The Environment and Sustainability
Food safety, quality management and the traceability of all industrial processes back to the field that the raw materials originated from, not to mention certification, all contribute to the environmental sustainability added to AGRANA products and form part of our enduring concern for the environment.
AGRANA is constantly investing in improvements in terms of energy efficiency and in savings in the areas of transport, production and packaging. A continual optimization process ensures that environmental standards are improved still further.
At its production facilities, AGRANA has for years been investing in the optimization of energy use and in environmentally relevant reductions in emissions. The heat and electrical energy required to evaporate the water content (75%) removed during the processing of sugar beet is obtained by means of combined heat and power generating plants (steam and gas turbines) with maximum attainable degrees of efficiency. This makes it possible to achieve a high energy yield from primary energy sources, low consumption levels of fossil fuels and low levels of specific emissions – all of which minimize our impact on the environment. The use of energy has been reduced by more then 30% since 1990 as a result of a series of energy-saving capital investments. In the same period, it has been possible to cut CO2 emissions by a total of 32%, thereby making a considerable contribution to a reduction in environmental pollution.
The Austrian sugar industry has therefore already achieved the Kyoto target of a 13 percent reduction in CO2 emissions in Austria between 1990 and 2010.
During the 2007|08 financial year, AGRANA installed a biogas plant at the sugar refinery in Kaposvár, Hungary, the first of its type in use in the European sugar industry. This plant will extract biogas from the sugar beet slices involved in the beet production process – enough to substitute more than half of the facility’s fossil fuel requirements. This will also entail a reduction in the CO2 emissions associated with burning of fossil fuels.
AGRANA’s starch division is also making increased use of the energy potential dormant in the by-products of potato and corn starch production. The primary energy source natural gas has been partially substituted through the burning of biogas and biomass. A further focus of our efforts to increase energy efficiency has been on energy recovery projects such as the optimal use of residual heat from boilers. This is yet another indication of AGRANA’s commitment to ensuring sustainable energy supplies.
The construction of the first industrial-scale bioethanol plant in Austria will also represent a further contribution by AGRANA to improving the country’s CO2 balance. Every liter of bioethanol used to replace gasoline means a reduction in CO2 emissions of around 1.8kg. The use of bioethanol as fuel therefore also plays a contributing role in slowing the greenhouse effect. Bioethanol also burns without producing soot, is free of sulfur and contains no toxic or other hazardous substances.
In order to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers in the sugar and starch sectors, AGRANA has for many years provided farmers with wide-ranging advice on such issues. AGRANA has also developed means of improving irrigation by measuring soil moisture near the roots of sugar beet plants. In the fruit segment, AGRANA’s so-called category buyers also maintain a constant dialogue with fruit suppliers. In order to ensure that its high quality standards are met and that sustainable agricultural methods are promoted, AGRANA works closely with certified raw material suppliers.
The majority of the transportation of sugar beet to AGRANA’s Austrian sugar refineries in Leopoldsdorf and Tulln is by rail – with this figure reaching 54% during the 2006|07 season. Approximately a third of the potatoes processed by the starch factory in Gmünd also reach the site by rail.
As far as possible, all our Austrian sugar and starch factories use state-of-the art closed circuits. In addition to the nearly complete utilization of raw materials and by-products, this also includes the treatment and re-use of water.
Particular attention is paid to the cleaning of waste water resulting from production processes. For a number of years, investment activities at AGRANA facilities have therefore been focused on continually improving water treatment facilities. The potato juice produced as a waste product of potato starch production at the Gmünd site contains valuable minerals which are returned to the soil in a concentrated form. In a similar vein, the water content of the corn processed in the corn starch factory in Aschach, Austria, is condensed and added to animal feed as a key source of proteins.
AGRANA regards continual improvements to its production facilities in terms of safety, ecological sustainability and efficient use of resources as important corporate objectives.
In recent years we have worked closely with numerous experts, public authorities and local residents to implement wide-ranging steps to reduce dust, odor and noise emissions. Modern biological filtering systems scrub the air discharged in the course of producing certain by-products.