Biopark Terneuzen Smart Links Cargill with Nedalco

Terneuzen, The Netherlands, 11 June 2008 – As part of Biopark Terneuzen, an exemplary initiative in The Netherlands to promote sustainable industrial development, Cargill is putting in practice the project’s underlying Smart Link concept of having industries located in the same geographic area use each other’s by-products as feedstock. The objective of Smart Linking is to optimise the use of resources, lower costs and reduce the volume of materials entering the waste stream. Cargill joined the Biopark Terneuzen initiative at its inception in February 2007.

According to Francesco Faglia, General Manager of Cargill’s Sas van Gent site in the Biopark zone: “At Cargill we are totally committed to minimizing our impact on the environment. We have set ourselves ambitious targets for reduced greenhouse gas emissions and lower fresh water usage, as well as for cutting disposable waste. The Biopark’s Smart Link concept is a perfect aid to achieve these goals.”

“We have significant by-products from our processing”, says Francesco Faglia, “which would involve high conversion and transportation costs. At Sas van Gent we are Smart Linked with our neighbour Nedalco and, through the development of a direct pipeline connection, have eliminated road transport costs entirely.”

“It is difficult to give figures but when you think that moving product by truck costs between 0.10 to 0.20 Euro per ton per kilometre, and that we produce hundreds of thousands of tons of by-product, there are considerable economic savings with Smart Link as well as the environmental benefits”, he adds.

As part of the Biopark ‘Smart Links’ Cargill supplies several hundred metric tons of ‘B’ quality starch - a by-product of its production process – per year to Nedalco for the production of potable alcohol. It also supplies Nedalco with around 10,000 metric tons of steam and a few hundred cubic meters of purified water per year for its processing needs.

After use the process water from Nedalco is fed back to Cargill’s water recycling plant for purification and re-use. These exchanges provide the economies of scale and resources to operate more efficiently and more cost effectively, as well as reducing the environmental footprint of both companies.

The success of the Cargill-Nedalco co-operative relationship at Biopark Terneuzen has resulted in similar programs being examined for other Cargill sites. At Cargill’s new plant in Manchester, UK, a similar by-products exchange is currently operational with a new adjacent Nedalco plant.

“Including ourselves there are now seven agro-industrial companies participating in Biopark Terneuzen“, says Francesco Faglia. “Greater numbers will increase the efficiency of the existing infrastructure and offer further benefits to member companies. Of course these companies will need to match the requirements with regard to their production processes and be able to contribute to viable Smart Links by exchanging, supplying or simply using by- or waste products.”

At its Sas van Gent plant Cargill produces starch and glucose syrup from wheat and corn for the food industry. With the raw materials sourced in France, The Netherlands and the UK, Biopark Terneuzen’s close proximity to Zeeland’s Seaports also provides cost and energy efficient feedstock supply via short-sea transportation.

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