Reducing emissions with steam

How a Bosch steam boiler is being used in one Polish factory to reduce carbon emissions.

Food and beverage manufacturer PepsiCo began producing tortilla chips and potato crisps on three production lines in Środa Śląska, Poland, last summer. The plant is special in that it is one of PepsiCo’s most environmentally friendly facilities in Europe. With its own energy infrastructure and the continuous expansion of this, the company is pursuing a net zero vision, and a hybrid boiler system from Bosch is helping the company achieve this goal.

PepsiCo’s 55,000-square-metre greenfield plant was built in 20 months, and sustainable, innovative technology is the centrepiece of the new production landscape. The plant uses environmentally friendly energy sources such as waste heat, biogas and solar energy. The production volume is up to 130 tons per day. Process heat is provided by a hybrid Bosch steam boiler system that is designed for different energy sources. The system primarily uses surplus green electricity via the ELSB electric steam boiler. With an electrical output of 3.6 MW, the ELSB generates 5 t/h of steam at 184°C and 10 bar which produces no carbon emissions at all. There are further advantages from an economic point of view: the electric boiler achieves an outstanding efficiency rating of over 99% and, by utilising surplus electricity, makes steam generation profitable. PepsiCo also generates part of its green electricity using an on-site photovoltaic system. There are plans for further expansion in the future, and a wind turbine will also support electric power generation at a later date. If there are fluctuations in the amount of electricity produced owing to the weather, or when there are peak loads, a reliable back-up is needed. The solution to this is a highly efficient, gas-fired UL-S steam boiler, which supplements the Bosch system by producing another 5 t/h of steam. The convertibility of such boiler systems will offer flexibility if, in the future, other renewable energy sources become available in the infrastructure.

The generated steam is used in the corn cooking process to heat huge containers. Corn is the main ingredient in tortilla chips and up to 15,000 tonnes are processed every year. This makes the reliable supply of process heat all the more important. The different systems and types of energy need to be combined in a way that works holistically and the control system, produced and configured by Bosch for this project, has been set up accordingly. The incorporated software not only controls the complex steam processes, but also ensures intelligent communication between the systems. This is made possible by the smart multi-boiler control. In addition to the hybrid steam boiler system, Bosch also supplied two gas-fired UT-L boilers for heating the buildings and production halls. The total heat output is around 6 MW and the technology has an efficiency level of 99%, enabling energy savings and low-emission operations. With its multivalent approach, Bosch succeeded in finding a flexible solution for PepsiCo that meets the company’s current and future sustainability goals.