The Project

Dejaeghere, a company specializing in the processing of frozen fruits and vegetables in Langemark, wanted to expand its production capacity by 20%. This expansion required a comprehensive energy study as part of the environmental permit process.

The Assignment

When significantly expanding an industrial production process, several questions arise:

What will be the annual energy consumption of the new systems?

Do the processes meet current energy efficiency standards?

Which technologies offer the best return on investment at an acceptable cost?

How can we minimize residual energy and heat loss?

Ingenium's Approach

Energy Calculation & Efficiency Audit

We analyzed the expected annual energy consumption of the expansion and evaluated all production processes for potential energy efficiency improvements. This gave Dejaeghere a clear understanding of the plans’ energy footprint.

Best Available Technique

When selecting new systems, we focused on implementing the best available technology that remained economically feasible—striking a balance between maximum efficiency and realistic investment costs.

Heat Recovery as the Cornerstone

The core idea: don’t waste heat. We identified three specific opportunities:

• Cooling water as a source: Waste heat from the cooling process was used to heat the cleaning water
• Preheating of steam boilers: The same residual heat was used to preheat the feedwater for the steam boilers
• Heat pump for high-temperature applications: The residual heat was upgraded using a heat pump, making it available for processes with higher temperature requirements

The Result

This integrated approach significantly improves the energy performance of Dejaeghere’s expansion. The company can expand in a future-proof manner, complies with all regulations, and achieves sustainable savings on energy costs at the same time.

The Learning Moment

This project illustrates how an energy study conducted as part of the environmental permitting process is not merely an administrative requirement, but an opportunity to optimize industrial processes. By identifying heat flows early on and strategically deploying technologies, win-win situations are created: improved regulatory compliance, lower operating costs, and a smaller environmental footprint.

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