Climate transition: energy optimization leveraging efficiency and recovery (2/5)
For this second article on our journey to 1.5°C, you will learn about our energy efficiency and recovery projects, which are expected to represent up to 20% of the Group’s emissions reduction potential by 2030. Join us on an immersion tour across some of our sites to discover some best practices and initiatives.
Optimizing processes, recovering and reducing energy consumption
Have you ever wondered how much energy is consumed in industrial processes? Our operations, particularly mineral extraction and transformation processes, demand high energy input. Energy efficiency and recovery is a major opportunity as it reduces energy consumption, and therefore Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, while maintaining the same level of productivity.
In 2019 we launched a program, called I-Nergize, to evaluate our sites’ energy performance and improve energy efficiency, with site-specific action plans, including energy recovery. This program is currently focused on our top 68 energy-consuming sites, which represent 82% of the Group’s energy consumption and 80% of our GHG emissions.
After an on-site audit of the energy consumption, a three-year roadmap is developed, based on the site specific characteristics. Its implementation translates in energy costs, consumption and GHG emissions reduction. The roadmaps include a range of actions such as:
- optimization of material drying processes,
- reduction of heat losses from thermal processes,
- implementation of heat recovery systems.
If you had to remember just three key figures from this article, they would be the following. They illustrate the progress of the programme at the end of 2023 and expectations:
Key figures
Besides the progress in energy efficiency at our industrial sites, deploying I-Nergize, our Group’s energy efficiency programme, also helps us to develop a global knowledge base accessible to promote best practices in industrial minerals energy efficiency for site engineers using Imerys equipment.
Cutting-edge investment to boost energy efficiency
You've probably already heard that investing in innovative technologies is one of the effective ways of contributing to the climate transition. Today, we can confirm that. A number of innovative new installations at our sites are helping to reduce our GHG emissions by improving energy efficiency in the long term. Take our plant in Ploemeur, France, for instance:
The new production unit - one of the largest filter presses in Europe - has demonstrated impressive results with a 55% reduction in gas consumption for our kaolin activity. This is mainly due to the implementation of a latest-generation fluidized-bed dryer that optimizes the heat exchange between the kaolin granules and the hot drying air. By the end of 2024, this new installation will allow a 24% decrease of the site’s GHG emissions.
We can also mention our Deqing site in China, where the new three-stage evaporator currently under construction will help reduce steam consumption by 70%. This new equipment comes in addition to the 29 energy efficiency actions of the site's energy roadmap set up thanks to I-Nergize. Once all actions are implemented, this will lead to a reduction of around ~6.6 ktCO2e/year.
Transforming by-product (purified syngas) into electricity: spotlight on energy recovery practices
Did you know that by-products from production can be transformed into energy? A new heat recovery installation at the Willebroek site in Belgium will convert purified syngas, a by-product from the manufacture of carbon black used in the production of lithium-ion batteries, into electricity.The unit will generate electricity in a high-efficient steam turbine with a capacity of up to 29 MW EL, enough to supply the Imerys site. The power generated by the energy recovery plant reduces the need for conventional power generation, providing a saving of more than 25,000 tons of CO2 per year (based on the average CO2 emission of power generation in Flanders).
The surplus electricity will also be fed to the local grid, providing enough electricity to power 40,000 households annually. This project was made possible thanks to our partnership with E.ON and is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2025.
Other projects are also being studied at our sites in Schmelitz in Germany, Aixe-sur-Vienne in France, Paulinia in Brazil, Tucuman in Argentina and Linjiang in China.
FAQ
Orders of magnitude make it easier to realize the scale of quantities that are often abstract. In this article, GHG emissions are expressed in ktCO2e/year. 1 ktCO2e/year ≃ the GHG emissions of 184 passenger cars per year.
Energy efficiency is the ratio between the quantity of energy produced by a system and the energy consumed by it. In other words, it is the ability of a system to convert the energy consumed into a useful form of energy, while minimizing losses. This means consuming less, but better, by improving the performance of installations. Energy efficiency helps to reduce our environmental impact, our dependence on fossil fuels and to cut costs.
Energy recovery is the process of capturing and reusing energy that would otherwise be wasted. This can include heat, electricity, or other forms of energy generated in industrial processes, power generation, or transportation. The recovered energy is typically redirected to perform useful work, such as heating buildings, powering machinery, or generating additional electricity, thereby improving overall energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact.
Discover Imerys first Climate Transition Plan report
Over a year ago, we committed to align our activities with the most ambitious climate science scenario: limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Through a series of articles, we will present our Climate Change ambition and strategy, the levers we focus on to get there and the progress we have already made.