Industrial Heat Pump Opportunities for Food Processing

California has over 6,500 food and beverage manufacturing plants.  Most of these facilities use natural gas to heat relatively low-temperature hot water for cooking and cleaning requirements. Electrically powered industrial heat pumps (“IHP(s)”) can replace these hot water boilers with large energy and emissions savings. Energy and emission savings result because the efficiency (coefficient of performance) of process-integrated heat pumps is 300% higher than natural gas fired boilers. However, adoption remains low due to integration complexity, California’s high electricity prices, and high upfront costs. UC Davis’s preliminary analyses show that integration complexity can be reduced using pinch analysis and linked analysis tools. Further, the electricity price hurdle can be reduced by combining heat pumps with thermal energy storage (“TES”) to avoid increased demand charges. However, more case studies on real facilities with real electricity and natural gas pricing are needed to extend these methods and improve understanding of overall project economics. These case studies would provide valuable insights into the potential level of financial incentives needed to accelerate adoption and the associated energy and emission savings.  This project will:  Conduct preliminary IHP retrofit assessments for two (2) California food and beverage manufacturing plants and utilize results from a third recently completed assessment.  Perform retrofit assessments at one (1) plant each in each of California’s large investor-owned utility (“IOU(s)”) service territories to understand the impact of the relevant electric rate schedules.  Undertake assessments using methodology that may include pinch analysis of thermal loads, thermal storage and heat pump capacity optimization, system simulation, and economic analyses.  Compare the results from the three (3) assessments to identify savings metrics, barriers, and opportunities to accelerate adoption. Provide guidance on the use of heat integration tools and criteria for performing process-integrated heat pump studies.   Through these objectives, the project aims to demonstrate a repeatable methodology for process-integrated IHP assessments and provide insights into techno-economic potential of IHPs in food manufacturing sectors across the three (3) IOU territories and their respective industrial tariffs.  This project builds upon earlier work including emerging technology project number ET23SWE0036: “Industrial Heat Pump Market Study”, which identified the food and beverage sector as one where both heating and cooling can be supplied using process-integrated heat pump systems improving their techno-economic viability. Furthermore, it would augment current work under emerging technology project number ET25SWE0056: “Industrial Process Water Heat Pump”, which is exploring air-source heat pump design as compared to this project’s process-integrated heat pump approach. This project aligns with the “Refrigeration, Commercial & Industrial" and the “Process Heating Technology” research areas of the 2025 process loads Technology Priority Map (“TPM”).  The “Project Plan” will be carried out by UC Davis and its associated subcontractor, Cascade Energy Engineering (“Cascade Energy”), who will be referred to herein collectively as the “Project Team”.