In the cheese factory of CONO Cheesemakers, we use sustainable techniques to make our cheese. In this process, it is inevitable to use gas, electricity and water. That's why we try to be as smart, responsible and efficient with this as possible. For example, thanks to efficient water management, we have saved a lot of water.
Targeting large consumers
In addition, within our cheese factory and especially the powder factory, we have to deal with gas consumption. (Internal) research has shown that in reference year 2020 there were two large consumers: the burner for the powder production (26.5%) and the steam boiler (73.5%). Where we initially focused primarily on gas reduction in the steam boiler.
The first step to reduction
Mark Boot is a process technologist at CONO and, among other things, first identified which process steps require steam. Is every step useful or can we omit it? Are there steps where steam (i.e. heat, i.e. energy) is lost unnecessarily? Some issues could be solved immediately, such as reducing unnecessarily high temperatures in the process. The second step was to assess how the steam was being used and how we could use it better. This turned out to include better distribution of process startups. Regularly starting up processes in different departments simultaneously created a large peak in the demand for steam.
"It's similar to driving a car: with continuous vigorous acceleration and hard braking, you consume much more gasoline than driving on cruise control or using rolling power. The same goes for our steam consumption. By placing the peaks not ó each other but side by side, we got a more constant system that is more like driving on cruise control." - Mark Boot
304,400 m³ of gas saved
With these steps, we were soon able to save 73,100 m³ of gas, which is equivalent to the gas annual consumption of 49 households. By the end of 2022, this allowed us to run with only one steam boiler without any problems. With the "reduce heat loss" project in 2023, we have the opportunity to capture the waste heat released when heating water to steam. Boot indicates: "A very profitable project, by the end of 2023 the savings ran to as much as 304,400 m³ of gas, or 254 households."
As CONO, we are well on our way. Production increases every year, so does the increase in steam demand in our process. Yet we have managed to achieve a greater reduction in gas consumption. Another great step in our climate ambition.
Climate ambition CONO
CONO Cheese Makers has the ambition to work together to be positive for future generations. This requires cooperation in the chain. In the process of making cheese, CONO and its partners want to reduce 75% CO₂-eq. in order to reduce the footprint of cheese.