Swedish HVAC&R manufacturer Alfa Laval aims to become carbon neutral along its entire value chain by 2030, and to achieve that goal the company has expanded a collaboration with Schneider Electric to reduce its fossil fuel consumption.
Alfa Laval specializes in heat transfer solutions, including brazed heat exchangers suitable for propane (R290) and CO2 (R744) applications.
In 2019, Alfa Laval and Schneider Electric began to digitize Alfa Laval’s energy infrastructure. Gathering energy consumption data from across the business divisions allowed them to identify projects to reduce energy usage.
In the next step of their collaboration, the goal is to develop an road map for switching away from natural gas to more sustainable energy alternatives.
“Accomplishing our carbon neutrality target will require efforts in our entire supply chain and enhanced collaboration with our customers, suppliers and the societies in which we operate,” says Mikael Tydén, Executive Vice President and Head of Operations at Alfa Laval.
“We have joined the Exponential Roadmap Initiative to support the implementation of energy efficient solutions. Our extended partnership agreement with Schneider Electric is another concrete activity of reaching the 1.5°C scenario set in the Paris Agreement.”
Reducing its consumption of fossil fuels is not the only sustainability initiative Alfa Laval has launched this year. In April, the company announced that it would start recycling its heat exchangers, enabling up to 100% metal regeneration. The recycling project, a collaboration with Swedish Stena Recycling, will also provide large amounts of valuable metals that can be reused in new Alfa Laval products.
The goal is to encourage replacement of less efficient heat exchanger models with new products. “This will lead to significant energy savings and reduced CO2e emissions in customers’ processes,” Alfa Laval said at the time.
For Schneider Electric it’s not just about helping its customers become more sustainable. Earlier this year, the company was ranked first on the Corporate Knights 2021 Global 100 index of the world’s most sustainable corporations. Schneider Electric is the owner of Italian HVAC&R controls manufacturer Eliwell.
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