The global demand for Nordic wild berries has increased steadily, partly due to their healthy properties and their good taste. Juice concentrate is produced by pressing berries and heating up the juice. The by-products are berry skins and seeds. Traditionally, the by-products have been composted. Higher competiveness can be achieved by decreasing the production cost and increasing the product values. The berry skins and seeds have a commercial value since they are rich in vitamins and nutrients. To use and sell these by-products, they need to be separated from each other and dried to a moisture content of less than 10 %wt. A berry juice industry in the north of Sweden has been studied in order to increase the energy and resource efficiency and optimize the quality and yield of different berry fractions. This was done by means of process integration with thermodynamics and psychrometry along with measurements of the berry juice production processes. Our calculations show that the drying system could be operated at full without any external heat supply. This could be achieved by increasing the efficiency of the dryer by recirculating 80 % of the drying air and by heating the air with heat from the flue gases from the industrial boiler. This change would decrease the need for heat in the dryer with about 64 %. The total heat use for the plant could thereby be decreased from 1204 kW to 1039 kW. The proposed changes could be done without compromising the production quality or the lead time.
Godkänd; 2013; Bibliografisk uppgift: Konferensbidrag, finns omskrivet till en journal artikel; 20130613 (janand)