The construction of a new facility that will produce biogas from the treatment of wastewater from Palsgaard’s production, was officially launched during a ground-breaking ceremony held on Tuesday, 26 October.
The facility is the result of a close public-private partnership between Denmark-based Palsgaard, a manufacturer of food ingredients and plant-based polymer additives, and Hedensted Spildevand, the local wastewater treatment plant. The biogas produced there will be used for heating.
The idea for the biogas project originally arose three years ago. Palsgaard had begun considering ways to make the treatment of their production wastewater more environmentally friendly. The same thoughts had also arisen at wastewater treatment plant Hedensted Spildevand. The plant had approached the Danish Technological Institute about starting a lighthouse project, aimed at developing a sustainable wastewater treatment process.
Having now partnered on the project, they hope their example will inspire other companies and municipalities to implement similar sustainable technologies.
Anders Brix, CEO of the Schou Foundation, Palsgaard’s owner, emphasised the importance of sustainable thinking at Palsgaard.
“For many years Palsgaard has been considering the environment and including sustainability in all projects. Since our factories became carbon neutral in 2018, we have wished to maintain carbon neutrality even when our production expands,” said Brix.
“The biogas facility is just one of several measures to ensure this neutrality going forward.”
Building the biogas facility will ensure that production at Juelsminde continues to be CO2-neutral even with the projected growth of the production of emulsifiers and stabilisers through 2030, which is expected to increase the volume of wastewater by 8 percent annually.
By producing biogas in the wastewater treatment process, annual emissions of about 1,200 tonnes of CO2 can be avoided. At the same time, the facility will provide 50 percent better wastewater treatment than previously.
The facility will be able to treat a maximum of 350 m3 of wastewater a day and generate 70 m3 of biogas.
The biogas facility will be located at the Juelsminde Wastewater Facility, the municipal wastewater treatment plant closest to Palsgaard.
According to CEO at Hedensted Spildevand, Ole Pedersen, the local community will benefit as well.
“By establishing a biogas facility with Palsgaard, we free up additional resources that benefit both the local community and the environment,” he pointed out. Moreover, he said, there will be no need for further investment in a new wastewater facility themselves, which would inevitably have led to increased monthly costs for the citizens of Juelsminde. The biogas facility will free up 30 percent extra capacity, which is the equivalent to 1,570 homes.
As an additional plus, the project ties in to both national and local climate targets, said the mayor of Hedensted Municipality, Kasper Glyngø.
“As part of the nationwide DK2020 cooperation, Hedensted Municipality has committed to a target of 70% reduction of the municipality's CO2 emissions by 2030 - I am pleased to see that cooperation between the municipality and the local business community can contribute to this.”
Palsgaard is owned by the Schou Foundation and has 620 employees across 17 countries. Its turnover in 2020 was 212 million EUR (1.5 billion DKK) with products sold to more than 120 countries.