(458h) Reducing Waste and Energy Consumption in Food Processing Industries: Two Applications

The food processing industries are energy intensive and, without proper monitoring, might lead to enormous energy wastage. The current study addresses this challenge through two viewpoints: reducing material waste through online quality management and reducing energy consumption through modeling techniques. These methods can be applied to Small and Medium-scale food industries by simplifying Smart manufacturing and helping them utilize the benefits of Industry 4.0.

Case 1: The first case views the problem from the perspective of reducing material wastage through online quality management using cost-effective, easy-to-deploy sensors that can provide quantitative detection of the “feel” of the product. The developed sensors involve an innovative application of the fiber-optic-based optical analyzer and Resistive Power Draw sensors. Enterprise-friendly composite data parameters are being developed for intuitive quality measures compared to the complex spectra from the optical analyzer.

Case 2: The second case studies the problem from the perspective of reducing energy consumption during the cooling and ripening of nutrition bars using coolant. The project aims at developing predictive cooling models based on the composition of the material, with an objective function of reducing energy consumption per unit of product.

With the help of the Smart Manufacturing and Innovation Platform (SMIP), developed by the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII), data collection, sharing, and storage have become more manageable. This eases the task of implementing the new strategies.