The food industry’s reliance on hot water for hygiene means that it is an energy intensive process, yet it is often an unrecognised hygiene cost, as utilities spend is managed separately from hygiene chemicals, labour and testing costs.
Innovations (Ozo) announces that it has secured over £600,000 project funding from the Department of Business Energy Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator (IEEA) Programme managed by the Carbon Trust and Jacobs.
The IEEA aims to lower costs and increase the number of available energy efficient technologies for a range of industrial sectors, through demonstration of near to market innovations. This will help to reduce carbon emissions and improve the competitiveness of UK industry. The funding will enable Ozo to substantiate the significant energy savings that could be achieved by implementing Ozo’s eloclear hygiene process.
The project hopes to demonstrate that it is possible to:

•  remove hot water from the food factory hygiene process;
•  reduce the total volume of water used;
•  achieve robust high-quality hygiene outcomes.

Ozo substitutes cold electrolysed water for hot water, which requires significantly less power to produce. Using “cold water” for hygiene further benefits food processors that operate in chilled environments as it reduces condensation and removes the energy costs associated with re-chilling spaces that become warm when cleaned with hot water. The business has been working with leading UK food companies to optimise the technology and help businesses be more sustainable and competitive.
This demonstration project will compare the energy saving benefits of eloclear over the current industry standard of hot water based, multi-step chemical cleaning, across a number of standard hygiene procedures. Results will be published once the project is complete, in around 18 months’ time.
The trial site chosen is a leading maker of sandwiches, recognising that the “food-to-go” standards are some of the most demanding in the food industry.
“Consumers are recognising that their food choices are putting the planet under pressure. We use 70% of our fresh water for food production. Hygiene is an area, which offers an opportunity to save energy and water whilst maintaining or improving standards. This is good for everyone, as better hygiene means we can achieve longer shelf life, reduce food waste and maintain the safety of our food,” said Rowan Gardner, CEO of Ozo. “We are delighted to have the support of Carbon Trust and Jacobs to demonstrate the energy credentials of eloclear.”
Paul Huggins, Director Innovation, the Carbon Trust: “This exciting technology could have a major impact throughout the food industry, radically simplifying the way the sector carry out their hygiene processes. We are looking forward to working with Ozo, and scrutinising both the technical performance and energy saving credentials of the technology.”