GEA products: pathway to resource efficiency
November 10, 2025
Costs for energy, water and raw materials are rising with efficiency becoming a decisive competitive factor. GEA identifies more resource-efficient successor solutions in a transparent way and has them independently validated. Now a portfolio of more than 50 products, what does it take to make the grade and how do customers benefit? GEA insiders share why these innovations are so transformative.
Meeting global challenges with more efficient solutions
Through its Mission 30, GEA aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 and generate more than 60 percent of revenue from more sustainable solutions by 2030. These commitments reduce environmental impact and help producers future-proof their operations.
To support this, GEA systematically embeds sustainability criteria into product development. As a result, resource efficiency is treated as a core design requirement from the outset.
What is Add Better?
Add Better: transparent, rigorously assessed
Add Better products are actually proven to be more resource-efficient. This is based on a rigorous evaluation process developed in collaboration with TÜV Rheinland, a world-leading testing and certification organization.
First, GEA defines the system boundaries – which means identifying the parts of a process, product or site that are included in the environmental or efficiency calculation. Based on this, the team collects, calculates and checks the comparative data against the predecessor product. If the results confirm significant efficiency gains, internal approval follows. The product then qualifies for the label.
Spotlight: Five Add Better solutions making an impact
Wastewater decanter: cleaner water, lower emissions
GEA environmental Decanters dewater sludge in municipal wastewater treatment, agriculture and industrial applications, including the food and beverage industry. By reducing sludge volume, they cut the energy demand of downstream processes such as drying and incineration, lower CO₂ emissions, simplify handling and reduce disposal costs.
The entire GEA environmental Decanter series carries an Add Better label for delivering significant energy savings. Depending on the machine size, this means up to 15 to 60 percent savings with the GEA biosolids Decanter pro series and up to 22 to 53 percent savings with the prime series.
“For our customers, these are immediate and measurable improvements that directly support their sustainability targets,” explains Melina Laackmann, Product Manager, Separation & Flow Technologies, GEA. “Our next step is to minimize the use of chemical additives, further lower sludge volumes and treatment-related emissions.”
Tablet press: energy-efficient pharma production
GEA’s Continuous Direct Compression (CDC) line is the company’s flagship system for manufacturing medicinal tablets. Unlike traditional batch processes, the CDC line mixes and compresses powders continuously, reducing the amount of equipment needed, which in turn saves space, lowers energy consumption and simplifies operations.
Since 2024, GEA’s CDC line has carried the Add Better label for a 27 percent reduction in energy use. While the direct compression concept inherently reduces space, energy and cleaning requirements, the redesign of the CDC line focused specifically on these aspects to further improve on them. The latest system also includes a monitoring program that allows customers to track their energy usage, while maintaining process performance at the required pharmaceutical quality standards.
We’re the market leader for integrated continuous pharmaceutical tableting solutions. While others are still catching up technically, we’ve focused on energy use and cleaning efficiency.
James Holman
Senior Director Technology Management, Food & Healthcare Technologies, GEA
Aseptic bottling: less freshwater use
Sensitive beverages such as juices, milk and milk-based beverages and plant-based beverages require aseptic filling to achieve a longer shelf life. In this process, sterilized products are filled into pre-sterilized containers under a sterile and controlled environment – so no additional preservatives are needed for microbial detection.
“Thanks to a new nozzle design, GEA’s ECOSpin2 Zero filling block cuts water use by 91 percent. A second system recovers and reuses rinse water, further halving freshwater consumption,” explains Barbara Bricoli, Innovation and Product Sustainability Manager, Liquid & Powder Technologies at GEA. These innovations have earned the Add Better label since 2023 and 2025 respectively. Existing GEA systems can be retrofitted to benefit from these innovations.
Water consumption is a critical issue for many producers. The good news: Our innovations do not increase the cost of a new machine or its operating cost.
Barbara Bricoli
Innovation and Product Sustainability Manager, Liquid & Powder Technologies, GEA
Industrial heat pump: lower heating emissions for heating
Industrial heat pumps are a key technology for decarbonizing process heat and district heating. GEA’s RedGenium electrically driven heat pump replaces traditional oil-fired boilers, reducing electricity consumption by 25 percent compared to its predecessor. This innovation, supported by a high-capacity reciprocating compressor, earned the Add Better label in 2025.
“Already in use across many industries and municipalities in Europe, RedGenium reaches up to 95 degrees Celsius which is ideal for enabling fossil-free industrial and district heating,” says Camille Vicier, Senior Director Sustainability & Innovation, Heating & Refrigeration Technologies at GEA.
Rotary milking system: saving water on the farm
In a rotary milking parlor, cows stand on a rotating circular platform and can be milked continuously. The GEA DairyRotor cuts freshwater use per platform wash by 28 percent. It earned the Add Better label in 2025. By reusing rinsing water across several cleaning cycles, farmers can lower water procurement and disposal costs while maintaining high hygiene standards.
Farmers need reliable ways to cut operating costs and strengthen the resilience of their business. This solution is an important lever, lowering farmers’ procurement costs for freshwater, while minimizing wastewater handling and disposal expenses which in turn decreases their environmental impact. “GEA is committed to producing solutions with zero freshwater usage by 2030, so we’ll continue to drive water saving measures across our product portfolio,” explains Christian Mueller, Senior Director, Sustainability, Farm Technologies, GEA.
Add Better empowers customers
Add Better is important for our customers and GEA will consistently expand its Add Better portfolio through 2030. This is good for producers – and at the same time makes a measurable contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption.
“Customers are looking for more transparency around energy usage and ways to reduce water and cleaning solutions,” says Bricoli. “With Add Better, they gain a long-term efficiency edge that is backed by data.”
