High Temperature Heat Pumps for the Australian food industry

The purpose of this report was to define the likely feasibility, and range of applications for heat pumps in the food industry, with a focus on high temperature (HT) heat pumps delivering useful heat at 66oC-150oC. This work is a continuation of the 2xEP project investigating the opportunities for innovation in technology/business models that could transform energy productivity in the food value chain (http://www.2xep.org.au/innovation-next-wave.html). The first overview report defined one key transformative change as being the electrification of food processing, displacing fossil-fuel fired boilers and steam systems. One central technology required for this transition is the application of heat pumps to recover heat from waste streams to boost temperatures, displace steam, and in some cases simultaneously provide process cooling. This work is particularly important at a time when East Coast Australian companies have seen a significant rise in gas prices in the last two years, with prices often more than doubling. As heat pumps effectively use electricity to harness heat from waste heat streams or the environment at efficiencies of over 300%, they can cost effectively displace gas when gas prices are high (and when the cost of renewable electricity is falling rapidly – as solar PV can be used to power heat pumps). The project team consulted extensively with stakeholders and conducted research to define international best practices in heat pumps technology and application globally and to understand the experience and capacity in Australia. We then evaluated the likely economic return from using heat pumps in a range of applications locally. This evaluation is at pre-feasibility level. Based on a successful outcome of this project, we could potentially pilot heat pumps in the most promising applications with strong replication potential.