Fraunhofer IKTS develops compact technologies and components for indoor farming units

Fruit and vegetables are often transported thousands of kilometres to Germany today. A team from the Fraunhofer IKTS now wants to bring horticulture to the cities with an efficient and compact water, energy and gas management system, thereby also strengthening regional self-sufficiency.

A good quarter of all vegetable and fruit imports came from Spain last year, according to the Federal Statistical Office, and the figure was as high as 50 per cent for peppers and lettuce. In total, Germany imported around 1.6 million tonnes of fruit and 1.3 million tonnes of vegetables from the Iberian Peninsula. Thousands of lorry journeys were necessary for this. In addition, most of the vegetables and fruit are grown in Andalusia, a very dry region where the lack of water and the associated environmental problems have recently worsened.

Bringing profit to the consumer

In view of this situation, Fraunhofer IKTS wants to promote the cultivation of vegetables and fruit in Germany, ideally in close proximity to consumers in urban centres. According to the institute, one solution could be compact, energy-efficient and water-saving greenhouses that can be used for harvesting all year round.

“Instead of transporting thousands of tonnes of vegetables and fruit on the motorways, we want to bring the greenhouses to the consumers,

says Prof. Michael Stelter, Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS in Dresden. “Our goal is to work with medium-sized companies to set up such small plants at numerous locations in Germany – we are talking about indoor farming.”

These compact, efficient greenhouses could be set up on roofs or small open spaces, for example, and could even be arranged on several levels to save space. Experts refer to this as 'protected cultivation' or 'controlled environment agriculture' (CEA).

The entire technology from a single source

The institute offers all the necessary technology from a single source: Water and nutrient recycling, heat and moisture management, lighting and sensor technology to provide the plants with the perfect care.

“At our institute, we have developed many of the components required for this in recent years. We also have the knowledge from other energy and environmental technology projects to integrate the various technologies into an automated and fully digitalised overall system," says Stelter. In this way, the institute aims to enable small and medium-sized companies in particular to enter this market segment or help companies already active in this sector to expand their portfolio. Existing indoor farms can also be supported in becoming more economically successful through efficiency gains.

IKTS technologies mean that the greenhouse can be designed to be significantly smaller than the large plants in Spain or the Netherlands, so that the very compact technology can be accommodated in a small space.

Utilising biomass and waste heat from the region

The cultivation of vegetables and fruit on site in small indoor farming systems also has the advantage that biomass from the region can be used as a nutrient. Fraunhofer IKTS, for example, has developed technologies to process residues from biogas plants into high-quality plant nutrients. Regionality even has another advantage: the plants can be built specifically where synergies arise - for example, close to commercial operations that produce a lot of waste heat. This would cover the heat demand in winter in an environmentally friendly way. In cities, large data centres and server farms that generate a lot of heat can be considered.

Nico Domurath and his team are currently demonstrating how all the technology can be accommodated in a small space using several small-scale indoor farming systems. "We can easily scale these up to meet the needs of future interested parties," he says.

Stelter adds: “We also offer a comprehensive cost and life cycle analysis. We find out which location is best suited and which technologies can be used to achieve the most positive effects. In this way, we want to pave the way for indoor farming to be widely used in Germany.

Further information at: www.ikts.fraunhofer.de

Article from the "Vegan Business Magazine - vegconomist" from 26/09/2023