Fossil free Arla – saving environment and millions
Farmer-owned Arla in Vimmerby, Sweden, is becoming fossil free. Together with the energy company Adven, the plant will also reduce its energy consumption by 40 percent. In addition, Arla can now increase capacity – without expanding.
– This shows what a good collaboration achieves, sustainability in several dimensions, says Victoria Olsson, Head of Sustainability at Arla Sweden.
Saving water and improving the energy efficiency has long been high on dairy farmers’ list of priorities for Arla Foods.
Some dairies are already fossil-free, such as the fresh milk dairy in Stockholm. The energy-guzzling milk powder plants have been more difficult, but the one in Visby succeeded in 2021. The same year, Arla and Adven started a collaboration to make the larger plant in Vimmerby fossil-free.
The final parts of Vimmerby’s new energy system have now been installed. When the test run is complete, Sweden will hold Arla’s first two fossil-free powder plants, having production facilities in 14 countries.
Less energy – more capacity
The efficiency improvement in Vimmerby is Arla’s largest single energy saving to date. Consumption is reduced by 40 percent – a saving of 50,000 megawatt hours per year. This is equivalent to the total energy that the entire Arla dairy in Götene uses for a year.
– In large plants, there are big savings when we make use of every drop of milk and every hour of energy, explains Allan Leandersson, Arla’s project manager in Vimmerby.
Adven’s and Arla’s energy solution in Vimmerby consists of different parts. An upgraded bio boiler, flue gas condensation and heat recovery in several steps. The crowning glory is the RO (reverse osmosis) that very simplified “filters” the water from the milk. The result is an optimization of the milk flow – and Arla Vimmerby can thus increase its capacity by 20 per cent, without expanding.
– It’s the bigger picture – the combination of energy efficiency, heat recovery, RO and good collaboration – that makes the equation work, explains Clara Collste Tamm, Strategic Customer Manager at the energy company Adven.
CO2 drops by 70 percent
When Adven took over the energy system in Vimmerby, increasing production capacity was high on the partner’s wish list. So was a fossil free milk powder production, and in late autumn the last drop of fossil oil, the peak oil, will be replaced by rapeseed-based bio-oil, RME. Of course, it was also important to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. When the new energy system is fully operational, CO2 emissions are expected to be reduced by at least 67 percent, probably 70 percent.
– Vimmerby inspires and shows the way. Now it’s just a matter of continuing the work towards even more sustainable production at our other almost 60 dairies around the world, says Arla’s Victoria Olsson.
For further information, please contact:
Arla Sweden’s press service, +46 70-884 42 90.
Clara Tamm Collste, Strategic Customer Manager at Adven, clara.tamm@adven.com, +46 73 049 7968.
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