Heat recovery and mechanical chimney draught control for industrial coffee roasteries

Heat recovery and chimney draught control in production plants are an efficient option for reducing production costs and energy consumption. Not only does it benefit the manufacturer to reduce production costs and thereby increasing profits. It has extensive environmental implications, because the CO₂-footprint is reduced.

Coffee roasting plants produce large amounts of waste heat in form of hot air exhaust, which could otherwise be exploited in the production process. As far as chimney draught, the steam is usually discharged through a chimney that needs consistent draught to ensure that the steam is effectively removed from the production area.

This chimney draught control in the production plant is done by implementing chimney fans to control the speed and direction. External conditions, such as temperature, pressure or wind conditions can drastically change the amount of energy needed to keep the flow of steam consistent and at the proper level.

exodraft solves a major problem in the production process by installing mechanical chimney fans that are independent of external conditions, always maintaining uniform draught regardless of temperature, wind, or pressure.

Coffee roasting plants consist of several production phases where large amounts of heat are wasted, providing a great opportunity to use exodraft’s heat recovery systems. The process works by capturing the wasted heat using exodraft’s heat exchangers and converting the heat energy to hot water. Subsequently, this hot water is stored in things like buffer tanks for use later.

Roasting coffee beans is normally done at a temperature of more than 200°C. When the coffee beans have finished roasting, which usually takes about 20 minutes, they are cooled.

Important heat producing elements at a coffee roastery include the steam, which is discharged from drums during the coffee roasting, exhaust gasses during the drying process, emission of gasses in the main boiler, as well as other processes.

These processes emit heat at high temperatures above 170°C, which can be used for various manufacturing purposes. exodraft’s heat recovery system provides many options, such as using the hot water obtained from this waste heat for cleaning or reuse in form of steam or hot air for the drying or roasting processes.

Using chimney fans for chimney draught control in coffee roasteries is also very advantageous. Exhaust air generated in the process, such as when roasting or from the main boiler, can be controlled using exodraft’s chimney fans. The regulate the draft independently of external conditions. Ultimately, they reduce energy consumption during the production process, which reduces both cost and CO₂ emissions.

exodraft provides efficient solutions for any production plant. Our team of experts look forward to helping you plan the best possible heat recovery system. Both the amount of reusable energy and a feasibility plan with return of investment over time will be worked out ahead of time. This helps in analyzing which heat sources would be beneficial as part of the heat recovery, and the extent to which your production process will benefit from it.