Objective
Under the current issues surrounding climate change, conserving water resources is becoming an increasing priority. As areas become stressed due to water exploitation or environmental pressures, the amount of water resources available for use have been decreasing (World Meteorological Organisation, 1999) and Europe has not been able to avoid these pressures. It is crucial to protect and improve water consumption to provide a sustainable practice for economic development and to maintain human settlements. LOWTEV will bring considerable water savings to the food industry which is comprised of over 230,000 SME organisations. With an excellent consortium with experts in the fields of food science and sanitisation we will develop a low water pressure ultrasound device integrated with an automated rapid hygiene monitoring system. By providing an alternative system for cleaning in place technology on bulk handling equipment for food processors, a factory site would benefit from at least a 10% savings in overall water use. This equates to an estimated €30,000 worth of savings on water and energy bills per factory, providing a return on investment in under 1 year of installation. The food industry sector within Europe lag behind in terms of innovation and R &D investment; this project will address the environmental issues to improve water resources and will also improve the competitiveness of the SME food processing and bulk handling communities. Through reducing the clean cycle times on conveyor equipment, this will realise more productivity within the food processing cycle by reducing the labour costs and times for cleaning.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-SME-2007-1
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
BSG-SME - Research for SMEsCoordinator
PE113UU Spalding
United Kingdom