Our customers share in common the innovation and persistence in combating climate change and protecting our common environment. It is typical for them to utilize the residues and by-products of their own operations as precisely as possible, so that nothing is wasted. Vipetec’s offering supports this by reducing the generation of such products that do not meet quality criteria.
Examples of by-products that are utilized
Residues from the production processes of the paper and cardboard industry and pulp are e.g. ash, black liquor, pine oil and lime. Many of these materials can be used, for example, in internal bioenergy production or recycled in pulp production. Sometimes these scraps can even be made into finished products. One such product is fuel, the raw material of which is pine oil obtained as a residue from pulp production. In this way, greenhouse gas and exhaust gas emissions can be reduced without competing with food production.
On the other hand, with the help of by-products, it is possible to open completely new opportunities for the chemical industry as well. For example, renewable turpentine is suitable for the production of bio-based fragrances in the perfume industry. These and the aforementioned fuel belong to the wide spectrum of the process industry, for which Vipetec’s solutions are perfectly suited. With more than 20 years of experience, we have built analysis services, Vipetec ATA™ software, and optimization, support and training services.
Some of our customers use wood-based waste, such as bark, fiber residues and fiber sludge as fuel for their factories’ power plants. This way, for example, pulp mills can produce more energy than they need. Also to power plant processes we can bring additional information and consistency to process management with our ATA software.
Many of our customers have set specific goals for reducing water use and wastewater generation in their processes. The impact of wastewater can also be reduced by reducing certain concentrations in it. In addition, by increasing the recycling of process water, the loss of fiber material can be reduced.
The big picture of sustainable operations
Our customers’ production processes are typically energy-intensive, so they ambitiously aim for better energy efficiency. The realization of this goal has an impact on the consumption of electricity and heat, and thus on the generation of CO2 emissions, even on a societal scale. In order to realize these goals, factory-specific measures have often been defined, and at Vipetec we have a set of services that can also be used to influence the factory’s energy efficiency.
Even today, at certain of our customer companies, the share of non-fossil energy in the total energy consumption is close to 90 percent. By improving energy efficiency and utilizing as many residues from the production processes as possible, they can reduce carbon dioxide emissions even further and achieve cost savings at the same time. In the current situation of very high energy prices, the impact is even greater than before. Geopolitical tensions and the rising costs of CO2 emissions have made our company’s products and services even more useful for the energy-intensive process industry.