December 16, 2024

Dairy: energy savings at the heart of competitiveness

By LEMON ENERGY · 4 minute read

Far from sparing the cheese industry, energy challenges are now conditioning its level of performance. Its players are seeking to preserve their production capacity and reduce their energy bills, by optimizing their mix and committing to gradual decarbonization. Now is the time to implement a concrete strategy for reducing consumption, by activating optimization levers specific to the sector.

Cheeses

Squeezed between soaring production costs and insufficient price rises, manufacturers are even calling for an energy shield (temporary cap on gas prices) and new tariff negotiations - the milk price paid to producers is one of the lowest in Europe[1]. But that won't do everything.

While the equation posed to manufacturers is complex, it is through strong choices in equipment, engineering and management that they will take control of their energy destiny.

Challenges and trends

Not only is this industry known for being highly territorialized, with production sites close to dairy farms, it is also energy-intensive. According to our calculations based on field data and information from ADEME[2], the energy consumption dedicated to cheese-making represents between 6% and 10% of a cheese's carbon footprint over its entire life cycle (from cow to store shelf). This manufacturing process emits more or less greenhouse gas (GHG) depending on whether the cheese is soft (140g of CO2eq for 1kg of cheese produced) or hard (250g of CO2eq for 1kg).

Or energy bills are soaring : 1 billion euros for the entire Lactalis group, and an increase of +800% for Sill Entreprises between 2021 and 2023, as explained last September by Mr. Huard, president of the CNIL[3]. And for a cheese factory, energy now accounts for almost half of expenses, he adds[4]. So much so, in fact, that we may even see some failures in the coming months.

A serious challenge for manufacturers anxious to rationalize their production costs and impact, while remaining close to their consumers. On the one hand, carbon management is becoming commonplace, as demonstrated by the Bel Group's Bel Low Carbon program. On the other, customers, especially younger ones, are feeling concerned and will know how to arbitrate in favor of brands and products that are energy virtuous.
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A context that invites the cheese industry to optimize its energy mix. Fortunately, the industry harbors significant potential for savings, whether through better sizing and optimization of equipment (boilers, chillers), heat recovery in processes, or the installation of self-consumption renewable energy solutions (biomass, solar).

On the ground, the cheese industry is making a major effort to optimize its energy mix.

On the ground, initiatives and achievements are flourishing:

Bel has installed biomass boilers[5] and achieved 100% sustainable energy used in its factories in France[6].
La Compagnie des Fromages et Riches Monts has installed a new-generation heat pump at its Vire site, reducing its gas consumption by 30%.
La Fromagerie Bongrain Gérard d'Illoud feeds its wood biomass boiler with chips from logging residues[7].
La Fromagerie Henri Hutin, winner of the " Décarbonation de l'industrie " call for projects, was able to replace an evaporator, a major gas consumer, with a process combining nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and diafiltration, generating savings of 1,584 t CO2/year (-26.4%) at its Dieuse sur Meuse site[8].
La Fromagerie Réo improved its Lessay site by activating several levers : replacing a heavy fuel oil boiler with a natural gas one, installing new-generation chillers, insulating mattresses, recovering waste energy from chillers to produce 60° hot water and setting up energy supervision (BEX)[9].
Savencia, finally, has launched substantial investment programs to renovate the energy installations at 13 of the group's sites, and produces 35% of the electricity at its "Cheese & Dairy" plants from hydraulic sources[10].

Energy optimization opportunities

They lie mainly in regulating thermal energy for ripening and pasteurization cycles.

Concretely, the milk arriving to make cheese is at 5°, and the cheese also leaves at this temperature, despite milk pasteurization (at 72°), and ripening at 40°C, intervening in the meantime. This is an energy-intensive process, since heating is usually provided by 180° steam from gas-fired boilers. A practice that didn't pose a problem when gas prices were low. The Ukrainian crisis is changing the situation, as it's becoming urgent to get away from spending money on gas.

But cheese manufacturers are imaginative. They have learned to synergize different sources of heat from one station with the heat requirements of another. They can recover it from refrigeration units (also heat producers), or "whey" which is at 35° potentially wasted and recoverable as an auxiliary heat source. This works, since hot water at 80° achieves a similar result to steam at 180°, which was tricky to regulate.

In any case, there's no question of compromising with pasteurization. It's what gives cheese its quality, and it's the starting point for thinking about optimizing your mix, and reaching the critical temperature as intelligently as possible. At present, there's no question of bypassing the process, nor of producing at "less hot".

Last but not least, some manufacturers like Bel are innovating by offering plant-based formulas. For example, a "plant-based" mini-babybel in the UK, or a 100% plant-based Vache qui rit edition to mark the brand's 100th anniversary last year, were able to be offered with specific processes, which could themselves be optimized.

Some manufacturers, such as Bel, are innovating by offering plant-based formulas.

Solutions

Industrialists, if you're not short of options, our catalog will help you make the most of your situation:

Develop a concrete strategy for lowering your energy consumption, through process performance;
Gain energy autonomy, notably by rebalancing in favor of renewable energies;
Search for aid and financing for the upgrade or acquisition of new facilities;
Finally, monitor and enhance your energy performance.

We work alongside cheese manufacturers to find and implement decisive, sustainable solutions.