When we have gone through the industrial drying process, we can say that this process is often a huge energy guzzler. About 20% of the total industrial consumption is produced from the drying process. As you can see on a standard drying curve; the more moisture in a product, the faster the drying process. However, the last drops of water use the most energy and are the hardest to get rid of.
If energy savings is your goal, forget about manual moisture management. Taking samples, laboratory tests and waiting for the results are a waste of time and money.
One option is an at-line or in-line measurement with microwaves for immediate results. Within just one second you know the exact moisture content of your product and you can adjust the process. The more accurate the moisture measurement, the sooner you can stop the process and the more energy you can save. So it's all about a very accurate and fast measurement.
Typically, in-line measurement solutions, such as capacitive from NIR technology, can only provide direct measurements with precise accuracy, while only measuring moisture at the surface of the product. To ensure that the target moisture value is achieved, you must wait until the most uncertain measurement results are well below the target value (see image on the right).
Thanks to TEWS' patented two-parameter microwave technology, moisture can be measured deep into the core of the product. This provides more accurate data. This accurate method means that you are able to stop the process sooner, as you are able to measure with extreme precision when the invisible moisture content is reached.
Our customers in the food, wood, paper and pharmaceutical industries were all looking to save 6 to 15% energy depending on production level and get a quick return on investment. In many cases, the investment in a TEWS analyzer is recouped within a year.
We often hear this comment. But precisely measuring the moisture content in your product ensures that you can save considerably on energy. That is why more and more food manufacturers are using separate moisture analyzers that work using microwave resonance technology. Are you interested in a demo? Please contact the specialists at Inventech.
Contact the specialists at Inventech for energy/costs savings on your drying process
“With the in-line moisture analyzer from Tews, we have a method to quickly and accurately measure moisture deep within the beans. We can use the results to adjust the process. In this way we save energy, reduce our carbon footprint and we can easily demonstrate that we comply with the legally permitted moisture percentage of less than 5% in the finished coffee.”
In the example below for drying corn, we used the following formula:
Suppose you have 10,000 kg of corn with a moisture content of 35%. The target moisture content is 14.5%. This means that 2,398 kg of water must be extracted from the corn. A conventional continuous dryer requires approximately 1500 Wh/kg H2O, which means you need 3,597 kWh of power for the drying process.
! Very often, products are over-dried during the drying process and re-moistened at later stages. This is a big waste of energy and money and bad for the company's carbon footprint.
Germany alone produced more than 4 million tons of corn in 2021. Now imagine a deviation in moisture results of 1% - this would cost 22.4 million euros of electricity per year!
Inventech is the specialist in analytical moisture measurements in drying processen: save costs and energy.
