Climate change
Our aim is to reduce our carbon footprint by scrutinising our manufacturing processes
Switching to green energy
Of the total energy requirement of Unilever Sri Lanka’s Grandpass facility, as much as 85% is for the generation of steam used for the manufacturing processes. Until a few months ago, we depended on traditional boilers fuelled by furnace oil. Despite our ongoing efforts to reduce our consumption of fuel through a variety of energy saving measures in our production process, the fact that burning fossil fuels resulted in high carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulphur (SOx) emissions remained a serious concern. Furnace oil also carried the added disadvantages of high cost, and being subject to frequent price fluctuations.
Finding solutions
The solution was to turn to an alternative fuel, and in March 2009, Unilever commissioned a biomass boiler with a steam generation capacity of 12 tons/hr – enough for the normal running of the factory, to replace its existing fossil fuel boilers.
Bio-fuels
The new boiler, installed at a cost of 120 million rupees, is fuelled by renewable resources such as coconut shells, wood chips and saw dust. These fuels are also categorised as carbon neutral – a term referring to biomass which (if not burnt as fuel) would release the carbon dioxide trapped through photosynthesis back into the atmosphere, through the natural process of decay. The sulphur (SOx) emissions from the biomass boiler are also significantly less than those released by petroleum fuel boilers. The new technology will result in a saving of approximately 4,500 tons of furnace oil a year – an estimated net reduction of 14,000 tons/year of CO2, and 200 tons/yr of SOx, which represents a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 80%.
Additonal benefits to the environment
The use of saw dust as one of the boiler fuels has an additional environmental benefit. The disposal of this waste product is a perennial problem faced by the timber industry. Much of the saw dust waste is either directly dumped or eventually finds its way into waterways, causing severe water pollution. Unilever now uses up to 30 tons of saw dust per day.
