Energy consumption and analysis of industrial drying plants for fresh pasta process

The article presents results concerning the energy needs and the CO2 emissions resulting from the production process of a small factory (located in Molise region) producing fresh pasta. Two production processes are responsible for the most of energy demand. The pasteurisation and the drying processes are responsible for the 50% of the electricity consumption and the whole thermal energy. Therefore innovative solutions have been studied in order to limit the energy requirements and the CO₂ emissions. Such solutions take into account the adoption of high-efficiency motors and heat recovery in the main processes.