Innovative and worldwide unique heat pump based condensation drying technology for drying and preservation of food products

Project Information

AIRGENEX-food

Grant agreement ID: 828207

DOI

10.3030/828207

Project closed

EC signature date 5 September 2018

Start date 1 October 2018

End date 31 March 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

HARTER GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AIRGENEX-food (Innovative and worldwide unique heat pump based condensation drying technology for drying and preservation of food products)

Reporting period: 2018-10-01 to 2019-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Harter GmbH (Harter) was founded in 1991 and is still a family-owned company. Harter is Europe-wide known as specialist for heat pump-based condensation drying systems, which are applicable in various sectors. By the companies’ unique expert knowledge and the high innovative strength, Harter developed to one of the most innovative companies for drying systems and gained an excellent reputation in recent years.
Within the European society, conscious and healthy nutrition as well as gentle and sustainable processing and preservation are becoming increasingly important. To perfectly meet this trend, Harter developed the worldwide unique AIRGENEX®food chamber drying system for a reliable, gentle and energy-efficient drying process. The flexible adjustable process enables perfect drying of various foods and because of the closed air circuit, aroma, appearance and bioactivity retain in the food. By using variable and low temperatures a gentle way of drying food products, which is absolutely stress-free for the products, is guaranteed. An optimum air conditioning and air routing ensure high energy and cost savings compared to competing drying technologies. Moreover, by AIRGENEX®food the valuable condensate, which contains flavour and colour, can be collected and is available for further use.
The new technology primarily addresses the food sector which is a continuously growing market with an expected CAGR of 5.6% in the common years. The overall objective is to introduce a market-ready, innovative dyring system into the market which perfectly addresses the customer needs in targeted applications.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the phase 1 project, different possible applications and corresponding market segments have been assessed. This included calculation of the market sizes and of segment growth rates and identification of market barriers. Moreover, competition in different market segments have been assessed. On basis of market and competition analysis, favourable market segments for the AIRGENEX drying technology have been selected. Within these market segments, customer needs are identified by interviews with potential customers. On basis of this, necessary technical adaptions towards a market-ready drying system in the respective market segements have been derived. Finally, the project resulted in a detailed business plan including commercialisation strategy and concrete implementation measures.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The feasibility study has demonstrated by drying samples from potential customers that the AIRGENEX technology is very energy-efficient and leads to better results in terms of appearance, aroma and surface feel and compared to the state of the art in these market segments.

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