Ozo Innovations Awarded Funding to Prove the Energy Efficiency of Novel Hygiene Solution in Food Industry

OXFORD, England, January 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Ozo Innovations (Ozo) announces that it has secured over £600,000 project funding from the Department of Business Energy Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator (IEEA) Programme managed by the Carbon Trust and Jacobs.

     (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/815085/Ozo_Innovations.jpg )

The IEEA aims to lower costs and increase the number of available energy efficient technologies for a range of industrial sectors, through demonstration of near to market innovations. This will help to reduce carbon emissions and improve the competitiveness of UK industry. The funding will enable Ozo to substantiate the significant energy savings that could be achieved by implementing Ozo's eloclear® hygiene process.

The project hopes to demonstrate that it is possible to:

• remove hot water from the food factory hygiene process;
• reduce the total volume of water used; and
• achieve robust high-quality hygiene outcomes.

The food industry's reliance on hot water for hygiene means that it is an energy intensive process, yet it is often an unrecognised hygiene cost, as utilities spend is managed separately from hygiene chemicals, labour and testing costs.

Ozo substitutes cold electrolysed water for hot water, which requires significantly less power to produce. Using "cold water" for hygiene further benefits food processors that operate in chilled environments as it reduces condensation and removes the energy costs associated with re-chilling spaces that become warm when cleaned with hot water. The business has been working with leading UK food companies to optimise the technology and help businesses be more sustainable and competitive.  

This demonstration project will compare the energy saving benefits of eloclear over the current industry standard of hot water based, multi-step chemical cleaning, across a number of standard hygiene procedures. Results will be published once the project is complete, in around 18 months' time.

The trial site chosen is a leading maker of sandwiches, recognising that the "food-to-go" standards are some of the most demanding in the food industry.

"Consumers are recognising that their food choices are putting the planet under pressure. We use 70% of our fresh water for food production. Hygiene is an area, which offers an opportunity to save energy and water whilst maintaining or improving standards. This is good for everyone, as better hygiene means we can achieve longer shelf life, reduce food waste and maintain the safety of our food," said Rowan Gardner, CEO of Ozo. "We are delighted to have the support of Carbon Trust and Jacobs to demonstrate the energy credentials of eloclear."

Paul Huggins, Director Innovation, the Carbon Trust: "This exciting technology could have a major impact throughout the food industry, radically simplifying the way the sector carry out their hygiene processes. We are looking forward to working with Ozo, and scrutinising both the technical performance and energy saving credentials of the technology."

About Ozo Innovations  

Ozo develops and markets novel products for effective cleaning and disinfection, and food safety applications. The company's systems transform food grade salt and water into powerful disinfectants using electrolysis. The company works with leading food companies, authorities and retailers to prove the safety and efficiency of their approach. Ozo delivers benefits that are significant and quantifiable and add competitive advantage to the food industry:

• Additional production capacity - saving time cleaning and achieving more robust hygiene outcomes delivers more time for production
• Resource savings - Reducing energy, water, effluent and manpower spent on food hygiene and facilities cleaning and disinfections
• Significant new value opportunities - through process innovation, product quality and risk reduction

Ozo's products are in situ biocides for the purposes of EU (528/2012) Biocide Product Regulations (BPR). The company is listed on Article 95 as a provider of active substances.

eloclear® is a registered Trade Mark of Ozo Innovations Ltd.

About IEEA 

• The IEEA is four-year, £9.2m programme funded by BEIS. The Carbon Trust and Jacobs manage the programme, in addition to providing project management and incubation assistance to the participating companies. The IEEA is designed to support partnerships between developers of innovative energy efficient technologies and industrial companies willing to test technologies on-site. The programme is open to projects from all UK industry sectors that can demonstrate either a novel technology (targeting Technology Readiness Level 5-8), or the use of an established technology in a novel way.
• The BEIS IEEA allows promising innovators to demonstrate their technology in an operational environment and increase confidence from potential users. The BEIS IEEA also provides forward-looking industrial companies with an opportunity to implement pioneering technologies with decreased risk and capital cost.

For further information, please contact:
Lisa Holloway
Marketing Manager
Ozo Innovations
Email: pr@ozoinnovations.com
Tel: +44-(0)-1865-891012