(Nomination for 2012 AUREA Award): Strauss Adriatic - Innovative use of product waste for heating

As of 1 November 2011, Strauss Adriatic is the first company in Serbia and the region to use coffee chaff as biomass fuel to heat complete production and administrative facilities of its plant in Simanovci. What makes this project unique is the use of coffee chaff as a fuel in a biomass boiler room. The technology itself is not a novelty, but coffee chaff has never before been utilized in this way and it’s always been treated as a waste, so that its capability to generate heat and this application represent a genuine curiosity. The plant in Simanovci annually produces 140 tonnes of coffee chaff briquettes, which is enough for 3 months of heating. The boiler room is designed to burn other kinds of biomass as well, so that the rest of the heating fuel can always be chosen in accordance with the market trends.

The idea to use coffee chaff as a fuel came from engineer Nemanja Masic, maintenance manager at Strauss Adriatic. The project was approved after a technological and economic analysis at an Operations meeting of the Strauss Group in Israel, while coffee chaff combustion analyses at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Vinca Institute and in Austria confirmed that the emission of harmful gases was no bigger than when any other form of biomass was combusted.

The total value of the investment is EUR 120,000, and the first results show that, thanks to huge financial savings, the investment will pay off in less than projected one year. The use of coffee chaff cuts heating costs, and annual savings are estimated at between 65,000 and 90,000 euros.

Aside from being cost efficient, the use of coffee chaff briquettes as a fuel also solves the problem of waste disposal for Strauss Adriatic. By using biomass, this plant has reduced the emission of carbon dioxide by 341/t or 14% against the previous year.

This project can also be applied to other plants operated by the Strauss Group.

INNOVATION

For the first time ever in our country and the region, coffee chaff is used as a biomass fuel to heat complete production and administrative facilities of Strauss Adriatic’s plant in Simanovci. The plant did not comprise a boiler room powered by solid fuel earlier, and the company was using LPG, a fossil fuel, as a heating fuel, which was by far more expensive and more harmful when it comes to the emission of harmful gases.

Coffee chaff is a by-product of the coffee processing process, and as such it used to represent a waste. In the coffee roasting process, when drum roasters are used, each coffee bean cracks twice. In that coffee bean expansion process, chaff is separated from beans and must be removed from the roaster after the roasting process is done. The easiest way to collect it is by using cyclone. Chaff then needs to be briquetted for easier disposal, and the problem experienced by all coffee producers is what to do with such waste. Some producers mix ground chaff with coffee, which definitely affects the quality of their product.

Strauss Adriatic’s plant in Simanovci annually generates 140 tonnes of this type of waste, which is now reused as a fuel in the new biomass boiler room.

From the very start people at the company knew that chaff might cause a big problem when set on fire because it burnt very well, although its energy value was not so big. For the sake of comparison, 1 kilogram of coffee chaff briquettes has the energy value of 13,500-14,000 KJ, while the energy value of wood briquettes amounts to 17-18,000 per kilogram (classical energy value of biomass ranges from 11,000 to 20,000 KJ per kilogram and is considered a usable source of energy).

The idea to use coffee chaff as a fuel at Strauss Adriatic came from engineer Nemanja Masic, who is the maintenance manager at the company. Coffee chaff briquette combustion analyses were performed in the cooperation with the Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering’s Innovation Center at the faculty, Vinca Institute and two Austrian laboratories. These analyses, which focused on gases released during the combustion process, showed that the emission of harmful gases was no bigger than when any other form of biomass was combusted.

What remains after the coffee chaff combustion is ash. The Public Health Institute has carried out analyses showing that this ash is not a dangerous waste and can be used as an additive in the cement industry.

The project also got green light from the Strauss Group after a technological and economic analysis at an Operations meeting in Israel. It is seen as a project that could bring substantial financial savings and meet the company’s high environmental standards. It took only a year and half to implement the entire project, and the boiler room was put in operation on 1 November 2011.

SOCIAL UTILITY

The use of coffee chaff briquettes as a fuel is beneficial for many reasons. First of all, it represents a solution to the problem of waste disposal because the waste created in the production process is reused as a fuel.

The Simanovci-based plant did not comprise a boiler room powered by solid fuel earlier, the company was using LPG, a fossil fuel, as a heating fuel, which was by far more expensive and more harmful than biomass when it comes to the emission of harmful gases.

By using coffee chaff as a fuel, this plant meets the Strauss Group’s high environmental standards. Biomass combustion during the heating season 2011/2012 reduced the emission of greenhouse gases by approximately 14 percent when compared to the fossil fuel (LPG) consumption in the central heating process in the season 2010/2011. Strauss Adriatic’s goal was to cut that emission by 10% over the period of four years.

Through the emission of CO2 equivalent, the amount of gases affecting the global warming will be reduced by 34 l/t in the new heating season, and fossil fuels will no longer be used as a heating fuel at the plant.

The plant in Simanovci annually produces 140 tonnes of coffee chaff briquettes, which is enough for 3 months of heating. Since the process requires about 300 tonnes of biomass and the boiler room is designed to burn other kinds of biomass as well, the rest of energy is obtained from wood briquettes. Thus, aside from their positive effect on the environment, renewable energy sources also cut dependence on the unstable fuel market.

This project can also be applied to other coffee processing plants operating as part of the Strauss Group, and this Strauss Adriatic’s pioneer attempt to use coffee chaff as a fuel is a good example of responsible operations among the coffee companies in Serbia and beyond.

FINANCIAL POTENTIAL

The first results show that, thanks to huge financial savings, the investment will pay off in less than projected one year because the price of fossil fuels is constantly growing.

A major share of the investment, worth a total of EUR 120,000, was spent on the installation of a boiler procured from Austria. Since the boiler room is designed to burn other kinds of biomass as well, the rest of the heating fuel can always be chosen in accordance with the market trends.

The new heating system, which has been in use at Strauss Adriatic’s plant in Simanovci since 1 November 2011, cuts the expenses by about EUR 15,000 per month when compared to the previous year, and the use of coffee chaff will annually save between 65,000 and 90,000 euros.

Since the project has proved to be extremely cost effective after only several months of use, it will also be applied to other countries where the Strauss Group operates.

If Strauss Adriatic's innovative use of product waste for heating is your favorite for the innovative investment of the year, you can cast your vote on the official website of the 2012 Aurea Award.