GORINCHEM, THE NETHERLANDS — AMF Bakery Systems, a global supplier of bakery equipment, introduced an emission-free, hydrogen-fueled tunnel oven. The modular Multibake VITA Tunnel Oven by AMF Den Boer allows bakers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 99.9% within the baking process.

While commercial ovens commonly use natural gas to heat ovens, the VITA Tunnel Oven uses green hydrogen, a CO2-neutral fuel to activate burners. As a result, the system reduces CO2 emissions from the oven while also reducing the cost of utilities.

“We have been manufacturing tunnel or band ovens for more than a century,” said Fabiano Malara, vice president of EMEA/AP for AMF. “As part of our global mission, we strive for continuous improvement in all that we do and will continue to introduce breakthrough innovations like the Multibake VITA Tunnel Oven to help our bakery and food producing customers — both large and small — meet sustainability objectives, and bake the best breads or pizzas.”

Performance tests and customer evaluations have been conducted on the patent-pending oven at the AMF Innovation Center in Gorinchem. Remco Bijkerk, executive product manager for AMF Den Boer invited bakers looking to increase their sustainability efforts to test out the equipment at the facility.

 “We are confident many food producers will make the upgrade as we see growing urgency for sustainability measures in baking,” he said. “We can even retro-fit this technology into existing ovens that are already in the field.”