Optimised processing
Energy is required throughout the dairy supply chain. Examples listed in this key area are focused on reducing energy use.
SLLC Food Grade Anti-fouling Coatings - China, Australia
| Source : University of Melbourne - Zibo ZCYH Bio-technologies Co., Ltd. |
The SLLC food grade anti-fouling technology can provide an anti-fouling film on the stainless steel heat exchanger surface to avoid or minimize fouling (milk protein fouling and water scaling) during milk processing in dairy industry, increase energy efficiency and substantially reduce the cleaning time, energy cost and GHG emissions.
The food grade SLLC coating technology was tested with the aim of increasing the productivity. A standard pasteurizer with productivity of 28,000 tons of milk/year was studied. With the help of the SLLC anti-fouling technology, the heat transfer efficiency increased by over 16% during processing, which resulted in 10% more production capacity and a cut in energy use of 270.8 MWh per month.
The GHG emission for fresh milk processing dropped from 0.154 to 0.137 kg CO2 equivalents per kg milk, which saved 17 kg of CO2 per ton of milk production. For the down time cleaning process, the concentration of alkali was reduced by 50% and the acid consumption decreased by 30%. The cleaning time decreased from 1.5 h to 30 min.
Pictures Files Contact all info
Dairy Plant Smart - USA
| Source : Innovation Center For US Dairy |
Dairy Plant Smart is one of ten projects the U.S. dairy industry have launched to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across the entire supply chain. In fact, the industry has committed to reduce GHG emissions for fluid milk by 25% by 2020.
The processing segment of the U.S. dairy supply chain contributes 5.7 percent to the fluid milk carbon footprint. Dairy Plant Smart is estimated to help achieve the Dairy 2020 goal to reduce this by 25 percent. The project encourages identification and adoption of energy management best practices in milk processing plants to reduce costs and GHG emissions.
For more, see the attached file and follow the link.
Energy Neutral Dairy Chain - the Netherlands
| Source : NZO (Nederlandse Zuivel Organisatie) |
The Road map to an energy neutral dairychain ('Routekaart voor een energieneutrale zuivelketen' in Dutch) is a project falling under The Sustainable Dairy Chain commitment of the Dutch dairy sector 'Duurzame Zuivelketen' to reduce GH emissions by 30% in 2020, compared to 1990.
The Dutch dairy sector is working hard to protect the environment and consume less energy. The ambition is to achieve energy-neutral production by 2020 with a subsequent climat-neutral growth. This means that the chain – from the dairy farm with is suppliers, the dairy factory up to the customers will sustainably generate as much energy as it consumes. To achieve this goal important steps need to be taken. The Road map identifies the way forward. The dairy farm of the future produces sustainable energy for itself and for others. Manure digestion, wind and solar energy to generate green electricity will play an important role to reach the objectives.
Follow the links below or see the following video to learn more: 
Pictures Links Contact all info
Arla builds environmental friendly dairy in Aylesbury - United Kingdom
| Source : Arla Foods |
Arla Foods is building a flexible, efficient, fresh milk dairy to the highest environmental standards at Aston Clinton, Aylesbury.
In line with Arla’s strategy, the facility would not only build new platforms for growth and improve performance in standard milk, but would also help Arla achieve its environmental strategy.
Using the best available techniques Arla aims for the site to be zero carbon and will achieve this through:
- 40 percent from construction technologies, such as maximising natural light, to ensure the building itself has the lowest possible carbon footprint
- 20 percent from process technologies, such as heat and materials recovery
- 40 percent from use of renewable energy
Pictures Links Contact all info
Carbon Trust accreditation for Arla Foods UK
| Source : Dairy UK |
- After making significant reductions in CO2 emissions and packaging weight, Arla Foods became the first UK Dairy company to be awarded energy efficiency accreditation by the Carbon Trust.
- The processor has reduced its energy consumption by 16% since 2004, due in part to the implementation of Energy Desktop.
Arla Foods work with energy efficiency – some concrete examples from Denmark and Sweden
| Source : Arla Foods |
- In 3 years, energy use for powder production has reduced by 10% equating to some 12,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
- At Holstebro plant all previously wasted heat energy is now being recovered and used within the plant, saving between 150,000 and 180,000 cubic meters of gas per year.
- By recycling hot air the Visby plant saves some 500 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Pictures Links Contact all info
More efficient use of natural resources in dairy processing - Victoria, Australia
| Source : Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory |
- Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory replaced an inefficient gas flow control valve with a linear valve and reduced gas consumption by 4%, saving about 420 tonnes of GHG emissions and 7356 GJ of natural gas per year. This has had a pay back period of less than two years.
- Warrnambool Cheese and Butter replaced a natural gas hot water heater at the treatment plant with a duel fuel system to take advantage of biogas produced from the anaerobic wastewater treatment plant. Biogas replacement of natural gas in hot water heaters, saves about 1,600 tonnes of GHG emissions per year.
- Installation of site CIP nano-filtration cleanup system in 2009 has saved 333 tonnes per year of caustic & 33 ML of water, reducing sodium concentration and volume of waste water.
- Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory reduced electricity consumption by undertaking an audit of its compressed air system and repairing leaks. Preventative maintenance of the system now saves 1200 tonnes CO2-e per year.
Optimized processing
| Source : Tetra Pak International |
Tetra Pak supports customers in optimizing their processing by continuously working to improve the energy efficiency of our technology. For example, the new Tetra Lactenso Aseptic dairy processing technology uses less electricity compared to the previous models, particularly in standby mode.
In 2010, Tetra Pak launched the OneStep technology as part of its Tetra Lactenso dairy production solutions. OneStep technology combines heat treatment, separation and standardisation into a single step significantly simplifying and accelerating the production process. Tetra Pak OneStep technology can reduce energy and water consumption by up to 35% and cut waste and effluent load by as much as 60%. These savings are estimated to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy processing by around 40%. Furthermore, the streamlined process cuts product loss by up to 30% compared to conventional UHT solutions due to fewer process steps and smaller hold-up volumes in the line
Our new, fully integrated packaging lines (Tetra Pak® A3/Speed iLine™) need up to 50% less energy compared to previous models.
Environmental data are provided in the form of a third-party verified Environmental Product Declaration
Initiative to mitigate global warming - Japan
| Source : IDF National Committee of Japan |
MEGMILK SNOW BRAND Co., Ltd is committed to making a contribution to environment, local and global communities, having reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as one of the company's biggest corporate targets.
As a GHG mitigation strategy, the company adopts 'thermal storage' system, which is energy and cost saving as well as environmentally friendly. The system produces and stores heat through an inexpensive night-time electricity service which uses less fossil fuel. With highly efficient turno freezers, it allows preservation of heat in heat storage tanks and meets the demand for cold water production and air-conditioning that reaches a peak during daytime, resulting in more efficient operation of electric machines at a constant speed.
This enables the business to reduce GHG emissions by 350t CO2-e per annum in comparison to a conventional system.
Resource efficiency in Ireland's Dairy Processing Sector
| Source : Enterprise Ireland |
Due to the abolition of the EU milk quota system in 2013, the Irish dairy industry aims to grow by 30% in the next decade. Key to this expansion will be the more efficient use of existing resources and processing capacities. A study involving 15 dairy processing plants representing 94% of milk processing (i.e. 4,416,662 litres; 863,588 tonnes of product), demonstrated that, between 2005 and 2009,
- the sector reduced mean energy use by 20% and water use by 28% (20.7 – 14.9 m3/tonne).
- Average annual savings equated to 3.6 million m3 of natural gas and 200 million litres of water per plant.
Successful initiatives include heat recovery from condensate/evaporate/effluent/pasteuriser water, low energy cleaning/disinfection systems, pipe and tank insulation, economisers, lighting controls, variable speed motor drives, etc. and the implementation of energy management systems. The corresponding mean annual CO2 emission reduction was 11,000 tonnes CO2 per plant.
The study was published in April 2011. It established benchmarks against which future performance can be compared and also highlighted areas of excessive energy use.
Pictures Files Contact all info
Biogas engine project - Australia
| Source : Murray Goulburn Cooperative |
- One of the by-products of Murray Goulburn’s Leongatha’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is biogas, a mixture of mainly 61% methane and 34% carbon dioxide. The WWTP currently produces on average 9,600 cubic meters of biogas per day, which has been burned off as a flare.
- Works commenced in February 2009. The project involved installation of a 500 kW and a 260 kW Shendong engine/generator set, which is housed in a sound-reduced building along with the computer control room. Adjacent to this, is a Biogas Alkaline Scrubber to remove Hydrogen sulphide impurities and moisture from the biogas
- The biogas is burned in a combustion engine to generate power. The smaller engine is sized to handle the minimum expected biogas production, and any excess biogas during peak production will be diverted to burn off at the flare.
- Murray Goulburn’s Leongatha’s consumption of power is around 8,000 kilowatts. The new plant generates 760 kilowatts. With the acquisition of Renewable Energy and Carbon Credits, the payback time for the project will be under three years. Over the ten year replacement life of the main plant, substantial energy cost-savings will be achieved.
Non-contact Cooling - Canada
| Source : Gay Lea Foods Co-operative |
Gay Lea Foods’ Teeswater division has improved energy conservation and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (related to lesser greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere through electricity generating stations) through the use of non-contact ground water for cooling purposes. The non-contact cooling water is derived from an on-site well. The non-contact cooling water is used for processes to remove excess heat and than sent back to the water system. Since the water is non-contact, there are no changes to the groundwater chemistry (NOTE: the water quality is continuously monitored):
This natural cooling has resulted in a decrease of 35% energy consumption, which equates to a total savings of approximately 51,766,000 kWh per year (a savings of $180,000/year) and a reduction of over 12,000 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions / year (Ontario Grid Electricity: 0.24 tonnes of green house gas per 1000 kWh; www.ecogenenergy.ca).
Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited ‘2008 Environmental Sustainability Report’
Energy efficiency: Glanbia - Ireland
| Source : Glanbia USA |
In Ireland, there is a carbon reduction programme for Irish processing facilities, with dedicated resources in place. Food ingredients Ireland appointed Carbon Footprint and Sustainability Manager in 2008, to complement a fulltime engineer focusing on energy efficiencies in what is a very energy intensive business. This business is working closely with the government through the policy formulation phase on global warming initiatives in order to balance the future potential growth of the industry with the emissions reduction programme.
This is an addition to ISO14001 accreditation for environmental management systems and the IS393 accreditation for energy management. Other key environment initiatives include an active recycling programme with over 12 tonnes of paper recycled during the year, together with 33 tonnes of cardboard, 7 tonnes of plastic, 51 tonnes of timber and 420 tonnes of stainless and mild steel
Glanbia PLC Annual Report 2008
Energy efficiency: Glanbia - USA
| Source : Glanbia USA |
The Energy Star Programme, sponsored by the US Environment Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, is a national call to action to improve the energy efficiency of America’s commercial and industrial sectors by 10% or more.
In 2008, Glanbia’s businesses in the USA were formally accepted for membership of this programme, which is a strong statement of intent on their part to reducing their carbon footprint.
Glanbia PLC Annual Report 2008
Dairy Processing - Zambia
| Source : Land O’Lakes |
Once not included within Zambia’s formal dairy sector at all because of Land O’Lakes ‘Food for Peace’ project, smallholder dairy farmers are supplying an increasingly important percentage of the country’s milk production.
Parmalat, Zambia’s largest processor, currently receives about 8 percent of its total volume of milk processed from smallholder dairy farmers, up from ZERO only five years ago.
Optimising heat transfer and regeneration - Canada
| Source : Saputo |
- A great number of Saputo’s plants in the Dairy Products Sector made processing changes aimed at optimizing the use of energy through heat transfer and regeneration. We replaced some of our boilers with high-efficiency fire tube boilers, thus reducing carbon emissions by almost half. Air compressor changes were also made, resulting in significant reductions in electrical consumption.
- We also focused on recovering heat as part of the UHT process, using it for other hot water loops in the plant and recovering the condensate for boiler water make-up. These changes had a positive effect on our daily energy consumption and will continue to contribute to our environment while we pursue our growth.
- We collaborated with our utility partners to identify additional energy savings. We also installed variable frequency drives on several pieces of equipment to control the power being supplied to the motors in addition to recapturing energy from both the hot and cold processing water.
- As for the Bakery Division, our Ste-Marie plant has become a member of the Réseau Écolectrique d’Hydro-Québec, as a result of an optimization project related to the centralization of the stop and start ventilation systems. To join this group, companies are required to reduce their energy consumption by at least 5%, and our result was 16%
Anaerobic digester at BV Dairy – United Kingdom
| Source : BV Dairy |
- As part of its environmental strategy, BV Dairy is focused on the minimisation of resource use in its production plant. Ongoing efforts to adopt Best Available Technique, tackle rising energy costs and reduce our site’s environmental impact have culminated in a decision to invest in the anaerobic digestion (AD) technology.
- The outputs from the operation will be electricity, heat, dewatered digestate and wastewater. Electricity generation will be 2266 MWh, much this will be used in operations at the site and a small excess will be exported to the National Grid.
- Low grade heat recovered from the CHP unit will be around 3240 MWh, some will be used on the AD plant with the remainder used within other parts of BV Dairy operation, resulting in a net saving of gas oil. There will be a small quantity of digestate produced and this will be compliant with the PAS110 protocols.
- BV Dairy expects to reduce its carbon footprint by 78% (from 1,840 tonnes CO2/year to 400 tonnes CO2/year). With the support of DairyUK, we have estimated the replication potential for such plants in the dairy sector will lead to 346,000 tonnes CO2/year saving.
- Contact: Alan McInnes
Saving Energy and Money - United Kingdom
| Source : Dairy UK |
- First Milk’s Haverfordwest Creamery is on track to deliver carbon and cash savings to its business following the installation of new whey processing equipment earlier this year.
- As well as producing a higher quality whey product, significant energy savings have been achieved at the West Wales plant as a result of the installation of reverse osmosis equipment. This has allowed one of the two evaporation plants to be decommissioned, cutting steam use and heavy oil requirements as well as trimming costs be £500,000 per year.
- The same equipment makes it possible to recover waste water, too, cutting mains water intake by two-thirds and reducing effluent discharge
Wisconsin dairy realizes water, chemical and energy savings - USA
| Source : Innovation Center For US Dairy |
- The plants boiler system was unreliable; with unstable steam pressures, frequrent boiler trip-outs, and bolier short cycling causing an increase in energy costs
- Systemic improvements to the plant’s boiler system resulted in reduced natural gas use at the plant by 10,500 MMBtu per year, for a cost savings of $39,800 annually
- The plant will realize a return on their investment in 1.6 years
- The energy savings represent the eqiuvalent of 616 tons of CO2 per year, equal to the amount of carbon sequestered annually by 127 acres of pine or fir trees
Ohio plant lowers energy use while increasing safety and productivity - USA
| Source : Innovation Center For US Dairy |
In 2001 an Ohio plant producing a high volume of dairy and nondairy frozen stick products had plans to purchase another air compressor. They wanted to ensure their system was operating optimally before committing to the $50,000 expense,
- As the plant’s air demands were beginning to outstrip their compressed airy system capacity
Via an energy audit that recommended several upgrades to the existing system the plant reduced energy use by 847,000 kWh per year
- Translating into $53,600 in annual energy savings
The plant will realize a completer return on their investment in approximately 1.44 years
The current savings in electricity use represent the equivalent of 762 tons of CO2 per year, equal to the amount of carbon sequestered annually by 157 acres of pine or fir forests
Reducing energy requirements - Australia
| Source : Bega Cheese |
Bega Cheese is being proactive in encouraging its dairy farmers to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing their energy requirements.
- Bega Cheese suppliers, are provided with a weekly newsletter which has information regarding Government grants and the various Companies that can assist with energy saving equipment installations.
- Bega Cheese will continue to promote the installation of energy saving equipment and will apply for funding to assist farmers to adopt better technology as it becomes available.
- In the near future Bega Cheese will have the capacity to undertake energy audits for its dairy suppliers and provide advice on how to reduce energy use and how to adopt renewable energy sources.
Wood waste to generate energy - Australia
| Source : Bega Cheese |
Using wood waste from local sawmill to run boiler providing steam for cheese and whey powder manufacture
Creating an energy-neutral chain of production – The Netherlands
| Source : NZO (Nederlandse Zuivel Organisatie) |
One of the “icons” of the Sustainable Dairy Chain initiative is to create an energy-neutral chain of production from raw farm milk to the finished dairy product by 2020
- This means that 100% of the energy that is consumed by each of the different links in the chain must be generated within the chain itself
- The energy consumption of the Dutch dairy farming sector and dairy industry has been taken as the area of focus within the total energy consumption of the chain
- These two sectors together account for a consumption of 26.3 PJ. The goal can be achieved by using energy from sustainable sources that is produced within the chain, e.g. solar energy, wind energy or energy generated from biomass
The National goal is that 20% of the energy use is sustainable energy in 2020
- Currently on a National level 3,5% of the energy consumption in the Netherlands is sustainable produced (source CBS, statistics Netherlands)
At present the energy production of Dutch dairy farmers is 2.25 PJ. The energy is produced as power by windmills and green gas by anaerobic digestion
- So 8% of the total energy consumption of the dairy chain is already being produced by dairy farmers
Renewable energy: cradle to processing – The Netherlands
| Source : CONO Cheesemakers (CONO Kaasmakers) |
- All our farmers and both factories (CONO and Ben&Jerry’s) only use renewable energy sources
- In practice this means that we use green electricity (from renewable sources- not being nuclear energy) for our cheese factory, our ice-cream factory and all our 500 farmers
- Furthermore we have invested in a compensation program that helps a Tapioca based starch manufacturing plant to reduce methane emissions
- The reduction of methane emissions as a result of our investments in this Wastewater Treatment with Biogas Production is equal to our CO2 emissions form the natural gas use of our Cheese factory and all our 500 dairy farmers.
- This means that we produce our cheese CO2-neutral. In the future the energy use in our production chain will be produced by our dairy farmers.
Long-Term Agreements on energy Efficiency (LTA) – The Netherlands
| Source : NZO (Nederlandse Zuivel Organisatie) |
- LTA is a covenant of the Dutch government and various industrial sectors. The Dutch dairy processing industry has joined LTA from the start in the Early 1990’s
- In 2008 LTA 3 has been signed for the period 2009 up to 2020. The dairy companies have committed themselves to achieve an improvement of energy efficiency of 2% per annum, totalling 30% in 2020 in comparison to 2005
- Every company drafts an energy conservation plan for every 4 year period for each of the 52 dairy plants
- The plan links the efficiency goals to concrete measures and an implementation plan
- Companies are obliged to implement measures that can be recouped in less than five years
- Participants in LTA submit a progress report every year. Results are monitored by a Government Agency (SenterNovem)
- The Dairy Industry has achieved an energy efficiency improvement of 11.8 % over the last 10 years (2.7% in 2007; 2% in 2009).
- As a result of this the sector has avoided emission of 23 Kilotons of CO2 per year. The use of sustainable energy by the processing industry has increased from 1% in 2007 to 2.5% in 2008
Cogeneration: increase of energy efficiency - France
| Source : IDF National Committee of France |
Action
Setting up of cogeneration equipment in dairy plants using a lot of energy: reuse of heat (in drying process for instance) for producing steam or electricity, and for increasing energy efficiency
Leader
Concerned companies
Impact
To date, six cogenerators set up in dairy companies
Energy efficiency - Greece
| Source : IDF National Committee of Greece |
- On-farm energy use in milking and refrigeration: tremendous progress has been done in modernizing equipment, mainly with the support of big dairy plants
- Optimised processing: very high progress has been done by applying new methodologies and techniques in cooperation with foreign dairy companies
Ohio plant cut refrigeration energy use by 25 percent while improving system productivity - USA
| Source : Innovation Center For US Dairy |
As a result of an energy audit a high volume ice-cream and novelty frozen goods plant sought to upgrade its refrigeration systems to achieve three goals:
- Reduce overall energy use
- Reduce its electrical demand and
- Improve the productivity through its spiral blast freezer
The estimated payback for the initiative was approximately 1.8 years
The current (2009) savings in electricity use represent the equivalent of 3,031 tons of CO2 per year, equal to the amount of carbon sequestedred annually by 625 acres of pine or fir trees
Efforts to reduce CO2 – South Korea
| Source : Seoul Dairy Company - SDC |
Seoul Dairy Company has:
A. Reduced CO2 approximately 2,400 tonnes co2 for a year through distribution rationalization
- With export group consulting in distribution, SDC had made distributionrationalization from January to July, 2008. As a result of that, we reduce 888,000L light oil consumption annually, which means 10% reduction of annual consumption.
B. Also SDC reduced environmental pollutants in manufacturing process.
- Atmosphere management
- SDC has four advanced plants which located at Yangju, Yongin, Ansan, in Gyunggi province and Geochang, in Gyunsang province. All these production facilities use LNG which reduce environmental pollutants efficiently
Reducing Fonterra’s Milk Processing and Distribution Emissions - New Zealand
| Source : Fonterra |
- Fonterra faces a price for all carbon dioxide emissions from its processing and supply chain / transport operations.
- Fonterra’s Energy Reduction Project is one of the largest energy efficiency programmes in the New Zealand industrial sector. Since 2003 this project has reduced energy use by 15%, a saving of 325,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, or put another way, the electricity use of 130,000 households.
- Fonterra is reducing transport emissions by optimisation of transportation systems: more milk, fewer tankers, use of rail, use of milk concentration plants, plus use of automated scheduling
- Eliminating waste also contributes to emissions reductions. Landfill reduction target of 90% was achieved in 2009 as a result of packaging changes / recovery. The product optimisation approach has also been refined to further reduce any incidence of product waste. Recycling water also contributes to pumping / electricity cost reductions
GHG emission reductions by switching boiler fuel - Japan
| Source : IDF National Committee of Japan |
Summary:
Boilers are considered as a major contributor of energy consumption at a dairy factory. We aim at switching boilers fueled by heavy oil with those by gas.
Details:
Boilers to be both newly installed and renewed are scheduled to adopt the gas-fueled system when the factories have already been supplied with gas. In the year 2010, two factories will introduce 10 of 2.5 ton-capacity boilers and 7 of 2 ton-capacity boilers.
Reduction of cleaning times (OptiCIP+) - The Netherlands
| Source : NIZO food research |
An intelligent cleaning monotoring and control system has been developed using in-line sensors (turbidity, nitrate, calcium) and a computermodel. The system, called OptiCIP+ calculates the optimal cleaning procedure and determines when the equipment is clean again.
The system has been demonstrated on two whey evaporators in two international dairy companies. On average the cleaning time was reduced by 20%.
Pictures Files Contact all info
Energy Efficient Agreement – Royal FrieslandCampina - The Netherlands
| Source : Royal FrieslandCampina |
- Within the context of the Dutch Dairy Association, FrieslandCampina made arrangements with the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and with the Minister of Agriculture. Natural Resources and Food Quality.
- Those arrangements have been laid down in the Sustainability Agreement on Clean and Energy Efficient Agricultural Sectors.
- One of the arrangements laid down in the Agreement is that an effort will be made to improve energy efficiencies at the plants by 2 per cent annually and to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 30 per cent before 2020.
Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. Annual Report 2008
Energy savings in processing - New Zealand
| Source : Fonterra |
34 per cent reduction (2009) in energy use per tonne of product since 1990
New Zealand processing inter-site ‘Emissions Account’ – a virtual carbon trading system, to raise employee awareness and track progress of emission reductions
Targeted energy efficiency initiative in place since 2003/04
Energy savings achieved through:
- monitoring and targeting
- heat recovery projects
- changed operating conditions
- new technology – co-generation facilities
Energy recovery from waste stream - Australia
| Archived | Source : Australian Dairy |
Warrnambool Cheese and Butter replaced a natural gas hot water heater at the treatment plant with a duel fuel system to take advantage of biogas produced from the anaerobic wastewater treatment plant. Biogas (instead of natural gas) is now used in two hot water heaters, saving about 1,600 tonnes of GHG emissions per year.
Australian Dairy Manufacturing Sustainability Report 2007/08
Electrical energy – Australian examples
| Archived | Source : Australian Dairy |
- Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory reduced electricity consumption by undertaking an audit of its compressed air system and repairing leaks. This is a saving of 420 MWh of electricity per year or 550 tonnes CO2-e per year.
- A new air compressor and condensate recovery system saves National Foods Bentley about 470 MWh and $35,000 a year in electricity and recovered heat. At a cost of $27,400, this project paid for itself in less than 10 months and saves about 573 tonnes of GHG emissions per year.
- National Foods Penrith monitors the electrical energy use for each processing section, which allows it to investigate any wastage. It was able to reprogram the chillers to make them operate more efficiently, saving 377 MWh (460 tonnes CO2-e and $30,160) per year. The monitoring equipment cost $14,000 to install and paid for itself in six months.
- A new air compressor at National Foods Morwell saves 117,600 kWh per year as the variable speed drive allows it to respond to changes in demand depending on the needs of the factory. This saved National Foods $5,000 and reduced CO2 emissions by 173 tonnes per year
Australian Dairy Manufacturing Sustainability Report 2007/08
Thermal energy – Australian examples
| Archived | Source : Australian Dairy |
- National Foods Burnie converted its boiler from fuel oil to more efficient natural gas in a project that had a six-month payback period. Each year, it saves about $1 million in fuel costs.
- Dairy Farmers (CCFA) at Canberra replaced a number of inefficient steam traps and improved maintenance, saving more than 417 GJ of energy or 29.7 tonnes of GHG emissions and $5,800 per year. It also achieved a reduction of 324 GJ of energy, 74.3 tonnes of CO2-e and $9,250 per year by ceasing to double pasteurise a portion of the milk stream.
- Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory replaced an inefficient gas flow control valve with a linear valve and reduced gas consumption by 4%, saving about 420 tonnes of GHG emissions and 7356 GJ of natural gas per year. This has had a pay back period of less than two years.
- Fonterra Cobden found that, over a shift, there was an increasing proportion of gas in the gas/air mixture in the indirect gas-fired air heater in one of its powder plants. This was reducing both efficiency and throughput. A burner controller was installed, which adjusted the mixture to burn more efficiently, allowing the throughput in the plant to increase from 10 to 12 tonnes/hour. Costing $27,000 to install, it saves the company about $146,000 per year, reduces gas consumption by about 5% and so also reduces carbon emissions.
- Murray Goulburn Maffra has installed a heat exchanger to use chilled milk to reduce the chilled water load. This project has saved 1.9 GWh or $187,814 of electricity per year, which equates to 2,318 tonnes of GHG emissions
Australian Dairy Manufacturing Sustainability Report 2007/08
