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GEA builds world’s first carbon-neutral juice production facility for innocent

01 Nov 2021

GEA Group AG, as key project partner, has provided innocent, Europe’s leading smoothie and juice brand, with the process technology for the world’s first carbon-neutral juice factory. The new factory in the Netherlands will lead the way for future plants in the food industry with a truly sustainable approach. Located at the Rotterdam Food Hub, the production facility is scheduled to open officially in spring 2022.

GEA builds world’s first carbon-neutral juice production plant for innocent
  • GEA manufacturing and refrigeration technology significantly reduces future energy consumption and carbon footprint at innocent’s new juice production facility
  • New carbon-neutral factory in the Netherlands to produce up to 300 million liters of chilled juice drinks and smoothies each year
  • Smart GEA heat pump design wins gold at Heat Pump Awards 2021

GEA Group AG, as key project partner, has provided innocent, Europe’s leading smoothie and juice brand, with the process technology for the world’s first carbon-neutral juice factory. The new factory in the Netherlands will lead the way for future plants in the food industry with a truly sustainable approach. Located at the Rotterdam Food Hub, the production facility is scheduled to open officially in spring 2022.

In the new-build project, GEA is responsible for the process, refrigeration and heating technology. Early involvement in the design planning phase enabled the company to develop numerous innovative process changes that significantly help innocent on the path to reaching its climate goals.

“The innocent project is an outstanding example of how we put our purpose of ‘engineering for a better world’ into practice,” said GEA CEO Stefan Klebert. “Not only have we integrated the most resource-efficient technologies, we have also entirely rethought the processes as well as the heating and refrigeration systems. Together with innocent, we have pushed the envelope beyond standard beverage production practice.”

Energy supply and demand cycle

Since much of the energy used in production is for heat, GEA worked intensively on in-process energy and resource efficiency. The company also applied the sustainable engineering solutions (SEnS) approach. This factors heating and cooling requirements into the systems right at the planning stage, instead of after the fact when corrections are virtually no longer possible. For instance, a GEA heat pump will recover waste heat from the refrigeration systems and reuse it in other process steps. GEA and innocent recently won gold in the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) People’s Choice Award for this smart heat pump design.

The intelligent heat pump design in combination with the process adaptations convinced the audience at the Heat Pump Awards 2021: GEA and innocent drinks jointly won gold in the People's Choice Award of the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) for the new juice factory. Every year, the EHPA honors the most efficient and sustainable heat pump solutions with the Heat Pump Award. Image: GEA

The intelligent heat pump design in combination with the process adaptations convinced the audience at the Heat Pump Awards 2021: GEA and innocent drinks jointly won gold in the People's Choice Award of the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) for the new juice factory. Every year, the EHPA honors the most efficient and sustainable heat pump solutions with the Heat Pump Award. Image: GEA

Showcase for the entire beverage industry

Taking a 360-degree view of the process chain will allow innocent to substantially cut its carbon footprint while massively influencing other parameters such as water consumption and waste generation.

“I take my hat off to GEA because they have been at our side every step of the way, helping us challenge conventional design approaches. All the little details add up to a great success,” said Andy Joynson, Chief Blender (Site Director) at the new innocent plant. The new solutions implemented go far beyond conventional beverage production processes. “Food and beverage manufacturers can choose to base their future plant designs on our model. We want to inspire and support a broad-based transformation. In line with that, we are consciously inviting the industry to share in our findings—and at the same time to learn from our missteps and our successes.”

Contact

Anne Putz

Phone: 49 211 9136-1500

Media Relations

GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft

Peter-Müller-Str. 12


40468

Düsseldorf


Germany

+49 211 9136-0

Informazioni su GEA

GEA è fra i principali fornitori dell'industria di processo alimentare e di una vasta gamma di altri settori. Nel 2019 ha realizzato un fatturato consolidato di circa 4,9 miliardi di euro.

Il Gruppo tecnologico internazionale è specializzato in macchinari, impianti, tecnologia di processo e componenti. GEA offre soluzioni energetiche sostenibili per processi di produzione all'avanguardia in diversi ambiti applicativi e un portafoglio completo di servizi. Circa il 70% del fatturato viene realizzato nel settore alimentare e delle bevande che vanta una crescita sostenibile a lungo termine. Al 31 dicembre 2018, l'organico della Società ammontava a circa 18.500 dipendenti in tutto il mondo. GEA è leader tecnologico e di mercato nelle proprie aree di business. La società è quotata nell’indice di borsa tedesco MDAX (G1A, WKN 660 200), nell’indice STOXX® Europe 600 e nei più importanti indici MSCI Global Sustainability.
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