Energy and emissions
For many of our industrial production processes, we require considerable amounts of energy, often in the form of steam. Modern energy technology helps us to produce large quantities of high-quality products: For example, we use combined heat and power plants that produce both steam and electricity highly efficiently. We aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the future by further improving energy efficiency and changing the fuel mix.
Energy management systems: certified efficient
The energy management system at the German and Austrian production locations of Südzucker, AGRANA, BENEO, Freiberger and CropEnergies is certified to ISO 50001. The same applies to the sugar production locations in France, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, the other locations in the fruit juice concentrates division in the EU and the Freiberger location in Great Britain. The CropEnergies location in the UK has been audited under the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme. At the BENEO, CropEnergies and Raffinerie Tirlemontoise sites in Belgium, energy use is certified according to "Les accords de branche de seconde génération".
Renewable energies on the advance
In addition to efficiency improvements, we are increasingly focusing on renewable energies: We operate biogas plants at the sugar factories in Strzelin, Poland, Kaposvár, Hungary and Drochia, Moldova, which generate renewable energy from biomass – primarily fresh or fermented beet pellets or beet pellet silage – and partially feed it into the public grid. In addition, many sites generate biogas in anaerobic wastewater treatment plants and use it to reduce the demand for fossil fuels.
A biomass boiler at the Pemuco, Chile site generates steam and electricity mainly from forestry and wood processing waste.
Low temperatures, high effect
At seven locations, we operate low-temperature drying systems, which use waste heat from production to dry the animal feed, such as beet pulp, produced during the manufacture of sugar. Hardly any additional energy is required in the process, which saves costs and resources.
