Danone’s $30m biomass boiler for Balclutha dairy plant now fully commissioned

Danone's manufacturing facility at Balclutha. Photo / Supplied

French food group Danone has flicked the switch on a new $30 million biomass boiler for its Balclutha dairy plant.

The company says it is New Zealand’s first dairy spray drying plant powered exclusively by biomass fuel, which comes from locally sourced forestry waste.

Danone says the now fully commissioned biomass boiler will reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 20,000 tonnes a year - equivalent to removing 10,000 petrol or diesel-powered cars from New Zealand’s roads.

Combined with the use of 100 per cent renewable electricity at the plant, CO2 emissions will be reduced by 95 per cent, helping to underpin Danone’s global pledge to be a net-zero carbon company by 2050, the company says.

The Balclutha spray drying plant processes fresh milk sourced from 20 local farms into powder that is used as the base for production of Danone’s baby formula brands, which include Aptamil and Karicare.

Boilers play a central role in spray drying – the process of converting milk into a dry powder through the application of heat. About 8 per cent of the entire plant’s energy consumption comes from steam production.

Unlike gas or the more common coal-powered fossil fuel boilers in New Zealand, Danone’s biomass boiler - built by Finland’s KPA Unicon - is powered by locally-sourced wood residues from sustainably-managed forests.

“This has not been a simple project for us, especially with the impact of Covid, however, it is symbolic of the action required for business to contribute in an impactful way in order to realise a low-emissions, climate-resilient future for New Zealand,” Danone’s New Zealand operations director Steve Donnelly said.

In addition to reducing operational CO2 emissions in New Zealand, more than 90 per cent of product packaging materials used locally are fully recyclable. They hope to achieve 100 per cent by 2025.

Donnelly told the Herald there was no real financial return to Danone from the $30m investment.

“This is all about sustainability and making sure that we live up to our responsibility as a company to reduce our carbon footprint in New Zealand,” he said.

The existing LPG boiler will be retained for redundancy during biomass maintenance periods.

“Moving to biomass is great from a sustainability point of view,” Donnelly said.

He said steam output from a biomass boiler is no different from that from LPG or coal-fired boilers.

Coal has traditionally been the fuel of choice for dairy factory boilers, but plants are now converting to gas, electricity or biomass.

Danone, along with a2 Milk, has been given approval to send infant formula to the United States to help deal with a shortage there.

He said Danone NZ had sent 500 tonnes of New Zealand-made product to the US under the programme.

Danone is also investing in regenerative agriculture research in New Zealand with partners AgResearch and Synlait.

The five-year study commenced in 2021 and will compare soil health on farms deploying a range of regenerative agriculture practices with farms using conventional practices.

Danone acquired the Balclutha spray drying plant and its Airport Oaks (Auckland) blending, packing and canning facilities in 2014.

Since then, the company has invested $150m to increase the production capacity of finished infant formula products in New Zealand.