Energy efficient solution for dairy production

GEA Dairy Evaporator eZero

An electrical steam system for MVR evaporators in dairies, featuring the latest heat pump technology, that reduces energy consumption by up to 60% and avoid any CO₂ emissions during use by up to 100%.

dairy-evaporator-ezero
Sustainability is now a vital element of all food processing as customers have become more aware of environmental concerns, legislation becomes increasingly stringent, energy prices have risen. GEA is committed to achieving net zero for greenhouse gas emissions, throughout the company and its supply chain, by 2040. As evaporators are among the highest consumers of energy in a dairy plant, reducing their energy consumption can have a dramatic effect on energy costs and the resource efficiency of the overall plant.  
 
The eZero evaporator from GEA uses energy-saving heat pumps with its MVR (Mechanical Vapor Recompression) evaporators in dairies to reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions. 

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Understanding today's Dairy Evaporation technology

There are 2 different technologies for the mentioned industry. Thermal Vapour Recompression (TVR) is applied to multi-effect evaporators in which livesteam is used to recompress product vapor with the resulting mix being used as a heating medium in the first effect. Mechanical Vapour Recompression (MVR) is usually applied to single-effect evaporators where a compact design is required. It is also more energy efficient than TVR evaporator. Product vapor is recompressed and recycled to the heating side of the same effect using electricity. 

Both these types of evaporators are using energy in form of steam for the heat treatment part of the product prior to the evaporation and have fatal heat to exhaust at the condenser.

How does it work? 

eZero evaporator can be applied to MVR evaporators or to TVR evaporators if it’s converted into MVR first. The process uses an ammonia heat pump to transfer the heat contained in the vapor at the condenser to a low-pressure steam generator or flash vessel connected to the evaporator. The heat pump naturally creates two water loops: a cold one (~35-45°C) able to cool the water loop of the condenser, and a hot one (~90-80°C) able to provide heat to the heat treatment system.

Having hot water inside a low-pressure vessel where the boiling temperature is just 80°C, generates low pressure steam that transfers the heat easily. The generated low-pressure steam can then be recompressed at higher pressure to heat the product.

Energy efficient solution for dairy production

GEA Dairy Evaporator eZero features and benefits:

  • Reduces energy consumption, compared to the today’s MVR classical evaporator consumption, by up to 60%* 
  • Reduces CO₂ emissions during use by up to 100%**
  • Does not compromise the quality of the product
  • Can be applied to any MVR evaporator including TVR evaporators that have been converted to MVR
  • Can be applied to existing or new evaporators 

* The reduction can vary depending on the plant operation specifics and resources 

**The CO₂ emissions reduction will vary depending on electricity emission factor 

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