Miller Magazine Issue: 138 June 2021

75 TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM MILLER / june 2021 No risk for machines and equipment, as we just go to temperatures in a range between 52-58C° there is no risk for machines and electronic parts. Flexible method, the heat treatment can be used only in single rooms or building parts. As there is no evac- uation needed, other lines can be still in operation as there is no evacuation of the complete production site required. Safety, as our heat treatment is 100% free of poison there is no risk for employees. A visit in the rooms during a heat treatment is highly recommended as hiding plac- es of insects will become visible. Permissions and cooperation’s with local authorities are not required compare to a fumigation. What is the difference between your Termico equip- ment compare to other available solutions in the mar- ket for heat treatment? When we founded Termico in 2015 we evaluated all available equipment in the market and decided at the end to develop our own machines. Very popular in the market are solutions with oil and gas burners to per- form heat treatment, the so-called pressurized method. Air from outside the building is heated and blown in the building. However, the overall energy costs for a heat treatment are 2-3 times higher compare to the recircula- tion electric system which we are using now. As well the fact to operate with burners on milling site didn’t con- vince us from a safety perspective. The outbreak of the coronavirus has caused one of the most significant macroeconomic shocks of the early 21st century. How COVID-19 pandemic has af- fected the grain and food processing industries? How will this pandemic change the future of your industry? For us as a young start up the pandemic was in the first months a shock. Our customers were mainly flour mills out of Europe, which we couldn’t visit anymore. So, we took the pandemic as opportunity to establish relationships with millers in Europe and developed services according to their needs as for example our heat treatment services or our intelligent cleaning robot Kari. However, we learned as well that many things can be done remotely through a Termico-Silo THT, heat treatment unit to perform heat treatment in flour silo and grain silos.