Industrial decarbonisation is not just a roadmap paved with good intentions. It's also a reality out the field for Equans clients:the results are in!
Throughout the world, in all industrial sectors, Equans' teams implement tailor-made solutions for reducing emissions. These involve developing electric mobility, using biofuels and renewable energies, recovering waste heat and making use of cutting-edge technologies.
Here are eight concrete examples of how decarbonisation has been implemented in a high-performance, profitable way across the world.
De Halve Maan Brewery Bruges, Belgium
Sustainable HVAC facilities
In 2021, the Equans division that specialises in industrial refrigeration installed an HVAC system for the De Halve Maan brewery's bottling plant. It is made up of an ammonia / glycol refrigeration system. This is a natural refrigerant that has a 300 kW cooling capacity. Biogas, extracted from wastewater, is then used to produce steam. And finally the residual heat recovered is used to heat the building.
A semiconductor plant Marcy, New York State, US
Prefabricated custom modules
For its new silicon carbide semiconductor production plant for electric vehicles, the client wanted an innovative cooling system. Systecon, one of the entities making up Equans, was able to provide it with prefabricated modules, including a high-performance cooling system that involved pumping chilled water. An approach that made it possible to keep to the energy performance targets and the plant's construction schedule.
Haribo, confectionery factory Marseille, France
80% energy savings by recovery waste heat
Haribo has achieved an 80% reduction in the amount of energy needed to produce hot water at its Marseille factory thanks to Axima, an Equans subsidiary. The installation of a refrigeration system involving heat recovery has reduced the company’s dependency on gas – a major aim for the industry. The energy audit conducted in 2019 revealed additional opportunities to optimise energy use that had not yet been explored. The heat evacuated during the production of cooling is captured and then fed back into the manufacturing process. Since its commissioning, a new boiler powered by this waste heat has replaced the gas-fired one. The results are significantly better than expected in terms of energy savings.
The decarbonisation pathway of our industrial model is underpinned by solutions provided by our partner Equans.
said Pascal Bernard, Industrial Director for Haribo France
Ennstal Milch KG Dairy Stainach-Pürgg, Austria
An economical, environmentally-friendly heat pum
At the Ennstal dairy, Equans has implemented an environmentally-friendly NH3-based cooling system, together with a high-temperature heat pump (up to 95°C). The heat pump was successfully integrated into the existing heating system. The UPGRADER 95° combines tried and tested equipment, innovative components and coordinated software, all in a drive to cut energy bills. The investment will have paid off in under five years. And the company’s annual CO2 emissions will be 650 tonnes lower.
DSM Nutritional production facility Sisseln, Switzerland
Replace fossil energy with a renewable energy
The gas-fired boiler system that supplied steam to DSM Nutritional‘s production facility was obsolete. Equans replaced it with a wood-fired CHP plant fuelled by wood chips from the local area. The plant supplies steam to DSM, as well as two neighbouring facilities. What's more, the electricity produced is fed into the local grid. This innovative technology is the first of its kind to be used in Switzerland. Highly efficient, it can reduce annual CO2 emissions by 50,000 tonnes. It has been awarded the Swiss “naturemade star” eco-label.
Innocent Rotterdam, Netherlands
A carbon-neutral factory by 2025
Fruit juice manufacturer Innocent commissioned Equans to design and create an integral sustainable energy system. This all-electric CO2-neutral factory will produce all of its own energy from summer 2024. The solutions that Equans is intending to implement include a 3 MW ground-based photovoltaic system (equivalent to more than 6000 solar panels), a building management system (BMS), an energy management system (EMS), wind turbines and charging terminals for electric cars and lorries.
GKR Scaffolding Ltd, construction company London, UK
Focus on biofuels to achieve net zero
GKR Scaffolding Ltd firmly believes that the construction sector can be more sustainable. That's why it has committed to minimising its environmental impact and has set itself the target of achieving zero. It has reached out to Equans and asked it to put together a zero carbon roadmap for its operations. Switching from diesel to HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) – a biofuel made from vegetable oils and waste (fatty matter, animal waste, cooking oils, etc.) – has already helped reduce emissions by 92%, and is saving 93.3 tonnes of CO2 annually.