Tomorrow, on September 21st, we celebrate World Zero Emissions Day. It’s a day dedicated to the work done towards a greener future and encourages both individuals and businesses to consider their impact. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness about carbon emissions, reduce the use of fossil fuels and promote greener energy sources: its goal is to stop the use of fossil fuels, at least for 24 hours.

A significant amount of the world’s CO2 emissions come from the process industry, which is why this day is very important to us at Altum Technologies. The core of our mission is to help companies in the process industry improve efficiency, making their operations more sustainable.

This blog will discuss the current state of industrial emissions, different ways companies can reach zero emissions, and how Altum’s high-power ultrasound helps companies lower emissions.

The Current State of Industrial Emissions

Fouling in industrial processes is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, with fouling in heat exchangers alone accounting for 2.5% of global CO2 emissions. Emissions from industrial activities and sectors, including construction, manufacturing, and electricity and heat, constitute around one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Industrial processes are very energy-intensive and can become increasingly more so when equipment gets fouled, and the flow of liquids is disturbed. This means that more energy is needed to push the liquid through. Buildup on equipment also disturbs heat transfer. Separation, such as separating tall oil from lignin, requires energy and chemicals, which lead to CO2 emissions. These are significant challenges industries are facing, which also make it difficult to lower CO2 emissions. An important question to ask is: how to simultaneously maintain or even grow production levels and lower emissions?

Steps to Achieve Zero Emissions 

There are different steps companies can take towards reaching zero emissions. These include:

Energy efficiency improvements: Companies can take different actions to optimize energy use, such as ensuring that there are no energy-intensive bottlenecks in the process. Blockages and dirty equipment can easily create bottlenecks in the process, which require extra energy. For example, dirty evaporators in the black liquor evaporation process can cause extensive issues, require the use of extra steam, and lead to maintenance activitities which use up a lot of energy, chemicals and water. The solution is to ensure that the process stays clean and there are no bottlenecks leading to extra energy use, in addition to minimizing production stops.

Transition to renewable energy: Another important step for companies is to explore renewable energy sources and seek alternatives to fossil fuels. There is a lot of potential in solar, wind and bioenergy, and nuclear energy is also a low-carbon energy source.

Emission reduction technologies: There are also technologies than can be utilized to lower the emissions let out into the atmosphere, and these technologies play an important role in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. One of these is carbon capture, which involves capturing CO2 produced as part of industrial processes, which is then transported and stored underground for permanent storage. In addition to carbon capture, there are technologies which utilize CO2 in, for example, concrete. Taking advantage of these technologies can help companies lower their CO2 emissions.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Another thing to take into consideration is the supply chain. Taking care of how supplies are transported is very important. Effective approaches include optimizing logistics to reduce transportation emissions, sourcing materials from eco-friendly suppliers and improving waste management. This also includes taking care of the supply chain from the company to customers.

How Altum Technologies Helps Companies Strive for Zero Emissions

Altum’s technology is instrumental in helping industrial companies meet and exceed their sustainability goals. By utilizing our advanced ultrasound technology, Altum effectively prevents fouling, thereby reducing the need for energy-intensive cleaning and maintenance activities. This not only enhances process and equipment efficiency but also leads to cleaner industrial processes that require less energy, fewer toxic chemicals, and reduced water usage—all of which contribute to a significantly lower environmental impact. Clean, blockage-free equipment requires less energy to operate, while separation induced and enhanced with ultrasound requires less chemicals and energy.

We have achieved great results in multiple processes, including:

• 150+ tons decrease in CO2 emissions per year in a biogas process
• 180+ tons decrease in CO2 emissions per year in a tall oil separation process
• 7 000+ tons decrease in CO2 emissions per year in a black liquor evaporation process

Read more about the results we’ve achieved by checking out our references.

Conclusion

Reducing emissions becomes more critical each year, especially for companies in the process industry. At Altum, we’re committed to supporting them on their journey toward lowering emissions.

Curious about our technology? Don’t hesitate to contact our experts to learn more and test out our solution.

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