Danone’s factory in Lunnarp swaps to biofuel

1st December 2022
News Food & Beverage

Danone’s factory in Lunnarp, Österlenmejeriet, is switching to biofuel, taking a significant step towards its goal of shifting to fossil-free operations in the near future. This is the result of a new agreement with the energy company Adven. The conversion is based on a site-specific design that reuses existing infrastructure.
– We are keeping the boiler house, but replacing an LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) boiler with a bio-boiler,” says Håkan Roos, project developer at Adven.

The reuse of the boiler house itself is an important part of the joint project between Danone and Adven. Together with a customized and flexible design, it will be the core of the new energy solution, which is also supported by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The reduction in emissions is so significant that the project receives financial support from Klimatklivet, a government investment grant that promotes fossil-free future technology.

– The solution will also be adapted to handle fluctuations in production, for example by implementing a steam accumulator, says Håkan Roos.

The plant in Lunnarp was started back in the 1960s and was then a traditional dairy. The food producer Danone took over in 2010 and today the 140 employees at Österlen produce an entirely plant-based range, with the probiotic fruit and berry drink Proviva at the forefront.

Danone’s factory in Lunnarp, Sweden.

Danone has long had high environmental standards and has been recently recognized for its work by a triple ‘A’ score given for the 3rd year in a row by the international non-profit organization CDP (Danone Triple A CDP). Its ambition at global level is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 across its whole value chain. The local management in Lunnarp is contributing well in-time to this target.

– We have already switched to 100% renewable electricity in 2019, and want to go further and be completely fossil-free in our own operations by 2025. We have a local plan for how to get there,” says Joakim Andersson, technical manager at Danone’s Lunnarp factory.

The Danone-Adven biofuel project started this autumn, and the new boiler is expected to be in operation by the end of 2023. The reduction in Green House Gas emissions from Österlenmejeriet is then expected to be at least 75% of the current emissions level.

– On top of the benefits for the environment, we are convinced that this investment will also pay off financially,” says Joakim Andersson.

For more information: 

Adven, Henrik Johansson Casimiro, SVP Industrial Energy Solutions, henrik.johanssoncasimiro@adven.com, +46 730 49 93 21

Danone, Helena Berglund, Public Affairs and Communications Manager Nordics and Baltics helena.berglund@danone.com, +46 766 98 09 03

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