GEA launches a carbon-free dairy evaporator

The GEA Dairy Evaporator eZero is an evaporator that operates with zero carbon emissions and has been introduced by GEA Group. This solution is designed to meet the increasing demands of the dairy industry, which is facing challenges such as high energy prices and stricter climate targets, the company says.

Evaporators are among the largest energy consumers in dairies. They are used in the production of whole and skim milk powder, infant formula and whey powder. Reducing their energy consumption can have a significant impact on both energy costs and overall plant sustainability.

Depending on plant operation specifics, resources and the electricity emission factor, the new Dairy Evaporator eZero system can reduce energy consumption up to 60% and eliminates carbon emissions entirely compared to conventional mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) evaporators.

Thermal vapour recompression (TVR) is typically applied to multi-effect evaporators powered by live steam, while mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) is more energy efficient and uses electricity to recompress and recycle product vapour in single-effect evaporators. Both technologies rely on steam for heating products before evaporation. The eZero evaporator is compatible with MVR systems and can also be applied to TVR evaporators after conversion to MVR technology. It is also adaptable to new and existing systems.

To convert an existing TVR evaporator to use the eZero, the thermocompressor is replaced by a standard compressor, while reusing the evaporator’s calandria and the high-speed mechanical compressor for the evaporation process. This conversion is the first crucial step in reducing steam consumption and carbon emissions by moving away from fossil fuels.

The eZero evaporator takes a further step by integrating an ammonia heat pump to transfer the heat from the vapor at the condenser to a low-pressure steam generator or flash vessel. This process naturally creates two loops of water: a cold loop (approximately 35-45°C) that cools the condenser water loop and a hot loop (approximately 80-90°C) that provides heat for the heat treatment system. Hot water is flashed to produce low-pressure steam, which is then recompressed to higher pressure for efficient product heating.

Fore more information visit www.gea.com

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