Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium) is unveiling plans for the decarbonization of its Aroma Performance plant, located in Saint-Fons, France. The plans include a new biomass boiler, which will go into operation by the end of 2025. Combined with other initiatives, such as sourcing green electricity from a major solar facility, this investment is a major milestone in transitioning the plant away from natural gas towards more sustainable and competitive sources of energy.
The Saint-Fons site will become the first aroma plant in the world to be powered primarily by renewable energy and it will reach carbon neutrality for its production operations as soon as 2026. Taken together, these measures will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the plant by 75,000 per year compared to 2018 levels – equivalent to removing 45,000 combustion engine cars from the road.
Solvay has entered into a long term partnership with Dalkia, a subsidiary of the EDF group and one of the major players in energy services, which will commission and operate. The biomass boiler will use locally-sourced wood waste from building demolition and waste furniture, as fuel to produce steam.
“Our sustainable development roadmap, Solvay One Planet, targets carbon neutrality before 2040 for this business, and I am delighted to see that our Saint-Fons plant is ahead of schedule. We will continue to transform our plants to put sustainable and competitive modes of alternative energy in place to actively contribute to the emergence of a low-carbon society,” says Ilham Kadri, CEO of Solvay. “I am thrilled to have a partner like Dalkia on this project to help us reach our objectives.”
“Solvay is a market leader in the aroma products industry and, with these investments, we will ensure that our Saint-Fons facility is operating sustainably and competitively, which will benefit our customers in the long term,” explains An Nuyttens, President of Solvay’s Aroma Performance business. “The Group is proud to be establishing a new benchmark for vanillin producers worldwide, which, when combined with our Natural Vanillin, will allow us to offer a unique value proposition to customers and consumers.”