DefinePK

Abstract

Energy study was conducted in a wheat processing plant in Nigeria, to determine the energy consumption pattern for the production of flour. Process analysis method of energy was adopted to evaluate the energy requirement for each of the operations involved in the processing of wheat. The analysis revealed that eight defined unit operations were required for the production of wheat flour. The types of energy used in the processing of wheat flour were electrical and manual with the respective proportions of 99.87 and 0.13% of the total energy. Average energy intensity was estimated to be 0.101 MJ/Kg for the production of wheat flour. The most energy intensive operation was identified as the milling unit with energy intensity of 0.073 MJ/kg (72.20%) followed by the packaging unit using 0.015 MJ/kg (14.39%). Optimization of the milling process is suggested to make the system energy efficient.