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Strategic partnership to create low-carbon-emission food plants

08 March 2021

Bühler Group and Vyncke have formed a strategic partnership to offer integrated solutions with which biomass side stream products are transformed into clean process energy while reducing the customers’ carbon footprint. 

Peter Vyncke, owner of Vyncke, and Johannes Wick, CEO of Bühler Grains & Food, in Bühler’s Application Center in Beilngries, Germany.
Peter Vyncke, owner of Vyncke, and Johannes Wick, CEO of Bühler Grains & Food, in Bühler’s Application Center in Beilngries, Germany.


The dependency on fossil fuels – and with this, CO2 emissions – can decrease from 20%-100%, depending on the raw material and side stream products. This means that in some cases, food plants can become fully carbon neutral. The first focus of the partnership is the segments of cocoa, oat, and malt processing. 

“This partnership is a key element in our strategy to reduce CO2 in the value chains of our customers,” said Johannes Wick, CEO of Bühler Grains & Food. 
 
Biomass by-products are generated in most food processes and they are often either used for animal feed or simply disposed of. From biomass by-products, food manufacturers can also produce a climate-neutral form of energy. 

With new equipment, digital services and retrofit offerings, Bühler has already made progress in making its solutions more energy efficient. “By adding Vyncke's energy recovery processes to our portfolio, we can offer our customers low- to zero-carbon food solutions,” said Wick.
 
Vyncke specialises in energy production from biomass by-products. It designs and builds green and clean energy systems that combust biomass and waste to produce thermal process energy from 1-100 megawatt hours (Mwh) and electrical energy from 0.5-15 megawatt electrical (Mwe).
 
Outside of energy-intensive industries, most companies have tended to view energy procurement as a cost to be managed rather than a strategic area in the value chain. Yet today, energy is becoming one of the most important levers for business success. With their cooperation, Bühler Group and Vyncke are addressing this issue to develop solutions for more sustainable food production – with holistic process chains in which energy recovery is integrated so that external energy consumption and energy costs can be reduced. This not only contributes to greater sustainability, but also opens competitive advantages for food producers through greater energy efficiency.
 
One joint project will be the expansion of a malt production plant for Malteria Oriental S.A. in Uruguay. In this project, Vyncke will be responsible for recovering thermal energy from biomass, which is a by-product of malt production. Through an on-site energy audit, Vyncke developed a set-up to reduce the size of the energy system by 30%, creating savings in the total investment as well as the operational costs. Vyncke will build a turn-key 20-megawatt superheated water boiler with dual combustion systems which will burn internal barley husks and plant rejects, completed by externally sourced wood chips. This will save 35,000 tons of CO2 emissions each year compared to standard operational practices in Uruguay.
 
The new malt house is designed for a batch size of 260 tons of barley and has an annual capacity of 77,000 tons of malt. Commissioning and production are scheduled for March 2022.
 
Both Vyncke and Bühler have set the goal of reducing energy consumption in all new food plants by at least 50% by 2025. Together, they want to create the possibility of making malting plants CO2 neutral. 


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