business

Introducing Tetra Pak's Sustainable Factory Solution: Reduce Energy And Water Consumption

Tetra Pak, a leading food and beverage packaging and processing company in the world, officially introduced today (03/06) the "Sustainable Factory Solution", which is a comprehensive approach to more efficient use of energy, water, and cleaning-in-place (CIP).

As part of Tetra Pak's sustainable portfolio, the "Sustainable Factory Solution" offers a combination of cutting-edge technology and customized factory integration capabilities. This approach can help food and beverage manufacturers optimize energy and resources, as an important step towards achieving sustainability targets and reducing operational costs.

Data shows that food and beverage companies have long been dependent on fossil fuels, including significant energy consumption. This puts pressure on companies to continuously optimize resources and increase energy production from renewable sources.

This is happening amidst rising operational costs, including raw material costs, new CO2 taxes, and water waste costs. Finding solutions to these challenges is crucial, and the company sees the entire supply chain as an opportunity to save costs.

Tetra Pak's "Sustainable Factory Solution" embodies a systematic and comprehensive approach throughout the factory. This solution can be integrated at any stage to recover and reduce resource consumption, such as energy, water, and chemicals. Optimizing these resources can reduce long-term operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, these practices support increasingly stringent sustainability standards.

To achieve the planned optimizations, Tetra Pak will accompany customers in finding the right technologies and integration solutions according to their specific needs.

The 'Sustainable Factory Solutions' offered come with advanced technologies, some of which include:

1. Nanofiltration system, developed by Tetra Pak, allows the reuse of caustic cleaning fluid used in cleaning-in-place (CIP). This technology enables the chemicals and water used in the cleaning process to be reused in the future, allowing for the recovery of up to 90% of the total fluid consumed.

2. Reverse Osmosis, developed by Tetra Pak, utilizes exclusive membrane filtration technology to enhance resource efficiency in various processes, including milk processing and water recycling.

Tetra Pak also collaborates with innovative technology partners to offer additional solutions, including:

HighLift heat pump technology, in collaboration with Olvondo Technology A/S, which can be integrated into factory operations to facilitate waste heat recycling to generate steam throughout the factory equipment, including Tetra Pak Direct UHT units, at pressures up to 10 bar.

High temperature heat pumps, in collaboration with Johnson Controls, which process waste heat for use elsewhere in the factory.

Solar thermal collectors, in collaboration with Absolicon, which harness the sun as a limitless source of clean and renewable energy to deliver hot water and steam - at temperatures above 150°C - making it suitable for UHT applications.

Stefano Vittor, CEO of Olvondo Technology A/S, said, "By integrating our HighLift™ heat pump technology into the 'Sustainable Factory Solutions' service, Tetra Pak has successfully provided a solution with a wide impact, namely reducing carbon emissions in the food and beverage industry. We are thrilled to be part of this collaboration and have a role in the change driven by Tetra Pak."

Meanwhile, Fredrik Norrbom, Director, Sweden at Johnson Controls System and Service AB, stated, "About two-thirds of energy consumption in today's industries is driven by the need for heat energy, mostly derived from fossil fuels. Heat pumps are crucial in improving energy efficiency and producing clean heating when combined with renewable electricity. We are proud to collaborate with Tetra Pak in smart building solutions that can help customers achieve sustainability targets."

The same sentiment was expressed by Nicole Uvenbeck, Director of Factory Sustainable Solutions and OEM Components at Tetra Pak, who said, "The launch of the 'Sustainable Factory Solutions' is a very exciting and significant milestone for us at Tetra Pak - especially for our team who have worked hard to push the boundaries of impact and value that can be delivered through such an approach for our customers."

"Until now, we have focused on optimizing machines and production lines, and we recognize the tremendous benefits of implementing these on a factory scale, providing a more comprehensive approach to optimization."

"The 'Sustainable Factory Solutions' is an evolution of our specialization, which includes water, energy, and CIP recovery. The integration of all these elements will transform how we support customers in achieving their sustainability ambitions while reducing operational costs," added Nicole Uvenbeck.