuels.
The energy and related environmental cost affects to the cost of production. A
potential solution to the problem is the optimisation of energy consumption,
increasing the efficiency of processing and decreasing the emissions and effluents.
Energy efficiency studies should focus on improving existing plants, using renewable
sources, developing energy-efficient process technology, improving and expanding
demand side management programs, creating informed and reasonable energy
policies, and further research in the possibilities of zero-discharge plants.
 AIR POLLUTION IN FOOD INDUSTRY
Pollution means in terms of the capability of a substance to cause harm to man or
other living organisms supported by the environment. One of the pollution type is that
air pollution can impact food production.
Agriculture is the single largest contributor of ammonia pollution as well as emitting
other nitrogen compounds. This affects soil quality and thus the very capacity of the
soil to sustain plant and animal productivity.
Conversely, there is increasing evidence that food production is also threatened by
air pollution. Ozone precursor emissions (nitrogen oxides and volatile organic
compounds) are of particular concern for global food security as these compounds
react to form ground-level ozone. Ozone was estimated to cause relative global crop
losses for soy 6-16%, wheat 7-12% and maize 3-5%. At a European level, a study in
2000 of the economic losses due to the impact of ozone on 23 crops amounted to 6.7
billion Euros. In industry, pollutant type and loading is dependent upon the process
materials and process operations. It is possible to identify typical processes within
food processing operations, such as handling dusty raw materials, cooking and
grinding/milling, and to characterise emissions from such sources. In addition there
are potential emissions from utility operations such as heat or power production at
the food processing site.
The main pollutions that causes emissions to the atmosphere in industry can be
summarized as follows:
• particulate matter and combustion gases (carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides) from combustion processes;
• particulate matter from process operations such as size reduction, raw materials
handling and transfer, and from cooking and heating processes;
• volatile organic compound (VOC) and chemical emissions (i.e. ammonia, hydrogen
chloride, sulphides) from processes involving the use of organic solvents or
potentially volatile chemical species;
• VOC and chemical emissions from processes involving the heating or cooking of
food, or from fermentation processes;
• halogenated VOC and other chemical emissions from leaks from refrigeration
systems;
• VOC emissions from packaging printing and manufacture.
In most countries, emissions from processes are controlled by setting conditions on
licences requiring the installation of control equipment.
There are basically three methods of establishing the performance standards that
may be applied to processes and used to establish conditions on
licences/authorisations/permits:
1. establishing technologies which must be fitted to process plants to control
emissions into the air;
2. establishing emission concentration limits for discharges from processes which
effectively set the level of control required;
3. establishing ambient air quality standards used to determine the effect on air
quality of emissions from individual processes.
The emission potential of different energy sources:
 Coal
 Oil
 Gas
 Waste
 Particulate matter
 Acid gases
 Carbon dioxide
 Volatile organic compounds(VOCs)
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