Achieving goals of the World Water Conference faster with CleanSmoke
Freshwater is considered one of the nine planetary boundaries that should not be exceeded. Therefore, during the World Water Week in August, solutions were developed to address global challenges. To name a few: water scarcity, climate change, food security or poverty. CleanSmoke’s smoking technology can help achieve the conference’s goal – Building Resilience Faster. “Smokehouses, as well as retailers and consumers, can easily reduce water consumption with CleanSmoke,” says Uwe Vogel. He is chairman of the CleanSmoke Coalition, a joint initiative of primary smoke product manufacturers, food producers and retailers. “In this way, we protect resources and therefore make our contribution to climate protection.”
CleanSmoke is an innovative smoking technology that saves about 90 percent water compared to conventional smoking methods. CleanSmoke is a stable smoke freshly produced from pre-cleaned primary smoke condensate. Not only because of its high environmental relevance, the European Union has named the technology “Best Available Technique” for food production.
CleanSmoke uses less than one-seventh of the water
Smokehouses using CleanSmoke use around 37 liters of water per ton of food smoked to clean their equipment. This was shown in a life cycle assessment by the German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL). Indirect water consumption for plant growth and logging is about seven liters. In contrast, conventional smoking with friction or smoldering smoke uses 301 liters per ton of meat for cleaning. On top of that about 38 liters are used for tree growth and harvesting, according to the DIL.
If all smokehouses in Germany, for example, were to work with CleanSmoke, consumption would be around 66,000 cubic meters (m3) of water for cleaning the smokehouses, according to the DIL, a good 15 percent of which is used for raw material production. Indirect consumption for irrigation, on the other hand, is relatively low at 6,800 m3. In conventional smoking, both direct consumption for cleaning and indirect consumption for plant irrigation are significantly greater, at 545,000 and just under 357,000 m3, respectively. According to the DIL, 479,000 m3 of water could therefore be saved in the cleaning of the smoking plants alone. This corresponds to the annual consumption of large cities such as Kiel or Gelsenkirchen. In addition, another 350,000 m3 of water could be saved within the supply chain. This is how much is needed to produce cotton for jeans and T-shirts by 35,000 people.
More than 2,600 metric tons of detergents and chemicals saved
However, the use of CleanSmoke not only relieves water reserves, but also wastewater. This is because fewer cleaning agents and chemicals are needed, which makes a noticeable contribution to better water quality. Every year, 2,600 tons less cleaning agents and 40 tons less chemicals would have to be treated in Germany alone. This reduces the cost of purification and saves municipalities immense expenses for water treatment. Studies in Denmark have shown that a smokehouse with about 100 tons of weekly production uses about 15 percent less cleaning agents. The savings are about 1,600 euros per month. Another 1,000 euros for unnecessary cleaning work would be added. Smokehouses could therefore show that they have recognized the value of water for a climate-smart future by switching to CleanSmoke.