[May 2008] When you’ve been manufacturing continuously on a site, such as Thames Refinery, London, for over 100 years, you might think there’s little incentive to change how you do things. But one of the reasons Tate & Lyle has been in business for so long is that we’ve always been enthusiastic investigators and adopters of new technology. Our latest innovation – the groundbreaking biomass project at Thames – brought together some of the best brains from across the company to create a new way of powering one of our oldest plants, that will save energy and costs, while greatly benefiting the environment.
It started with energy, says Simon Gibbons, Director of Operations, Sugars. "Apart from raw sugar and people costs, energy is the single largest cost for us, and with gas prices rising steadily, it was vital to find ways to control costs now and into the future. At the same time, European regulations around carbon dioxide emissions have been tightening, so finding ways to reduce our carbon footprint was also crucial – as well as potentially offering us financial incentives, in the form of energy credits.
Essentially what we’re doing here at Thames is building a new boiler to supply 70% of our energy requirements. It will burn renewable biomass (initially wheatfeed) to generate steam to power the Refinery, as well as electricity which we will sell back at a premium as “green” energy to the National Grid, since it will have been produced from renewable fuel. The carbon emissions of biomass are also considerably lower than gas. Our target date for the boiler to be up and running is April 2009. The investment is £20 million, and, with the estimated savings, it will soon be paying for itself, while reducing our carbon footprint by around 25%".
The research and technology team, split between the US and the UK, who work on process innovations globally, began looking into the possibilities of using biomass as an alternative fuel source, not just at Thames, but at all Tate & Lyle plants. The potential is huge, both because of the reduction in cost, and the reduction in carbon emissions. The team investigated using wheatfeed, which is what we’ll buy in at Thames initially and has been approved for use by the UK Environment Agency.
A crucial part of the development process was finding the right partner to help us build the boiler. This is where our global team approach really came into its own. By looking at this as a Tate & Lyle project rather than a Thames project, we found a partner, McBurney, in Atlanta, who are experts in burning all sorts of materials as a source of energy. The team worked closely with them to design a furnace that could be adapted both for corn and wheat biomass, and potentially other renewable fuels. The important thing at this stage was to design the system to be as flexible as possible, so that it can be adapted later either for use in other plants, or to produce different types of heat, or to burn alternative sources of biomass.
This project is very important for the future of our plant, and a great testament to the company’s belief in the long-term viability of cane sugar as a business. Keeping costs under control while managing and minimising our carbon footprint are vital if we are to continue to produce sugar competitively under increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Making sure the project delivers its savings isn’t just about developing the right technology and constructing the boiler efficiently. Equally important is the economic balance between securing the biomass fuel from the right suppliers at the right price; the price of gas; and the potential income from green credits the project allows us to sell. Gerald Mason, who led the team investigating the economics of the project, explains.
Managing this triangle of gas, biomass and green credits is crucial if we are to secure the savings. To draw up a strategy for this, we put together a team from across the business. We had to find out how many flour mills there were; who could potentially supply us; the logistics of transporting biomass to Thames and so on. An important consideration was thinking about delivery via the river and roads, so we looked at port-based mills in Europe as well as in the UK.
Although we’re initially going to use wheatfeed, we also looked at other potential sources of biomass. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t do anything at this early stage that would prevent us from using another biomass in the future. This is important in case relative costs change. For now, though, we’ve got our strategy in place for sourcing wheatfeed, and are into negotiation with suppliers.
Getting involved in biomass this early is the right thing. As well as saving us money and contributing to the environment, it’s good to be leading rather than catching up, since, with the way customer requirements and environmental legislation are going, we’d have to do it sooner or later.’
Did you know?
- Tate & Lyle: the first to build a biomass boiler to power a cane refinery
- Thames: continuously refined sugar on site since 1878
- Biomass will provide 70% of Thames’s energy, replacing energy from fossil fuels
- Thames exports 2-3MW of electricity to National Grid continuously
- Aim to recycle 6.500t of ash from biomass as base for fertilizer and use in construction materials
Simon Gibbons, Operations Director, Sugar Tate & Lyle Back to top
