CO Cofund call 1: SusOrgPlus Development of smart, low energy input heat pump drying for increased sustainability in organic food chains

SusOrgPlus is a multi- and trans-disciplinary project aiming at developing systemic solutions for processing of organic food stuffs, simultaneously catering for resource efficiency, high product quality and utilisation pathways for under- utilised raw materials and the production of novel, value added products. Thus, it will help to increase consumer acceptance, the overall sustainability of the sector and the livelihoods of the producers. The Norwegian participation in SusOrgPlus will provide the organic sector with (a) smart processing technologies (b) value-added products (natural additives and colourants) and (c) increased process efficiency, reduction of specific resource demands and phasing out of fossil through use of renewable energy sources (RES). Organic food processing is characterised by empirical approaches resulting in high specific raw material and energy demands as well as product deterioration, thus, impacting on overall sustainability and product quality. SusOrgPlus addresses these issues for the processing and production of value-added products of selected plant and animal origin products. The concept of heat pump drying by using natural refrigerants is demonstrated for an industrial drier. The drying process is event controlled, meaning that the drying conditions can be improved with respect to product quality and energy efficiency. The SusOrgPlus concept allows to phase in renewable energy sources in organic food preservation, recover drying energy and reduces the amount of primary energy consumption by up 75%. One of the goals of SusOrgPlus has been to develop of a market ready drier concept which can be implemented by small or medium sized producers and stakeholders. An industrial drier, with a thermal capacity of 30 kW was installed in 2019 in the SINTEF laboratory and equipped with R744 heat pump. Two thermal energy storages were used to match the energy demand of the batch drier to the heat pump. The energy storages are charged by the heat pump and then used to dehumidify and re-heat the drying air. This demonstration unit for heat pump drying was tested during 2020 for climate neutral drying of organic apples and seaweed. The results show that the drying process is faster due to the more efficient de-humidification by the heat pump. At the same time the process is completely free of climate gas emissions. In 2021 the focus has been optimalization of the control parameters and energy efficiency. Slices of organic apples was used in these experiments. Relative humidity of the drying air is too low to get an energy efficient operation of the CO2 heat pump system, and preferable another natural refrigerant such as butane may be more suitable. An adjustment of the relative humidity of the drying air may also affect the heat pump system positively. Additional features of the drier are that a camera as well as different sensors for monitoring drying conditions are used to upload real time information for the smart control and optimization system which is in the cloud. The expectation is that a self-learning could-system can optimize the drying process without the help of human manpower. The SusOrgPlus vision is hereby that different driers are connected to the same cloud and that e.g., the manufacturer in Germany can automatically get optimized drying conditions based on own results but also process experience from other driers. The project partners in Germany and Italy are currently developing this system and it is the intention to demonstrate the potential at the demonstration unit of SINTEF. A proof-of-concept investigation demonstrated the potential of surface temperature controlled drying and compare processing time as well as product quality for the different event triggered control strategies. It was found that the decreased drying time resulted in fact in an improved product quality. The concept is adopted by the dryer manufacturer in SusOrgPlus, for integration in own drying systems.

Dette er første gang en hel-elektrisk CO2 varmepumpe tørker er utviklet og demonstrert. Tørkekonseptet kan brukes til framstilling av alle typer produkter, og vil føre til redusert klimafotavtrykk for framstilling av tørkede varer. Energiforbruket for en slik tørker kan bli opptil 50-70% lavere en konvensjonelle tørkere som finne på markedet i dag, og vil være viktig for fremtidig dekarbonsering av industrien og elektrifisering av industrielle tørkeprosesser.

SusOrgPlus is a multi- and trans-disciplinary project aiming at the development of systemic solutions for processing of organic food stuffs, simultaneously catering for resource efficiency, high product quality and utilisation pathways for under- utilised raw materials and the production of novel, value added products. Thus, it will help to increase consumer acceptance, the overall sustainability of the sector and the livelihoods of the producers. The Norwegian participation in SusOrgPlus will provide the organic sector with (a) smart processing technologies (b) value-added products (natural additives and colourants) and (c) increased process efficiency, reduction of specific resource demands and phasing out of fossil through use of renewable energy sources (RES). Organic food processing is characterised by empirical approaches resulting in high specific raw material and energy demands as well as product deterioration, thus, impacting on overall sustainability and product quality. SusOrgPlus will address these issues for the processing and production of value added products of selected plant and animal origin products. The concept of heat pump drying by using natural refrigerants will be demonstrated for an industrial drier. The drying process will be event controlled so that the drying conditions can be improved with respect to product quality and energy efficiency. The SusOrgPlus concept will allow to phase in renewable energy sources in organic food preservation, recover drying energy and reduces the amount of primary energy consumption by up 75%. SusOrgPlus will focus on the development of a market ready drier concept which can be implemented by small or medium sized producers and stakeholders. SINTEF will use its refrigeration and food technology background in order to demonstrate cost effective, fossil fuel free and carbon neutral food preservation.