Ingredient company Palsgaard has joined forces with wastewater treatment facility Hedensted Spildevand to develop new technology which enables a circular treatment of wastewater. This will maintain CO2-neutrality in Palsgaard’s Danish production as it increases towards 2030.

The construction of Palsgaard’s new biogas facility began Tuesday, October 26. The facility, Palsgaard Bio Energy A/S, is based on the development of new technology in order to produce biogas from the treatment of wastewater from Palsgaard’s production, which will then be used for heating. The two companies hope that the project will inspire other companies and municipalities to implement similar sustainable technologies.

“I am very pleased that we, in close and good cooperation with Hedensted Spildevand, have been able to realize the plan to establish and operate a biogas facility that will benefit the environment, local communities and Palsgaard’s continued growth. I am sure that this cooperation will inspire others to find similar solutions,” says Kim Bøjstrup, chief operating officer at Palsgaard.

“For many years Palsgaard has been considering the environment and included sustainability in all projects. Since our factories became carbon neutral in 2018, we have wished to maintain carbon neutrality even when our production expands,” says Anders Brix, chief executive officer of the Schou Foundation, which owns Palsgaard. “The biogas facility is just one of several measures to ensure this neutrality going forward.”

The development of the facility will ensure that Palsgaard’s production in Juelsminde remains CO2-neutral as the production of emulsifiers and stabilisers expands significantly towards 2030, which is expected to increase the volume of wastewater by 8 percent annually. By producing biogas in the wastewater treatment process, annual emissions of about 1,200 tons of CO2 can be avoided. At the same time, the facility will provide 50 percent better wastewater treatment than previously.

The facility will be able to treat a maximum of 350 m3 of wastewater a day and generate 70 m3 of biogas, which means Palsgaard can cut their consumption of natural gas and supplement it with biogas instead.