Project: Development project for a new innovative and efficient odour reduction system for industrial food frying
Centriair is a relatively newly formed company that develops and markets innovative air treatment solutions within the food processing industry. Its vision is to become a world leader in this relatively small but attractive market niche and solve the industry’s significant pollution and odor problems._x000D__x000D_The company has identified a significant potential within industrial frying (french fries, snacks, noodles, fish sticks, meatballs, etc) and has established a large number of customer contacts, which have all verified the potential for the Centriair solution. A functioning system to treat fryer air has been developed together with the world leading air separation company 3nine of Sweden and Techniair Ltd, a leading UK provider of ultra violet radiation (UV) air treatment solutions. These companies are part of the project consortium. In Centriair’s system the air from the fryer is first led through a centrifuge, where most liquid (oil) and solid particles are separated. Subsequently the air passes a UV stage where reCOing vapour is decomposed, further reducing the odor. System tests have successfully been performed at large food producers. The company also has two breakthrough deliveries to Dafgard in Sweden and Campbell’s and Premier Foods in the UK. _x000D__x000D_The Centriair system already today gives good results for smaller fryers, processes with lower smell and where odor level limits from authorities are lower. However, the large market potential is in large food manufacturers with very high odor reduction requirements. The market size has been estimated to 40-60 MEUR annually for new installations and an additional 240-300 MEUR in replacement value for existing fryers. The dominating technology with these manufacturers today is incineration (combustion), providing very good odor reduction - the key reason why it is this segment’s technology of choice. However, incineration has many associated problems: high capital outlays; very high energy consumption and energy losses and thus CO2 emissions; significant COtenance costs; operational risks and fire hazards. Food processors are keen to find alternatives as manifested in our close contacts with 4 out of the 5 largest french fries manufacturers globally and 3 of the largest potato chips manufacturers. One of these companies (Aviko of Germany) will be part of the project consortium._x000D__x000D_Satisfying the large industrial food processors’ demands for odor reduction typically requires reduction of the smell to below 4,000 odor units (OU). Today Centriar’s system typically achieves 10,000 OU. These results are in fact very close to the target and very encouraging considering the typical 300,000-600,000 OU in untreated air._x000D__x000D_This project aims at developing the Centriair system performance to reach these odor reduction levels, opening up a large market for the company. Successful development would also greatly benefit our customers (and the environment), as they could do without the wasteful incineration. _x000D__x000D_The project consortium already has solid hypotheses on how to improve the system. These hypotheses have been developed over the project members’ many years of experience in the air treatment market. In fact, the project team together with the involved academics / consultants represent among the best air separation knowledge and the best knowledge on chemical odor abatement around. Technically we intend to improve the odor reduction by two separate sub projects:_x000D_1. Improving the particle separation. In this sub project we will use different technical solutions to the centrifuge to further reduce the spillover to the next treatment stage. _x000D_2. Development of the chemical decomposition. In this sub project we will work on developing the UV system, as well as investigating some well-defined complementary methods and combinations of these._x000D__x000D_The two CO work streams will in the last project stage be integrated to form a complete system. The project duration is 24 months. The majority of the time will be spent on testing the hypotheses in lab environment as well as in real world processes at Aviko. The end product of the project is a pilot plant, i.e. a full version of the new system with all its components and sub-subsystems but in smaller scale. This pilot plant will be used for tests in other food processors, i.e. in our sales and marketing efforts. Another end product will be patents on selected parts of the system; initial research indicates that at least a couple of our ideas are patentable._x000D__x000D_We estimate the direct results of this project will enable Centriair to generate 6-7 MEUR in additional sales in 5 years, 3nine around 2 MEUR and Techniair around 1 MEUR. In addition we see many exciting spin-offs from this project for all project participants. The largest potential likely lies with 3nine where the improvements to the air separation technology may be used in very large application areas such as natural gas production and air treatment in metalworking._x000D__x000D_
| Acronym | Fryer Odor Reduction (Reference Number: 4723) |
| Duration | 01/04/2009 - 31/03/2011 |
| Project Topic | Development of innovative solutions for air treatment / odor reduction within industrial food frying in cooperation with leading industry participants. The ambition is to replace the currently dominant (and wasteful solution), incineration. |
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Project Results (after finalisation) |
The CO results of the project is that we (the participants) have managed to raise our odour removal capacity for industrial frying. We now have an odour removal level that is sufficient for many industrial frying plants and we can there offer a competitive alternative to incineration. Incineration of frying vapors is energy consuming, the new odour removal technique is more sustianable |
| Network | Eurostars |
| Call | Eurostars Cut-Off 2 |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3nine AB | Partner | Sweden |
| 4 | Aviko Deutschland GmbH | Partner | Germany |
| 4 | Scandinavian Centriair AB | Coordinator | Sweden |
| 4 | Techniair Ltd | Partner | United Kingdom |