Feed & Additive Magazine Issue 3 April 2021

NEWS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE April 2021 19 Bühler and Vyncke form strategic partnership B iomass by-products are generated in almost all food processes. Typical examples are the processing of grains, rice, corn, and cocoa. Today, by-prod- ucts are often either used for an- imal feed or simply disposed of. From biomass by-products, food manufacturers can also produce a climate-neutral form of energy. Unlike the combustion of fossil fuels, the use of biomass energy helps controlling greenhouse gas emissions as the only fraction re- leased corresponds to what the plants previously took from the atmosphere during their growth, which is less than transporting the side stream products to a place where they would be used for feed or disposal. This creates a neutral CO 2 cycle. With new equipment, digital services and retrofit offerings, Bühler already made strong progress in making its solutions more energy effi- cient. “By adding Vyncke's ener- gy recovery processes to our port- folio, we can offer our customers low- to zero-carbon food solu- tions,” says Johannes Wick, CEO of Bühler Grains & Food. Belgian technology suppli- er Vyncke specializes in energy production from a wide range of biomass by-products, including industrial or municipal wastes. The range of biomass-based fuels available for energy production is broad; from agricultural and wood residues to sludges from industrial processes, recycled wood, and spe- cially grown energy crops. Vyncke designs and builds green and clean energy systems that combust bio- mass and waste to produce ther- mal process energy from 1-100 megawatt hours (Mwh) and elec- trical energy from 0.5-15 mega- watt electrical (Mwe). Outside of energy-intensive in- dustries, most companies have tended to view energy procure- ment as a cost to be managed rather than a strategic area in the value chain. Yet today, energy is becoming one of the most im- portant levers for business success. With their cooperation, Bühler Group and Vyncke are addressing this issue to develop solutions for more sustainable food production – with holistic process chains in which energy recovery is integrat- ed so that external energy con- sumption and energy costs can be reduced. This not only contributes to greater sustainability, but also opens competitive advantages for food producers through greater energy efficiency. “Today, we are far from exploit- ing the full potential of recovering energy from side stream products. Our goal is to reduce the energy consumption of a food plant by up to 70%. The beauty of our solutions is that sustainability and economic criteria go hand in hand. Today, we are already en- abling our customers to reduce emissions by 2.5 million tons of CO 2 annually. By partnering with Bühler, we can further improve and scale these solutions in an integrated approach to create a much larger positive impact,” says Peter Vyncke, owner of Vyncke. Both Vyncke and Bühler have set the goal of reducing ener- gy consumption in all new food plants by at least 50% by 2025. Together, both partners want to create the possibility of making malting plants CO 2 neutral. Bühler Group and Vyncke form a strategic partnership to offer integrated solutions with which biomass side stream products are transformed into clean process energy while reducing the customers’ carbon footprint.