AB | Case History
AB FOR FERRERO Cogeneration for the energy efficiency and the social responsibility of a leading company in the confectionery industry
AB FOR FERRERO
A STEP IN THE DIRECTION OF COMPETITIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY FOR A LEADING COMPANY IN THE CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY.
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Cogener
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ration in the food industry
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FERRERO CASE.
For those industrial concerns that wish to continue growing, the topic of energy efficiency is and will become increasingly more strategic. A significant example is the food industry. This industry does in fact represent an “ideal laboratory”, a test bench as regard what cogeneration can do to cut costs, boost productivity and promote environment friendliness. Now more than ever, cogeneration represents a strategic opportunity for the competitive edge of food companies, which tend to be very energy intensive and which require an intense and coordinated use of electricity and heat. Cogeneration is the right choice for cutting costs by up to 30%. These are objective and measurable benefits. Others include a significant reduction in Co2 emissions, which has resulted in the European Community indicating this technology as one of the most reliable for sustaining the environmental commitment of the entire Union. A noteworthy case
is that of Ferrero, a leading global confectionery manufacturer, with brands like Nutella and Kinder. To achieve greater energy efficiency, thereby developing competitiveness and eco-sustainability, Ferrero has for some time being producing energy by cogeneration. Today, AB works in partnership with Ferrero, providing high-performance and reliable technological solutions, such as the installation of a cogeneration plant in the company’s Pozzuolo Martesana facility. No one else in Europe like AB is able to provide industry, especially the food industry, with such advantageous opportunities for upgrading its energy efficiency. This is testified to by case histories developed in recent years. Besides Ferrero, other food manufacturers such as Kraft, Amadori, inalca-Cremonini, Martini & Rossi, Pastificio Garofalo, Centrale del latte of Firenze “Mukky” have chosen AB cogeneration plants, to name only a few.
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THE FERRERO GROUP: ≤
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Ferrero facility at Alba (Cuneo, Italy)
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A PROTAGONIST OF THE GLOBAL CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY With a turnover of more than 7 billion euro and a workforce of about 22,000 people in its various facilities in Italy and abroad, the Ferrero Group is a leading player in the international confectionery industry. Every year, investments are made in research and development, including by updating production plants. Apart from innovation, research and development, the largest share of investments goes into energy and environment sustainability, with special focus on production plants in Italy, Germany, Poland and Belgium. The Group also continues to implement initiatives in the lesser-developed Countries by means of the Ferrero social enterprise model. Currently, the Group includes 41 companies, thirty-eight of which are in operation, fifteen production units and three others operating in the field of social enterprises, catering to the demands of over one hundred end markets. Among the Group’s guiding values stands out its constant focus on consumer needs, a factor at the bottom of a corporate policy which aspires to utmost transparency and quality excellence.
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COGENERATION AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE FERRERO GROUP’S CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.
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Ferrero is well aware that its products must also be innovative when it comes to sustainability. The spirit of innovation so typical of Ferrero does in fact touch the sustainability dimension of its products and business model, as well as its way of working. A responsibility shared along the entire production chain and summed up in a specific Code. The principles referred to in the Code are those which have distinguished the history and commitment of Ferrero: close focus to ensure raw materials are always top quality and at the same time respectful of ethical, social and environmental values; special care to ensure the entire production and sales chain runs smoothly by means of the optimization of human
and economic resources. In this respect, energy self-sufficiency takes on special importance. With the aim of pursuing utmost environment efficiency as regards energy supplies and use, Ferrero’s attention is increasingly more devoted, throughout Europe, to high-efficiency cogeneration plants fuelled by conventional or renewable sources in order to strengthen its self-production energy capacity. The intention is to make all the company’s European facilities self sufficient in terms of energy.
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≤ Cooperation stems from Ferrero SpA’s ongoing commitment towards energy efficiency solutions in order to unite the optimization of production cycles, competitive edge and eco-sustainability. For Ferrero SpA, these topics are so important and “horizontal” as to have resulted in the setting up of a dedicated company: Energhe spA, established in 2007 as the natural evolution of the experience acquired in the energy field. Cogeneration is perfectly consistent with Energhe’s mission, split into lines of action, the first and foremost objective of which is the development of projects with the adoption of technologies able to produce electricity and thermal energy with significant energy saving. It is hardly by chance that all the Ferrero facilities, in Italy and abroad, have shown growing interest in cogeneration and trigeneration as solutions for the development of energy efficiency. Through Energhe, Ferrero SpA considers this choice an integral part of its CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).
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COOPERATION BETWEEN
AB AND ENERGHE
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TRIGENERATION FOR THE FERRERO FACILITY OF POZZUOLO MARTESANA (MI)
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TRIGENERATION The Pozzuolo Martesana production facility, near Milan, has belonged to the Ferrero Group since 1960. Today, this industrial concern is the only Group member to make products like Fiesta, Kinder PinguÏ and Kinder Delice. The decision to install a new trigeneration plant is part of a technological updating commitment that has gradually involved the entire facility. The cogeneration solution proposed by AB has integrated with the facility’s pre-existing plant engineering setup, which includes four boilers, two of which outdated. Once the plant came into operation, these old boilers were therefore dismantled. The external package solution proposed by AB proved to be perfect because the situation of the facility was such as not to allow the building of new internal power plants. Also significant were the advantages in terms of installation times. The plant has been in operation since September
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2011 and immediately showed high standards of efficiency and reliability. In particular, Ferrero pointed out how natural-gas cogeneration is much more rational to manage than other self-production energy technologies. The plant installed by AB, besides producing the electricity required by the facility, also produces the steam and hot water used in different stages of the production cycle of Ferrero line snacks. The steam is used directly by the production lines, while the hot water is mainly used for washing the containers. Technological solutions have also been put in place which conveniently allow switching to the production of cold water so this is readily available when needed during the confectionery production process. The use of the three energy vectors mentioned above is reflected in the technological definition of this type of installation: trigeneration.
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The Ecomax® modular package cogeneration plant is one of a kind in Europe in terms of design and manufacture. It is the upshot of AB applied research. Ecomax® is an industrial product based on the principles of versatility, modularity and compactness and is able to combine these distinctive features in order to reach high standards of energy performance. A cutting-edge idea conceived and developed entirely within AB and which excels as regards application options, to the extent that it has become a technological benchmark and sets the standards for modern cogeneration. For the requirements of Ferrero’s Pozzuolo Martesana facility, the AB specialists suggested adopting Ecomax® 33HE in a configuration developed for the facility’s specific needs, so this would integrate perfectly with the already-existing plants, in particular as regards the use of thermal energy flows.
YEAR
2010
MONTH
MAY
JUNE
July
August
September
2011 October
November
December
January
February
March
April
MAY
JUNE
July
August
September
October
Construction design Building of masonry and miscellaneous works (responsibility of the customer) Obtaining authorizations Prefabrication Mechanical installation and power connections in the field Engine testing and start-up
≤ CO2 not emitted into the atmosphere: about 616 tonnes/year
Petroleum not used: about 268 toe/year
The plant was installed and put into operation in just a few months from the approval of the feasibility plan. Installation was completely carried out by skilled AB personnel in such a way as to try not to affect and slow down the production flow of the facility.
AB TRIGENERATION
CALORE 41,9%
ELETTRICITÀ 43,1%
PERDITE DI CALORE 15%
FREDDO
TRIGENERAZIONE COMBUSTIBILE 100% SCHEMA TRIGENERAZIONE
The conversion of thermal energy into cooling is made possible by means of the use of an absorption chilling cycle, the operation is performed by converting a chilled liquid in combination with the substance used for absorption. Compared to the generation of electricity alone, in a trigeneration system, the total yield is increased, because this exploits a greater percentage of the fuel’s thermal power. Another consideration that ought to be made is that conventional thermal power plants convert about one third of the fuel’s energy into electricity (the remainder is lost in heat), while in a trigeneration plant, more than 4/5 of the same energy is exploited, considering the heat is directly recycled.
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Ecomax® 33HE Natural gas
kWh/ Nm3
9.5
Natural gas consumption
Nm3/h
785
Introduced power
kW
7530
Dispensed mechanical power
kW
3431
Dispensed electrical power
kWe
3354
Thermal power obtainable from engine block and fumes (hot water)
kWt
1848
Thermal power in steam from fume recycling
kWt
1200
Thermal power in steam from flame kWt boiler
1419
Total thermal power as steam
kWt
2619
Steam temperature
°C
170
Steam pressure
Bar
7
Steam flow
Kg/h
4044
Thermal power as hot water
kWt
1848
Temperature of water leaving engine
°C
95
Electrical yield
%
45
Heat yield *
%
40
Total yield*
%
85
Electrical yield **
%
49
Total yield**
%
94
*heat yield of cogeneration unit only. The calculation does not include the burner section of the duplex boiler **yield calculated also considering the burner section of the duplex boiler.
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The
Ecomax plant
®
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WHAT FERRERO HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE PLANT.
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Why did you opt for natural-gas cogeneration and what is the real benefit of a plant of this kind in your type of production? Cogeneration, or better still trigeneration, considering we are about to add an absorption plant to also obtain cold, appeared to be the best option for our requirements. Trigeneration was preferred because it enables us to obtain electricity and thermal energy at the same time and in the most efficient way, thus ensuring the energy self-sufficiency of the facility. Before opting for natural gas fuelled cogeneration, we used traditional boilers to produce steam. At Pozzuolo Martesana, this technological option was in contrast with the principles of energy efficiency which the Group has been pursuing for some time at global level. Cogeneration plants do in fact exist in all our production facilities in Italy and in many of those located abroad. Considering that Ferrero is an industrial Group closely focused on energy efficiency and ecosustainability, and is ISO 14000 certified, the problem had to be tackled. We also have a precise CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) code with precise provisions regarding environment protection, an integral part of the Ferrero corporate philosophy. Preferring cogeneration is therefore yet another step forward as regards the updating of energy production systems. We also have photovoltaic plants, amounting to over 1.3MW, installed on the roofs of our production facilities, on the children’s nursery built about three years ago in Alba and on our sports club building, always in Alba. How come the decision to have AB build the plant? On the Italian market, AB is very definitely the company that leads the way as regards this type of installation. We too are leaders in our industry and we like to dialogue with the best. By this I do not mean we did not organize a tender before
placing our order, but AB was chosen after careful comparison with what other companies had to offer. We had cutting-edge technology requirements and wanted to avoid any type of risk. Cogeneration had to be integrated with the pre-existing situation involving, as I have already said, four boilers, two of which of obsolete design. These two boilers were dismantled once the new plant started operating. The package solution presented by AB turned out to be perfect, including because of the fact that the space inside our facility is at a premium. The AB module solves the problem magnificently by optimizing space. The AB solution also brought benefits in terms of time by speeding up installation. The plant has been operating for several months: we have been able to witness its great efficiency which has fully lived up to our expectations. We are extremely satisfied with our choice and with our collaboration with AB. We have also come to realise just how “simple” natural-gas cogeneration management actually is. With AB, dialogue is ongoing, including as regards new projects. At the moment, for example, we are about to start revamping a cogeneration plant in our Polish facilities. In this case too, we shall renovate existing technologies with preference going to a natural-gas plant. What are your expectations as regards the service and therefore our aftersales service? We expect any problem to be promptly dealt with and that the after-sales service comply stringently with contractual agreements. It is equally true to say that you can write anything in an agreement, but after that a service consists first of all and essentially of human beings, the quality of human beings, whether or not they put their hearts into providing a certain kind of service. We have come to realise that the AB service consists of people who put their hearts into their job and not only their brains. This is another aspect which has satisfied us immensely.
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AB SETS THE COGENERATION STANDARDS GLOBALLY been operating for over 30 years in the sector of cogeneration and promotion of energy from renewable sources.
AB is currently made up of 24 companies and over 500 employees and is a single entity able to manage the entire manufacturing cycle of a cogeneration plant: consultancy, design, production, installation and start-up with a comprehensive service. This has enabled AB to acquire unparalleled know-how, to become acquainted with every product detail and to provide a top-quality and highly-effective aftersales service. The success of AB which has already designed and built more than 900 plants - stems from ongoing investments in cutting-edge technologies, from the constant training and professional specialisation of all operators and from the development of an absolutely unique engineering
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AB industrial Group has
department: a team of over 110 engineers engaged in developing the industry towards the production of increasingly more reliable and higher performance plants. AB cogeneration plants are distinguished by modularity, compactness and ease of transport and cater to the energy requirements of a number of different companies. Outright leader in Italy, AB is also expanding globally: in Spain (2007), in Romania (2009), in Poland (2010), and again with the opening of subsidiaries in Croatia and Serbia (2011). From 2012 AB is in Czech Republic, from 2013 also in the Netherlands, Austria, Brazil, Francia and Canada. From 2014 AB in UK, Germany, USA and Israel and from 2015 in Russia and Turkey too.
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La Cogenerazione si è rivelata una scelta vincente anche in altri settori industriali e non: alimentare, chimico-farmaceutico, tessile, plastica, carta, laterizi, etc. 700 customers, some of them are: Amadori, Benetton, BNL, Buitoni, Cartiere Saci, Coca - Cola, Cotonificio Albini, Eridania, Esselunga, Fatro, Ferrero, Felli Color, Galbani, Garda Plast, Granarolo, Gruppo Cremonini, Gruppo Mapei, kraft, Lafarge, Lilly, Martini & Rossi, Nestlè, Orogel, Pastificio Garofalo, Pastificio Rummo, Peroni, Pfizer, Polynt, Spumador, Wienerberger, etc.
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