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Danone Lunnarp to switch from LPG to biomass

Danone Lunnarp to switch from LPG to biomass
An aerial view of the Danone Lunnarp plant in Österlen, Skåne region, Sweden (photo  courtesy Danone Lunnarp).

In Sweden, dairy plant owner Danone Lunnarp has taken an important step towards fossil-free production. In collaboration with Adven Group, a leading provider of energy and water solutions in the Nordics and Baltics, Danone Lunnarp will switch from LPG to biomass for its process energy needs. 

According to Adven, the conversion from LPG to biomass is based on a site-adapted design whereby already existing infrastructure will be reused.

We will be keeping the boiler house, but replacing a gas boiler with a bio boiler, said Håkan Roos, Project Developer at Adven.

The reuse of the boiler house itself is an important part of Danone’s and Adven’s joint project.

Together with a tailored and flexible design, it will be the core of the new energy solution which is part-financed by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency through Klimatklivet (Climate Step), a government investment support for fossil-free future technology.

The solution must also be adapted to handle variations in production, with the help of a steam accumulator, said Håkan Roos.

Probiotic plant

The facility in Lunnarp started in the 1960s as a traditional dairy. The France-headed global dairy and food major Danone took over in 2010 and today the 140 employees at Österlen produce a completely plant-based range with the probiotic fruit and berry drink Proviva at the forefront.

Danone has long maintained a high level of environmental work and has recently been awarded a triple-A rating by the international non-profit organization Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for its work.

The ambition on a global level is to achieve carbon dioxide (CO2) neutrality by 2050 at the latest. The management in Lunarp plans to achieve this target considerably earlier.

We switched to 100 percent renewable electricity in 2019 and now we want to go further to become completely fossil-free as early as 2025. We have a local plan for how to get there, said Joakim Andersson, Technical Director at Danone Lunnarp.

Danone’s and Adven’s biomass project started in the autumn and the new boiler is expected to be in operation at the end of 2023.

Once operational, Danone Lunnarp estimates to achieve at least a 75 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its Österlen dairy compared to the current situation.

In addition to the benefits for the environment, we are convinced that this investment will also pay off financially, ended Joakim Andersson.

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