Optimising Water Consumption
Increasingly, as consumers around the world enjoy a nice,
cold Heinekeneither quietly at home or in the more sociable
surroundings of their favourite bar, the environmental impact of
the beer they are holding is becoming more important.
World of Heineken 42 - summer 2010
On the banks of the Nile in Egypt, Heineken's
Al Ahram Beverages Company helps farmers
grow barley for its mattery
In this era of greater awareness of man's
impact on the environment, Heineken is
determined to lead the industry by brewing
high-quality products in a way that is
sustainable, and which positively impacts
local communities.
"Of course, the brewing process doesn't
start and stop at the doors of the brewery,"
Herman van de Bergh, Manager of Heineken's
Global Energy and Water Programme, points
out. "To make a significant reduction in our
environmental impact, we're looking at the
whole process, from barley to bar. The beer
production element is just one of the many
challenges we face in reducing our carbon
and water footprints," he says.
"It starts with growing the raw materials,
barley and hops, processing and delivering
these to the brewery, the brewing process
itself, then packaging, distribution, and
finally the cooling of the product in the bar
or retail store. We call this the 'Total Value
Chain'" (see opposite page).
WATER WORKS
Herman's colleague, Ron Bohlmeijer, is a
water specialist, and his work at Heineken
involves understanding the use of water
throughout the Total Value Chain. "We are
currently conducting research on the water
footprint in two contrasting areas, Egypt and
Slovakia, to help us increase our knowledge
about water use," he says.
"The largest volume of water used in the
Total Value Chain, is for agriculture. Water
footprints can differ enormously between the
regions where our raw materials are grown.
For example, a ton of barley in one country
can have a totally different water footprint
than a ton of barley grown in another
country, due to average temperatures and
rainfall patterns. Unfortunately, it's not cut
and dried.
One of the outcomes of our research has
been to look at the trade-off between
growing barley locally, but with a large
water footprint, or importing the barley
from a region where the water footprint
is significantly smaller. In this situation, we
Reducing water consumption is high on the priority list at Heineken
Netherlands. As a result, a programme was launched in 2009 to
discover where further reductions could be achieved.
"The first places we looked to make reductions were at our three
wells, then the de-iron system, and finally the reverse osmosis
installation," explains Frans van Hoof, Safety, Health Environmental
Manager at Heineken Netherlands' Brand Brewery in Wijlre.
"In simple terms, reverse osmosis is a filtration method used to
remove many types of large molecules and ions from liquids, by
applying pressure to the solution on one side of a special filter. The
aim was to reduce the amount of water used without causing damage
to the water treatment installations. We also needed to ensure that
beer production was undisturbed when executing the project."
Heineken worked with its Group Supply Chain specialists to uncover
savings possibilities, and an external organisation to conduct further
research. In summer 2009, the brewery's two osmosis facilities were
upgraded to allow 10% more water to flow through the system for
use in the brewing process, rather than being wasted. The water has
to be treated by passing it through membranes in order to remove
all chemicals and elements and ensure that it maintains brewing
quality.
Maintenance staff were therefore given special training to ensure
the reverse osmosis installation continued to operate efficiently
following the changes. The improvements have also saved electrical
energy, as previously both reverse osmosis installations ran all week.
Now one installation runs from Monday to Friday, and the other one
only during weekends.
"The project has been a huge success, as increasing the amount of
water coming out of the reverse osmosis installation means that we
do not have to pump as much water out of the wells," says Frans.
"Although we've achieved our targets for this project, we're now
even more focused on finding future ways to save water and energy
to help protect the environment."
