How is MECATHERM innovating to reduce its customers’ carbon footprint
Manufacturers in the bakery-pastry sector face several ongoing challenges, including product quality, industrial performance, and sustainability. MECATHERM has implemented a structured approach to social and environmental responsibility, supporting its customers in their own sustainability ambitions.
MECATHERM opens up new possibilities for the industrial sector through innovations that support sustainability, with a particular focus on the reduction of the carbon footprint and energy transition:
- Minimizing energy losses
Thermal energy lost during baking can occur through oven walls, conveyor belts and fumes. MECATHERM addresses these issues with several solutions:
- For the oven walls: optimizing insulation and designing compact ovens like very compact vertical ovens to reduce thermal losses.
- For the conveyor belts: reducing the thermal inertia of the conveying system through the choice of material and its mass, reducing the surface area exchanged with the outside world, and ensuring good thermal insulation of the lower part.
- For the fumes during baking time: using convection as the main or complementary heating mode, using direct heating as a priority, using heating circuits with air recycling, or electrifying the heating system.
- Hygrometry management system
To control crust thickness, water loss, and product softness during the baking process and ensured the desired product quality for the customer, hygrometry is a key parameter. Hygrometry in the baking chamber results from the quantity of steam injected, the quantity of steam generated by the products, and the management of steam extraction. When the dampers are too open, it can cause an excessive flow of fresh air into the oven, leading to increased energy consumption.
In order to limit fresh air entry in the oven and still guarantee product quality, MECATHERM introduced at iba 2023 the Hygro Control System, a patent-pending solution that limits the admission of fresh dry air. This system enables automatic damper control and steam management, ensuring both energy efficiency and product quality. Manufacturers will not only enjoy energy savings, but also better facilitate bakers’ daily work.
- Energy recovery system
MECATHERM has developed an Energy Recovery System to reduce consumption. This system recycles the energy of the vapors extracted from the oven thanks to a double heat exchanger:
- The first heat exchanger recovers the dry ambient air and generates hot dry air injected in the heating circuit.
- The second heat exchanger recovers the vapor from inside the oven to generate hot water for the boiler and the proofer, as well as the water circuit of the building.
This innovative system enhances energy efficiency across the entire production line and will be first implemented on the newly developed M-VT vertical oven
- Minimize product losses
MECATHERM prioritizes solutions minimizing product waste alongside reduced energy consumption:
- The integration of additional storage capacity in strategic locations along the line (e.g., M-VD buffer or M-DC cooler) with the aim of minimizing losses in the event of unplanned production line stoppages.
- The EYE-Q quality control system enables quality control of products according to customer criteria at chosen different process stages, allowing for efficient reactions and minimizing product losses. This high-performance vision system, developed by our sister company ABI, integrates artificial intelligence.
To delve deeper into optimizing the energy efficiency of your equipment, we encourage you to explore the articles provided in : Energy efficiency | Mecatherm
