Lesaffre formed a 15-year partnership with ENGIE for the design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of a waste heat recovery unit at its yeast plant in Marcq-en-Barœul. Two high-powered heat pumps will be commissioned in 2025, allowing heat created by Lesaffre’s fermentation activity to be reused. Lesaffre will then be able to cover 70% of its heat needs, avoid the emission of around 30,000 tons of CO₂ per year and reduce its water consumption by 150,000 cubic meters per year, the company says.
The two heat pumps with a total capacity of 19 MWth will make it possible to transform the heat produced in the fermentation workshop during the yeast cell multiplication stage into heat for another workshop in the plant, dedicated to drying the yeast.
Lesaffre will install this new waste heat recovery unit at the heart of its yeast plant, located in Marcq-en-Barœul. This project is part of the approach undertaken by Lesaffre for several years to control its carbon footprint and its energy consumption.
In this regard, Lesaffre has already undertaken several projects aimed at reducing CO2 emissions, including the installation of a biomass plant at the LIS by Lesaffre site in Cérences (Normandy, France) and the installation of a wind turbine at the Algist Bruggeman site (Belgium) to help cover part of the site’s electricity needs.
This project is a winner of the ADEME’s call for projects to decarbonize industry and has received a EUR 5.6 million subsidy.
“With this heat recovery unit, Lesaffre will be able to decarbonize two thirds of its activity at the Marcq-en-Barœul site. This project, like other initiatives at several of our other sites, is fully in line with a global and ambitious roadmap for decarbonizing the Group’s production sites. By working to significantly reduce our environmental impact, we are demonstrating that Lesaffre’s growth can only be sustainable and responsible,” says Brice-Audren Riché, CEO of Lesaffre.
Photo: Brice-Audren Riché, CEO of Lesaffre (r), and Damien Térouanne, Executive Vice President of ENGIE Solutions (l). Credit: Lesaffre
