Bandwidth Study on Energy Use and Potential Energy Saving Opportunities in Manufacturing Food and Beverages

Energy efficiency underlies American manufacturing competitiveness. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office has commissioned an energy bandwidth study for the food and beverage manufacturing sector as a reference for research decision-making. Energy bandwidth studies serve as generalized guides for energy technology advancement opportunities. The process operations in the food and beverage sector vary widely, so choices have been made to provide the greatest insight without being exhaustive. The study will examine certain subsectors within the industry, such as dairy product manufacturing, grain and oilseed milling, fruit and vegetable preserving, and others. Also, this study will identify energy intensity and consumption for key manufacturing processes that are applicable across multiple subsectors (e.g., pasteurization and sterilization, blanching, drying, grinding, separations and filtration, mixing, cooling, heating, steeping, etc.). Potential energy savings opportunities are identified by quantifying four measures of energy consumption for each process area: current typical (year 2010), state of the art, practical minimum (research and development), and thermodynamic minimum. These measures enable prediction of current savings opportunities and future savings opportunities, with supporting detail on opportunity areas. The resulting report will provide useful guides for determining which products and processes are the most energy-intensive and offer the greatest energy savings opportunity.