Cogeneration Helps Reduce Malting Costs: Adelaide Malting Pty Ltd
Adelaide Malting is using natural-gas cogeneration as an energy-efficient alternative to electricity-powered malt drying technology. As well as replacing electricity as the power source, cogeneration has boosted plant capacity by 20 percent.
Background
Adelaide Malting, part of the Coopers Brewery Group of Companies, produces barley malt for the local, interstate and overseas beer-brewing industry.
The company operates from modern facilities at Cavan, about 10 kms north of Adelaide, South Australia. It has a full-time staff of 20, an annual turnover of $20-25 million, and is the third largest maltster in Australia. Current annual production of malted barley is 64,000 metric tonnes (mt).
Adelaide Malting is the first maltster in Australia to be accredited with the ISO 9002 quality systems accreditation.
The Process
In the malting process, barley undergoes steeping (soaking), germination and kilning (drying).
Adelaide Malting has two production units on the one site, which both utilise common barley and malt storage, barley and malt cleaning, steep water and refrigeration facilities.
Plant No.1 operates at its designed capacity of 24,000 mt per annum. Plant 2 has four germination boxes giving a capacity of 40,000 mt per annum.
Computerised facilities ensure that humidity and temperature produce ideal germination rates. As well, daily batch analysis of malt in process ensures that the resultant product will contribute most efficiently to the subsequent brewing process.
In kilning, fans blow large volumes of air, preheated to 70 to 80 degrees Celsius, to remove water from wet grain.
Prior to installation of cogeneration, air was heated by a natural gas direct fired Low Nox burner system and blown through the grain beds using three, 70 kW electric fans.
-
Most popular related searches
Customer comments
No comments were found for Cogeneration Helps Reduce Malting Costs: Adelaide Malting Pty Ltd. Be the first to comment!