Sustainability - Business opportunities
Alfa Laval’s products and solutions support our customers in reaching environmental legislation, improve energy efficiency and clean water.
Energy efficiency
The world’s demand for energy continues to increase. Alfa Laval offers heat exchangers that are more efficient than alternative technologies. Higher efficiency not only reduces costs, but also carbon emissions. In most processes, heat transfer solutions are required for heating, cooling, ventilation, evaporation or condensation, which can all be achieved efficiently using Alfa Laval heat exchangers.
Three cases where our products improve our customers energy efficiency
Reused heat in Germany
In Hamburg, the surplus heat from a copper producing plant will be transferred to district
heating by using Alfa Laval gasketed plate heat exchangers. The reuse of surplus heat corresponds to 160,000 MWh per year, which is used to heat 3,400 apartments and is estimated to annually reduce carbon emissions by 20,000 tonnes.
Energy efficiency in a refinery
A large refinery in Sweden decided to install an Alfa Laval Compabloc heat exchanger to enhance their energy efficiency. Compabloc is a fully welded plate heat exchanger with great flexibility and high efficiency. The installation will give the refinery annual energy savings of more than EUR 2 million and reduce carbon emissions by 14,600 tonnes.
Efficient server room cooling
Alfa Laval Arctigo LSV air coolers are specifically designed for server room cooling. They operate with low fan speed, low air velocities and minimal pressure differences along the route of the airflow. One of the benefits of low speed ventilation is that it consumes 35-40 per cent less energy compared with conventional technology.
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Environmental legislation
The marine industry is changing at an ever increasing pace, especially when it comes to new demands concerning environmental protection. Alfa Laval strives for sustainable solutions that ensure our customers’ legislative compliance without impacting their operations.
Three examples where we can help our customers reach environmental legislation
Combatting invasive species
Around the world, invasive species cause significant damage to local marine ecosystems. This makes the transport of organisms in ships' ballast tanks a major threat. Alfa Laval PureBallast resolves the issue without chemicals, using UV light to neutralize the organisms present in the ballast water. Energy efficient, PureBallast 3 offers superior performance in all water salinities and even waters with low clarity.
Ensuring cleaner emissions
Marine regulations concerning exhaust gas emissions have become significantly stricter in recent years. Stringent limits for SOx emissions are in place in Emission Control Areas, and tough global limits will enter into force in 2020. By cleaning exhaust gas before it leaves the ship's funnel, the PureSOx scrubber system lets vessels control emissions without having to switch to a more expensive fuel.
Cleaning up oily waste
Bilge water treatment is required by law to avoid oily waste polluting marine waters. Alfa Laval PureBilge is a high-speed separation system that cleans the large volumes of oily water on vessels at sea – without using chemicals, adsorption filters or membranes. Thanks to its centrifugal separation technology, PureBilge performs continuously even in the roughest sea conditions.
Water
According to the UN, almost one-fifth of the world's population lives in areas experiencing water scarcity. Most industrial processes use water and generate waste that needs to be treated to meet tough legislation requirements and to maintain a licence to operate. Alfa Laval offers a complete spectrum of technologies for water and waste treatment.
Three cases where our products help customers clean water
Tap water triumph
To meet the long-term water shortage in Karachi, Pakistan, one of the largest housing authorities in Asia chose to use Alfa Laval's innovative desalination solution that turns seawater into fresh potable water. The seawater is heated to the point of evaporation, and the resulting vapours are then condensed into freshwater. The solution is now producing more than 4 million cubic metres of drinkable water yearly for over 100,000 homes and businesses in Karachi.
Process water recovery
The Rix Creek mine is an open-cut coal mining operation in New South Wales, Australia, that produces raw coal and semi-soft coking coal for the steel and power industries. As part of Rix Creek's sustainability strategy to help combat local water scarcity, Alfa Laval G2 decanter centrifuges were installed to dry coal tailings and reduce water consumption. The centrifuges recover and reuse 90 per cent of the plant's process water.
Recovering wastewater
Membrane bioreactors (MBR) treat over 4 million cubic metres of wastewater every day around the world. Alfa Laval's MBR technology is unique as it is based on membrane filtration modules incorporating patented hollow sheet technology. This technology has been used in several French cities to clean wastewater – including one city where the effluent is used for irrigation and another where the processed water is reused to flush toilets.
Alfa Laval contributes to the Global Goals
The United Nations has adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, known as Global Goals, that world leaders have pledged to achieve. Now it is up to businesses like ours to take us there.
Explore how Alfa Laval's core business contributes to the Global Goals