In 2023, Germany generated 56% of its energy needs from renewable sources. On the path to climate neutrality, it is important that the demand side also designs its electrical needs more flexibly – that is, with time-shiftable loads. In the coming years, the expansion of time-variable electricity prices is expected, which is further motivating industrial customers to be more flexible. The Institute for Metrology, Automation and Quality Science (BIMAQ) at the University of Bremen is also conducting research in this area, using small and medium-sized breweries as an example.
This particular industry has a high energy consumption, which has a significant impact on production costs – at least for now. That is because the potential of flexibilizing electrical loads is now being investigated in the BrewFlex project. “In addition to flexibilization, we are also investigating how to optimize consumption by increasing efficiency,” says Yannik Schädler, research assistant at BIMAQ. He is leading the university institute's research on this topic.
Focus on Small and Medium-Sized Breweries
“The focus is on small and medium-sized breweries because they make up the majority of German breweries. They often lack the resources to become more efficient and flexible,” explains Schädler. ”To achieve trustworthy results, real measurement data forms the basis of the analyses.” The Institute for Metrology Automation and Quality Science (BIMAQ) at the University of Bremen is responsible for data collection, processing, and analysis. The Federation of German Scientists (VDW) provides expertise on business management aspects and smart communication, while the VLB Teaching and Research Institute for Brewing in Berlin ("Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei in Berlin e.V.") contributes knowledge of brewing and typical processes in a brewery.
This consortium has already collected initial data, visited breweries, and determined a theoretical flexibilization potential from the load profiles of various facilities. This was compared with the framework conditions of the brewing process and some technical parameters. “We used the data to determine the technically feasible flexibilization potential,” says Yannik Schädler. "This in turn was compared with the business and organizational framework conditions – such as shift rosters. The result was the economically feasible potential for BrewFlex.”
The main result of the project is a website that will help companies to obtain an initial assessment of their individual potential for flexibility and to compare themselves anonymously with other breweries.
Increased Efficiency Is Desired – But How Can it Be Implemented?
The second goal is to help optimize consumption. Discussions with the brewing industry revealed that many SME breweries are definitely looking to increase efficiency. “However, they are unsure which systems they should start with in order to reduce their consumption as quickly as possible,” explains the Bremen engineering scientist. The project developed the idea of providing low-threshold assistance for this development by anonymously comparing the efficiency of a brewery with other breweries of the same size. In concrete terms, this option is also intended to include the ability to compare specific energy consumption by differentiating between individual (energy-intensive) brewery sectors, such as the cooling system or bottling plant. General recommendations for optimization in the individual sectors round off the online tool.
These two tools will soon be made available to the brewing industry on a project website. “The tool does not replace an energy consultant, but provides specific information on whether and where it might be worth consulting one,” says Schädler. “The possibility of an anonymous comparison of efficiency has always been met with a high level of interest in our discussions, so we are looking forward to high user numbers.”
High Savings Potential, Especially in Storage
Preliminary conclusion: It is already clear that a “classic flexibilization” of the process steps of mashing, lautering, boiling, and cooling the wort, as well as bottling has little chance of success (less than five percent savings with high organizational effort). “But we have found that storage offers great potential. Beer is currently cooled to around 0° Celsius for storage, but it can be stored within a 2° Celsius range around this temperature without affecting quality. Postponing cooling by a few hours is a good idea here, for example to make optimum use of the feed-in from a photovoltaic system." The inertia of the system is usually high enough to ensure that the specified temperature range is not abandoned.
The project, which will run until 2025, plans to look at a number of special cases and communicate the results efficiently with industry. Work is also being done on the transferability of the BrewFlex approaches to other sectors.
Further Information:
https://www.bimaq.de/en/research/projekte/brewflex/
www.uni-bremen.de/en/
Contact:
Yannik Schädler
Bremen Institute for Metrology, Automation and Quality Science (BIMAQ)
University of Bremen
Faculty of Production Engineering – Mechanical and Process Engineering
Phone: +49 (0)421 218-64626
Email: y.schaedlerprotect me ?!bimaqprotect me ?!.de
