Food ingredients business installs electric boiler to reduce emissions

Arla Foods Ingredients has taken another step on its CO₂ reduction journey with the installation of an electric boiler at its largest production site.

Designed to cut an estimated 3500 tonnes of CO_2e emissions p.a., the new e-boiler has been installed at the company’s protein whey processing facility in Denmark.

A shift away from gas towards electricity from renewables is at the heart of Arla Foods Ingredients’ carbon reduction strategy. Last year, it announced a €32 million investment in an electric heat pump facility which is scheduled to be operational this year. By the end of 2025, all the company’s plants in Europe are on target to run on electricity from 100% renewable sources.

Installed in a building that previously housed a gas turbine, the e-boiler will be able to deliver 16 MW of capacity and take on the work of two gas boilers. It will produce steam for the high-temperature needs of the facility’s spray-drying towers, which are used to create powdered whey ingredients.

The company’s overall target is to reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions from its operations by 42% between 2015 and 2030, although when anticipated growth is factored in, the figure it will need to achieve is closer to 80%. The reductions resulting from the boiler will account for around 5% of these efforts.

Thomas Lauritsen, Global Sustainability Manager at Arla Foods Ingredients, said: “The electrification of energy-intensive processes is essential to achieve our ambitious climate targets while also meeting the growing demand for high-quality whey ingredients. This is the latest initiative in our drive towards a carbon net zero future, and a key element of our commitment to phase out our use of natural gas for energy production. It’s unlikely to be our last electric boiler — we see major potential for this technology at other powder-producing sites.”

Image courtesy Arla Foods Ingredients.