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Members of the Institute of Engineering Desalination and Alternative Energy (iiDEA) , part of the UNAM , created the first geothermal food dehydrator.
It is useful for processing fruits such as pineapple, mango or avocado, and any other type of food such as chili, alfalfa, and even meat, and is able to dehydrate around 600 kilograms of product per day.
Around 40% of food, 20.4 million tons per year, is wasted in Mexico according to numbers from the report “ Losses and Waste of Food in Mexico ”, presented by the World Bank.
The prototype will soon be installed in a geothermoelectric field located in the municipality of San Pedro Lagunillas, Nayarit , where it has the capacity to generate 35 MW in a 25 MW condensation system, and two at a back pressure of 5 MW each.
In this agricultural region, the hot water wells that generate electricity still have an energetic remnant that will be used to dehydrate the food.
Through the use of geothermal energy , the heat generated by the planet, water is extracted from food without altering its nutrients and other properties.
The goal is to avoid waste and export the products to the United States and Europe , the UNAM said in a statement.
It is possible to extend the lifetime of the products through the dehydration process , which is also friendly to the environment while giving new use to geothermal energy.
This was stated by the researcher of the Institute of Engineering and member of the group, Héctor Miguel Aviña Jiménez , and the general manager of PI INGENERA, Daniel González Orellana .
It is expected that this project will spark the economic development of the region because producers won't have to sell their crops quickly.
"Not only will the losses decrease, but there will be between 60 and 70 direct jobs, and an equal number of indirect jobs.”
Aviña Jiménez
explained that there are dehydrators that work with gas and solar energy, but the geothermal energy has the advantage of working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and it's not affected by factors such as cloudiness.
He also emphasized that energy is not only constant but clean , compared to gas , as its combustion generates pollutants .
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