Capway Systems has opened a test baking facility at its head office in Driebergen, the Netherlands to show how new electro-magnetic wave technology can cut baking time and energy bills.

Netherlands-based Capway, which has a UK base in Leeds, is inviting bakers to test two fully automatic baking lines radio frequency (RF) or microwave (MW) which utilise dielectric heating technology, through electromagnetic waves, for the production of goods such as crustless, white-crust and par-baked products.

Operations manager Robert Kelly told British Baker that the firm had been developing this technology alongside Italian firm Stalam, which develops radio frequency and microwave equipment, and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands in response to the huge drive to reduce energy costs in the baking process.

According to the firm, this technology provides many benefits, including up to 60% shorter baking times and up to a 70% reduction in energy costs. It also enables bakers to have a combination line that can produce bread, baguettes, morning goods, pizzas and other products, both fully baked and par-baked.

Kelly said that despite capacity being around 40-50% less, where traditional baking methods would require a product to bake for 20-25 minutes, the new technology would reduce this to 6-7 minutes.