Food processing and manufacturing can be both energy- and water-intensive. Water is used extensively in food processing, both as an ingredient and in various industrial processes (e.g., cleaning, sanitizing, cooling, cooking), while food processing and manufacturing is responsible for about 23% of energy expenditure in the U.S. food industry. Reducing energy and water consumption can be particularly challenging in the food processing sector since production demands and safety requirements must come first.
SANA is a frozen specialty foods business, which develops and sells private-label products to major retailers and foodservice providers, as well as supplies processed components for other products offered by major consumer brand companies. In June 2020, its facilities caught on fire and were destroyed. In order to maintain the supply of frozen foods to its main clients, SANA temporarily outsourced the manufacturing of its products to external companies. Given the steady demand for its product, even during the interruption of its operations, SANA decided to build a new frozen food processing plant with nearly twice the capacity of the previous plant at a new site.
The plant will produce various frozen specialty foods, such as enchiladas, cabbage rolls, tamales, quesadillas and tacos. The new facility will not only support SANA’s full re-entry into the market with a higher production capacity, it will be more water and energy efficient.
The project consists of the design, construction, and equipping of a frozen food processing plant with a production capacity of 25 million pounds/year. The plant will be built using sustainable construction techniques and thermal efficient construction materials and will have energy and water efficient industrial equipment.
The Sponsor is pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the plant, which will validate the efficient use of energy and other resources related to site development, building characteristics, operational equipment performance, and food production and packaging activities.
In comparison with international standards for an industrial facility with the same production capacity, the Project is expected to use about 49% less water, equivalent to 3,780 m3 (0.8 million gallons)/year, and about 12.7% less electricity, equivalent to 1,251 megawatts-hour/ year. The energy savings will help displace approximately 403 metric tons/year of carbon dioxide (CO2) and 1.4 metric tons/year of nitrogen oxides (NOx).