EHEDG Certified and 3A-SSI authorized Machinery component

Published in: Food processing and pharmaceutical equipment

EHEDG Certified Design to Reduce Energy Costs in Food, Biotech and Pharma

Published on: 6. April 2026

How EHEDG Certified Design Avoid Skyrocketing Energy Costs

Rising utility prices punish every unnecessary cleaning cycle, every extra litre of hot water, and every hour of avoidable downtime. That is why hygienic design now matters far beyond compliance. EHEDG itself now explicitly connects hygienic engineering and design with lower energy use, lower water consumption, lower chemical input, and less product waste, while still treating food safety as non-negotiable. EHEDG also frames hygienic design as part of efficient and sustainable operations, not just sanitation.

For plant managers in food processing, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical production, the real question is not whether hygiene matters. The real question is whether equipment design forces your team to spend too much energy cleaning, reheating, drying, sterilising, dismantling, and restarting. EHEDG’s own training for food, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries states that proper hygienic design can reduce downtime, maintenance costs, cleaning costs, and environmental impact. FDA equipment guidance for drug manufacturing points in the same direction by requiring equipment design that facilitates cleaning and maintenance.

Product Line Contact

Why energy costs spiral in hygienic production

Energy bills rarely surge because of one dramatic failure. More often, plants lose money through repeated inefficiencies built into the equipment and layout. Poor drainability leaves rinse water behind. Rough or inaccessible areas demand longer cleaning. Harborage points increase fouling risk, which can trigger more aggressive washdowns, hotter cleaning media, longer circulation times, extra drying, and more rejected product. EHEDG states plainly that poorly designed entities are difficult to clean, and it highlights energy consumption as one of the four sustainability elements most affected by hygienic design.

In practice, energy costs usually rise through a chain reaction:

Longer CIP or washdown cycles use more heated water and pump energy.
Poor drainability increases drying demand and extends turnaround time.
Difficult-to-clean zones push teams toward stronger chemical and thermal regimes.
Frequent disassembly and reassembly add labour, delay restarts, and increase utility use per batch.
Design-related contamination risk can drive rework, waste, and lost production hours.

What EHEDG certified design changes

EHEDG certification is not a marketing adjective. EHEDG says certification relies on a design review against the relevant guidelines and, where appropriate, testing according to EHEDG test methods. Every product considered for certification is evaluated by an EHEDG Authorised Evaluation Officer, and equipment that needs testing must also go through an EHEDG Authorised Test Laboratory before certification is accepted.

That matters because energy savings do not come from the logo alone. They come from the design disciplines behind the logo: cleanability, drainability, material suitability, reduced dead zones, appropriate joints, and easier verification. EHEDG’s public material on cleaning optimisation states that drainability allows circuits to be flushed with minimum water consumption and that a validated cleaning baseline can reduce chemicals, energy, water, labour, downtime, and effluents.

The comparison below shows the usual operational difference.

Design factor	Conventional difficult-to-clean design	EHEDG certified design approach	Likely cost effect
Drainability	Retained liquid, slow emptying, extra drying	Promotes drainage and easier flushing	Lower water-heating and drying demand
Cleanability	Hidden zones and longer cleaning cycles	Design reviewed and tested for easy cleanability where required	Lower CIP time and lower pump/runtime energy
Construction details	More crevices, awkward joints, inaccessible surfaces	Built around hygienic design criteria and relevant guideline review	Less fouling and fewer repeat cleans
Validation confidence	More uncertainty after cleaning	Defined evaluation and certification route	Fewer over-conservative cleaning routines
Turnaround	Longer cleaning-to-production gap	Faster restart potential through easier cleaning	Better OEE and less energy per batch

This table is a practical synthesis of EHEDG’s guidance on cleanability, drainability, certification, and cleaning optimisation. Actual savings depend on product soil, cleaning chemistry, batch profile, temperature setpoints, and plant discipline.

Usage in food processing

Food plants feel the benefit first because they often run frequent washdowns, temperature-sensitive products, and short production windows. In those conditions, every extra rinse, every delayed drying step, and every avoidable teardown increases the cost per shift. EHEDG’s sustainability white paper places energy, water, chemicals, and product waste at the centre of hygienic design decisions for food production. Its mission also links hygienic design with productivity and sustainability, not only food safety.

A food processor can therefore use EHEDG certified design to support lower-energy operations in several ways:

Shorter, more repeatable cleaning routines.
Better drainability and less retained rinse water.
Reduced need for excessive thermal or chemical intensity.
Lower product loss from contamination-prone design details.
Faster production restart after sanitation.

Relevance for biotechnology and pharmaceutical operations

EHEDG certification grew from food-processing needs, so users should state that clearly. Still, EHEDG’s own training and advanced courses explicitly cover biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and the curriculum includes materials of construction, cleaning and disinfection, welding, pumps, valves, layout, and verification methods. Meanwhile, FDA cGMP guidance requires equipment that facilitates cleaning and maintenance and uses contact surfaces that do not compromise product quality.

That overlap makes EHEDG-style hygienic design highly relevant in biotech and pharma environments where operators want to reduce utility consumption without weakening cleaning validation. Bioprocess and pharma teams often spend heavily on WFI systems, clean steam, heated CIP media, HVAC recovery, and batch turnaround. When equipment drains fully, cleans predictably, and avoids residue traps, those plants can optimise validated cleaning routines rather than compensating for poor geometry with more time, more heat, or more chemistry. EHEDG itself notes that system design must adapt to modern cleaning and sterilisation regimes and that hygienic design still offers potential to reduce drying time.

Material matters, but design discipline matters more

Material choice supports hygienic performance, yet design still drives the final result. EHEDG’s materials guideline says manufacturers must select and use metals, elastomers, and plastics effectively, while also considering failure mechanisms and manufacturing effects. Its training framework likewise treats materials of construction as one part of a wider hygienic design system that also includes cleaning, layout, welding, seals, and verification.

That means buyers should not stop at “stainless steel” on a datasheet. Corrosion resistance, surface condition, joint quality, elastomer compatibility, drainage geometry, and cleanability under the intended process all matter. EHEDG also makes clear that food-contact material compliance remains the manufacturer’s responsibility, even when certification is pursued.

Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness

EHEDG has operated since 1989 and describes itself as a global foundation dedicated to hygienic design and engineering expertise. Its guidelines come from expert working groups using a consensus-based approach, and all documents follow a five-year review policy. The organisation now counts more than 750 members worldwide, maintains over 50 published documents, and supports certification through authorised evaluation officers and authorised testing laboratories.

That level of structure matters for SEO as well as procurement credibility. Buyers trust claims when a supplier can show independent design review, applicable testing, current certificates, relevant material declarations, and a clear explanation of how the equipment reduces cleaning burden. In other words, trust grows when a manufacturer proves cleanability instead of only describing it. EHEDG’s certification process and public database help support that proof.

A practical buying checklist for lower-energy hygienic design

Before you buy, ask these questions:

Does the component hold a current EHEDG certificate, and what class does it hold?
Was it only design reviewed, or did it also undergo cleanability testing where appropriate?
How does the design promote drainability and reduce retained liquid?
Which materials and elastomers match your product, chemistry, and cleaning regime?
Can the supplier explain how the design supports shorter cleaning, faster drying, and lower total utility use?

EHEDG Certified Components Support Long-Term Energy Savings

EHEDG certified design helps plants avoid skyrocketing energy costs because it attacks the hidden causes of utility waste: poor cleanability, poor drainability, excessive cleaning intensity, long turnaround times, and avoidable product loss. Food manufacturers see the most direct link today, yet biotechnology and pharmaceutical operations can apply the same hygienic design logic where cleanability, material suitability, and validated maintenance matter just as much. Energy savings are never automatic, but well-designed, independently reviewed hygienic equipment gives engineering teams a far stronger base for lowering energy, water, chemicals, downtime, and waste without compromising safety.