Industrial heat demand accounts for more than 20% of global energy consumption, making it one of the most important and challenging areas to address in the transition to net zero.
As Matt Hale, global key account director at HRS Heat Exchangers, explains, “the decarbonisation of industrial heat is essential to meet net-zero targets,” and electrification is one of the most obvious routes forward. He notes that the move to electrify industrial heating processes can also deliver “greater energy efficiency and lower energy costs”.
However, the scale of the task is significant. Industry as a whole accounts for around 37% of global energy consumption, and approximately two thirds of this is used for heat generation. Crucially, around 80% of this thermal demand is still met by fossil fuels.
“There are numerous barriers which make the move to electricity challenging,” Hale says, pointing to “economics, technical ability, a lack of knowledge and infrastructure issues” as key constraints that manufacturers must navigate.
Not all industrial heat demand is the same, and the potential for electrification varies widely by sector. According to analysis by McKinsey & Company, manufacturing, food and beverage, and agriculture and forestry are among the industries most reliant on low-temperature heat below 200°C.
Hale highlights that these sectors are also among those with the strongest near-term potential. Manufacturing and food and beverage, in particular, “could see significant potential from electrification in the short to medium term,” with McKinsey projecting electrification rates of 62% and 44% of total energy demand respectively by 2030.
Even so, Hale cautions that progress will not be driven by a single breakthrough technology. “The market has not yet picked technological winners,” he says, with broader market maturity not expected until at least 2030.
A key challenge for manufacturers is selecting the most appropriate electrification technology for each application. Hale emphasises that this depends on multiple factors, including “the required temperature, holding time and process capacity”.
Well-established technologies such as mechanical vapour recompression and heat pumps are suitable for temperatures from around 50°C to above 200°C. Meanwhile, newer solutions such as electric boilers and turbo heaters are becoming increasingly mainstream, capable of delivering temperatures of up to 500°C and 1,000°C respectively.
Rapid advances in induction heating are also expanding its applicability. “Speed of heat pick-up is another important consideration,” Hale notes, explaining that in some cases electric boilers may be favoured over heat pumps due to faster response times.
One area where electrification is already delivering tangible results is food processing. Hale points to juice pasteurisation as a clear example, noting that “ohmic heating has been scientifically shown to be highly effective at inactivating bacteria, yeast and moulds while maintaining the flavours and quality of fruit juice”.
The HRS Ohmic System passes electricity between two electrodes in the product within a one-metre ceramic tube, heating juice to 105°C in just one second. The product is then held at temperature for four seconds before being cooled.
While the principle of ohmic heating is well established, Hale explains that “the HRS system uses the latest electronics to ensure that the temperature curve is very smooth,” helping to preserve product quality while improving process efficiency.
He acknowledges that ohmic heating can involve higher operating and capital costs. “Depending on electricity prices, ohmic heating can be more expensive than traditional methods of pasteurisation,” he says, adding that the ohmic unit often represents “a significant part of the total project cost”.
Despite this, uptake is increasing. “More and more clients around the world are turning to the technique because of proven benefits in terms of product quality,” Hale says, particularly where access to premium ‘as fresh’ markets can justify the investment.
Mechanical vapour recompression has also gained momentum, particularly following the volatility of global energy markets since 2020. Hale notes that this trend is understandable, as “the electrical energy employed in MVR is normally considerably cheaper than the thermal energy needed for traditional evaporation”.
In conventional evaporation systems, energy is supplied via high-temperature service fluids such as pressurised steam generated by gas or oil-fired boilers. In contrast, MVR captures the vapour released during evaporation and compresses it, raising its temperature so it can be reused as the heating medium.
Because the compressor is electrically driven and latent heat is recovered, MVR is widely regarded as one of the lowest-cost evaporation methods in terms of operating expenditure. However, Hale stresses that it is “not always the most suitable or cost-effective solution,” depending on the characteristics of the product or waste stream.
“At HRS we always test any material that any client will be working with,” he says. This allows the company to determine not only the best heat exchanger configuration, but also whether MVR or a traditional thermal-based approach will deliver the best outcome for each project.
Electrifying industrial heating is not a simple transition, and Hale is clear that success depends on informed, application-specific decision-making rather than blanket solutions.
By carefully matching technologies to process requirements, and by weighing efficiency, cost and product quality outcomes, manufacturers can begin to decarbonise heat while maintaining operational performance. As Hale’s insights demonstrate, electrification is already delivering results in targeted applications, and its role within industrial heating is set to expand as technologies and infrastructure continue to mature.