21.03.2023
The Light at the End of the Pipeline
What Happens When There is no More Gas?
What options do MIWE customers have in the face of looming energy shortages?
Due to the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many bakers are asking themselves: What if the gas tap is turned off tomorrow? After all, around two thirds of bakeries in Germany use natural gas as their fuel. And despite significant reductions, around one third of natural gas in Germany still comes from Russia.
Bakers with oil-fired ovens are also watching the development with concern. There are more supply alternatives for oil than for natural gas, but according to the laws of the market, it can only be assumed that a shortage of one fuel will also affect other fuels in the future. This means that they will ultimately also become scarcer, or at least considerably more expensive – including electrical energy, which by the way, is still generated using gas and oil.
- So what will bakers have to expect if there is no more Russian natural gas?
- Are there real, short-term alternatives to the current fossil fuels that could prove to be a promising way out of this predicament?
- Can MIWE ovens also be converted to these alternative fuels?
But above all (and in a much more fundamental sense): What can I do as a baker to effectively counter the cost explosion in the energy sector? These are all questions that are on the minds of many bakers these days and which we, as a leading manufacturer of bakery and oven technology, are also confronted with on a daily basis.
Of course, we cannot predict the future, but we certainly have some answers. We will be presenting these answers throughout the following sections.
What would it mean for bakers if there is no more Russian natural gas?
Germany still gets a considerable amount of its natural gas from Russia. In 2021, the figure was 51 % and in April 2022 it was about 35 %. By the end of 2022, the share of Russian natural gas is expected to drop even further to about 30 %. But even then, a stop to the Russian supply stop would have serious repercussions, especially where gas is needed in large quantities for daily production.
On the other hand, it is important to remember that there is currently a relatively high reserve in the German natural gas storage facilities. At the beginning of June 2022, the level in Germany’s gas storage facilities was over 50 %, which is higher than a year earlier before the war began. With this supply alone, the entire gas consumption in Germany, about half of which flows into industry, trade, services and commerce, could be maintained for about 80 days. Although the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs has shortly reported that there is a disruption in the gas supply in Germany and that it has therefore raised an alert level, there will not yet be an intervention in the general gas distribution.
But what if the alert level, which until recently was “only” on an early warning level, should develop into a veritable emergency level? In other words: Who would get anything if nothing is coming in? In this case, the current German Energy Security Act (Energiesicherungsgesetz) provides for “sovereign” interventions, i. e. regulatory measures, in which the special role of bakeries will certainly be valued. The aim is in fact to “secure the vital need for gas with special consideration for protected customers and minimisation of consequential damage”. With regard to the supply of basic foodstuffs, one may assume, as the German Federal Network Agency currently assures us that bakeries are considered highly relevant to the system and worthy of protection and will therefore be spared from a general gas supply freeze.
Let´s outline the “delivery stop” scenario:
Currently, natural gas continues to flow, but in reduced quantities. In addition, seasonal stockpiling is on the rise and German policymakers are actively engaged in reorganising the supply infrastructure. If supplies were to be cut off, bakeries would in all likelihood be part of the critical infrastructure considered essential, which would still be on the preferred list when it comes to gas supply. So there is no acute shortage at the moment (yet), and a complete stop on supply for bakers is extremely unlikely.
Are there any viable alternatives?
Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, many bakers are asking about alternative fuels and possibilities for retrofitting existing baking oven systems. We will address the options currently under discussion in detail.
Liquid gas instead of natural gas
Even though both are fossil fuels and contain the word ‘gas’ in their names, liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas are by no means the same on a chemical level. Natural gas consists mainly of methane (CH₄) and a mixture of other gases. Liquefied petroleum gas is also a gas mixture, but it consists primarily of the hydrocarbons propane and butane (and should not be confused with LNG, liquefied natural gas; for that see the next section).
It is possible to convert MIWE ovens from natural gas to liquid gas in consultation with a burner technician. However, a suitable infrastructure needs to be created on site for storing the LPG. And it remains to be seen to what extent liquefied petroleum gas, which is mainly produced during the extraction of crude oil and natural gas and in the refining of mineral oil, will actually be spared the current market turbulence and represent a reliable way out of the current situation.
LNG (Liquified Natural Gas)
LNG is not really an alternative to natural gas either, because it is actually just that: natural gas. The difference here is that it is liquefied with a special process under deep cooling and compressed under high pressure to make it easier to store and transport. The advantages and disadvantages are clear. On the one hand, it has a similar high energy density to natural gas and therefore a comparable calorific value. As a ‘liquid’ it is also no longer dependent on pipeline systems that are laid tens of thousands of kilometres over land or under water and can dry up overnight.
Storage and delivery can take place in special tanks and is therefore flexible in a way similar to petroleum – provided that the appropriate delivery terminals are available for acceptance in Germany. Deliveries can then be made from various parts of the world, including from reliable partners such as the USA. However, this fuel also has its downsides, especially in terms of sustainability. Firstly, much of the LNG that is to arrive in Germany in the future is produced in the USA through fracking. Hydraulic fracturing is highly controversial and has been banned in Germany for several years.
Harmful chemicals (which can find their way into drinking water) are used to break up rocks underground and bring the gas to the surface. This gas is then cooled down to -161 °C to -164 °C using a great deal of energy. Long-distance transport further tarnishes the environmental balance of LNG.
The LNG infrastructure in Germany and Europe is currently only under construction, but it is being driven forward with a high priority. MIWE ovens can also be heated with LNG without any issues with only a minor conversion of the burner nozzle. The flue gas routing can remain unchanged.
Hydrogen (H₂)
Suppose there was a basic substance that occurs more frequently in the universe than any other, and yet has three times as much inherent energy as petrol or heating oil. Wouldn’t that be a great approach to solving our dilemma? It certainly would! That substance is called hydrogen.
When we talk about alternatives to and independence from fossil fuels, the only option is of course ‘green’ hydrogen, which is produced from water by electrolysis – ideally using renewable energies. So-called ‘grey’ hydrogen, on the other hand, is itself only produced from fossil fuels, e. g. natural gas that is split into carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and is therefore not a true alternative once natural gas becomes a scarce resource.
Hydrogen has been considered the energy carrier of the future for some time now. It burns without CO₂ emissions and is theoretically available in almost unlimited quantities. However, anyone who remembers their chemistry lessons also knows that the smallest and lightest of all chemical elements is quite challenging to transport and store. The high energy density leads to a great risk of fire and explosion.
Hydrogen is already being used in bakeries today, which many users may not even be aware of. Hydrogen is already being added to natural gas in small quantities. This proportion of hydrogen in natural gas is to be continuously increased and will amount to about 20 % by 2025. MIWE baking ovens are already designed for this admixture. When even higher admixtures come, it may be necessary to adjust the burners. The high energy density mentioned leads to a higher flame temperature, which – depending on the case – may also mean that a combustion chamber has to be replaced. The flue gas routing will remain unchanged one way or the other.
But what about higher admixtures or even pure hydrogen as a fuel? In fact, there are initial research projects that are testing “H₂” burners in the performance class commonly used for production baking ovens – but there is still a long way to go before they are ready for the market. MIWE customers can rest assured, however, that they will be among the first to be offered hydrogen technology once it is ready for the market. In terms of pricing, it is expected that green hydrogen will only be competitive in 2030 at the earliest – strongly dependent on the price of electricity.
E-Fuels
Electrofuels, or e-fuels for short, are synthetic fuels produced from water and carbon dioxide using electrical energy – ideally from renewable sources (power-to-fuel). They have the same properties as their natural fossil counterparts, for example petrol, diesel or paraffin, and their combustion also produces just as many environmentally harmful exhaust gases as conventional fossil fuels.
E-fuels are very close to conventional fossil fuels in their properties. They are produced from water and carbon dioxide with the help of electrical energy. This is energy-intensive and causes the well-known environmentally harmful exhaust gases during use.
These fuels can be stored and transported as usual – and incidentally also used like their fossil counterparts in MIWE oven technology without any further adjustments. The drawback is obvious: production consumes a lot of electricity, which means it is extremely energy-intensive and therefore expensive. Depending on the origin of the electrical energy used, the energy balance of e-fuels is usually very poor, because the energy losses during production are also high. In other words – in practice, hardly a convincing alternative at the moment.
Photovoltaic (PV)
Do you have a space in the sun? Lots of space? To be more precise: A whole lot of space? For example, in the field next to your bakery? Or on a large roof of a hall? Then a photovoltaic system might be a solution for you. To give you at least a ballpark figure when it comes to the space requirements:
If you wanted to heat a MIWE roll-in (1.0608) rack oven in 1-shift operation with electrical energy obtained from a photovoltaic system, you would need almost 1,000 m² of PV surface area, given the power yield of today’s solar cells. If you do not want to be dependent on the time of day, i. e. the current position of the sun, for your production planning, you also need appropriately dimensioned buffer storage, which can quickly become quite expensive.
Despite all the energy efficiency, there is still quite a lot of electrical energy required to run an oven – and the corresponding space would be needed to generate it. But idyllic sunsets also pose a problem in this picture. If baking is done at night, you will also need appropriately sized energy storage units.
So, from the perspective of climate protection, photovoltaic technologies are without question always a great thing. They can make a significant contribution to reducing your electricity costs – and the electricity generated can be used for a wide variety of energy consumers in your bakery. It truly is the most universal form of energy of all the options. If you want to operate oven technology with it, you should ideally rely on electrically operated systems in your facilities and have very large areas available for installing the PV elements.
Pellets (aka: wood chips)
Wood pellets or chips are considered sustainable because wood is a renewable resource. They are also often described as CO₂-neutral because when they are burned, only as much CO₂ is released as was bound during the growth of the wood – albeit in a much shorter time, which makes the overall calculation questionable in the eyes of critical observers!
Wood is also (as we have painfully learned these days) a very limited resource, and its combustion generates quite a high level of particulate matter – it is no coincidence that the requirements of the German Wood Stove Ordinance (Kaminofenverordnung) are becoming more and more stringent with each amendment. If the pellets are to be used directly to heat the flue gas in the baking chamber – as is the case with gas or oil – a proper solution to the ash problem would also have to be found, which is why we do not currently consider direct heating with pellet burners to be a convincing alternative to clean-burning energy sources. On the other hand, these kinds of solutions are conceivable for indirect heating – for example in a central boiler room.
Looking to convert your oven? Contact us now!
Summary of alternative fuels
The summary shows that while there are alternative fuels that could be used quickly without any major conversions, such as LNG, LPG or e-fuels, they are all either waste products from the production and processing of classic fossil energy sources and/or they require such a high energy input that they are likely to cause even far higher energy costs than conventional energy sources. On the one hand, the promising fuel option of hydrogen is fraught with not insignificant safety risks, and on the other hand, it is not yet truly usable within a short period of time considering the requirements of bakeries. Special solutions may mark a viable path in individual cases, for example if bakers with their own forest plots behind their bakery can sustainably heat their boiler centres with wood pellets, or other bakers have so much roof and open space available that they can rely on solar electricity as a fuel.
In any case, there is no magic wand that could be used to help all bakers out of a looming supply dilemma in the short term without major expense. But this doesn’t mean that bakers can’t do anything to counter the impending cost explosion in the energy sector.
What you can do today
The key to reducing costs in a bakery is saving energy consistently. The advantage here is that it is effective regardless of the energy source used, be it gas, oil, electricity or an alternative fuel. And that is all the more worthwhile the more expensive energy becomes. The use of more efficient systems and an efficient energy recovery concept, as well as optimising operational processes, generally offers much greater savings potential than simply converting existing technology to other fuels.
How can we be so sure of all this? Because since establishing the MIWE energy business segment in 2009, we have assisted more than 220 companies in reducing their emissions and energy costs through our heat recovery solutions, helping them save a total of more than 75,000 tonnes of CO₂ to date. Added to this are several megawatt hours of total energy savings from our many customers who have opted for the energy-saving e⁺ solutions (current figures: Sustainability at MIWE). It is for good reason that MIWE is considered a pioneer and the clear technology leader in the field of energy-efficient bakeries.
One component of saving energy can indeed be investing in new, highly energy-efficient system technology, e. g. in the rack oven MIWE roll-in e⁺ or in the fully automatic proofer MIWE GVA e⁺. This is especially true if the existing systems are already getting on in years. Experience shows that the most valuable energy in a cost-cutting initiative is the energy that doesn’t have to be used in the first place.
Another approach here can be to retrofit the existing system technology with efficient systems for energy recovery in order to increase the overall utilisation rate of the energy used. The first technology that should be mentioned here is the MIWE eco:nova, the universal, highly efficient recovery system for oven systems. This makes it possible to recover about a quarter of the energy costs spent when baking. It is so efficient because it uses the energy of flue gas AND steam – and separately at that – depending on how physically advantageous it is. Thanks to constant forced extraction, it also improves draught conditions and with it usually also the baking results.
If energy is primarily to be recovered from the flue gas, the MIWE eco:box is an alternative that is available in a variety of sizes and performance classes for ovens and central heating boilers. However, even the best energy recovery is useless if it is not integrated into a sensible utilisation strategy. After all, it won’t help if hot water is dripping out of your recovery unit around the clock if you have no use for it. That means that when designing the recovery system, it should already be clear what the recovered energy can be used for – and whether this can be feasibly demonstrated for use both in the winter and summer. Because only then will the amortisation calculations, a given at MIWE, make sense.
It may be good to point out here that in our projects with customers, we have never promised more than we are actually able to deliver to them. That’s the kind of professionalism and fairness that makes the difference.
Of course, you will see the greatest benefits if an energy monitoring system such as MIWE eco:control is installed at the same time, which can record and visualise all energy flows in the bakery. Based on these energy protocols, an experienced analyst can immediately recognise situations and constellations where significant energy savings are possible.
Often, the first valuable clues come from simply taking a closer look at what is happening in the bakery. Are the ovens ready to bake right on time or far too early? Is the energy in the residual warmth in the ovens or baking chambers used consistently? Do the ovens also switch to eco mode when baking is finished? It may also be possible to increase energy potential through process changes:
If you have been using refrigerated trucks to deliver your products from central production to the shop for baking, a process such as MIWE smartproof could be a beneficial idea for you.
Immediately after dough processing, the dough piece is rapidly cooled on boards to a temperature of around +6 °C (in the MIWE SF-D), which means it can be stored for up to 36 hours and can be transported to the branch for baking without the need for cooling. Do you freeze uncooked or cooked dough pieces? Similar to heating, cooling requires more energy for each degree removed from the ambient temperature – but especially for the phase transition at 0 °C. So instead of freezing products for storage, keeping products in the low positive temperature range (for example by using the scheduled proofing feature in the fully automatic proofer MIWE GVA) can already produce an adequate shelf life and even improve the taste and quality thanks to the continued enzyme activity.
In any case, the options for doing something concrete are as diverse as the product ranges and production concepts found at bakeries themselves. The easiest option to implement – switching to a different fuel, for example – is not necessarily the most effective solution. Other approaches involving changes in processes, recipes or process parameters, usually do mean increased effort initially, but afterwards usually bring much more in returns.
This is why it is a good idea to work with partners who have the expertise in baking technology needed as well as the technical knowledge when it comes to measures that can be taken to reduce energy costs. Because that is the only way to achieve what is ultimately the decisive factor in your success: better baking, better business.
Curious to know more? Then contact us and find out more about MIWE energy products.
Technology for central production
From production ovens with loading and transport to bakery refrigeration technology and energy efficiency systems. On our website you will find an overview of our solutions for your bakery and, of course, all the details about our technology for central productions.
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