Always looking forward: Energy management at C&D

At C&D, wheat is at the centre of all innovations, developments, solutions, and products. As one of the leading European specialists for the separation of wheat into its constituent parts and their refinement into tailor-made products for numerous sectors of the food and non-food industry, C&D relies on a natural, renewable and sustainable raw material. C&D attaches great importance to continuing this sustainability in the company’s various areas and processes. For decades, environmentally-friendly and sustainable action has been one of our key corporate objectives. For C&D, as part of the Crespel & Deiters Group, this means facing up to responsibility, reconciling ecological requirements with the company’s economic interests and social tasks, and acting in a goal-oriented manner for all parties. Every day, C&D works on identifying and implementing savings potentials that it consistently uses to ensure sustainable management and protection of the environment for future generations. For its systematic energy management, C&D has not only been distinguished with the EnergieInnovationspreis.NRW but has now also been appointed as an official pacemaker of KlimaExpo.NRW.

Annually, C&D separates and refines more than 250,000 tons of wheat flour into functional products that are used in a wide variety of food and non-food industries. The needs a great deal of energy. Electrical energy for operating machines and thermal energy for drying end products. In this regard, energy savings are of great interest, both for C&D and for the environment. The employees are trained to uncover and use energy saving potentials. An ISO 14001-certified environmental management system and an energy management system in accordance with ISO 50001 ensure a systematic approach.

Discovering and using potential savings is one thing. Reducing energy requirements is another. By 2020, as a pacemaker, C&D has set itself ambitious climate protection targets.

C&D is already saving about 1.5 GWh of heat and about 310 MWh of electricity per year with extensive technical refurbishment and conversion measures, such as the refurbishment of the hot water centre and the large-capacity water boiler; the integration of heat recovery into the deaerator, and the use of LED lighting on the company premises. Thanks to the introduction of modern technology and efficient water recycling, the fresh water required to process wheat flour has been reduced by more than half over the past ten years . Today, C&D covers its complete electricity and heat requirements in production with its ever-expanding CHP plant (combined heat and power). Apart from this, approximately two GWh of electricity per year can be fed into the public grid. The innovative flour storage and separation plant (MT plant) at the Ibbenbüren site offers additional important energy-saving potential. The process steps in the MT plant are performed mainly by natural gravity, thereby minimising the use of energy.