Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas (SCC), a brewery in Vialonga
near Lisbon, Portugal, has significantly reduced water usage by
improving operating performance and reliability with help from GE’s
(NYSE: GE) advanced membranes and water chemical technology. The site
reused wastewater to its cooling towers, which enabled it to reduce its
yearly water discharge by 72 million liters and reduce its annual fresh
water consumption by the same amount. It also increased production
performance by 40 percent in the tertiary treatment.
Front perspective of Sagres Plant
GE has awarded SCC an ecomagination
award to recognize the company for its noteworthy reductions in fresh
water consumption and wastewater discharge. GE’s ecomagination award
recognizes the achievements of industrial users for striking a positive
balance between today’s environmental, industrial and sustainability
challenges. It is given to the top GE customers in environmental and
economic performance.
“At SCC we strive to continuously improve the environmental impact of
our brands and business; empower the people and the communities where we
operate; and positively impact the role of beer in society. Brewing beer
is water-intensive, and we are committed to increase sustainability and
use less water, which is a precious resource,” said Ronald den Elzen,
CEO of Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas, part of the HEINEKEN
Group. “We are honored that GE has recognized us for an ecomagination
award.”
SCC has some groundwater available at the site, but it was not enough to
meet the needs of the brewery. The other option was to use extremely
expensive city water. In addition, Portugal is at a high risk of water
scarcity over the next decades, so SCC turned to GE to help develop a
solution using GE’s advanced water technology.
By using GE’s low-fouling reverse osmosis membranes and
advanced chemistry technology, SCC was able to improve tertiary water
treatment performance, reducing shutdowns by five times, also
contributing to cost savings.
The GE ecomagination award was presented today to SCC during a ceremony
to celebrate the achievement.
“In recognition of SCC’s sustainability initiative and its commitment to
reuse water and reduce both its fresh water consumption and wastewater
discharge, we are pleased to present Sociedade Central de Cervejas e
Bebidas, part of the HEINEKEN Group, with the GE ecomagination award,”
said Ralph Hadley, regional executive Europe and Russia, GE Water &
Process & Technologies. “Reusing water can go a long way to prevent
water scarcity. By using GE’s water treatment membranes, chemistry
technologies and technical expertise, we can help meet current and
future water shortage challenges.”
The ecomagination award is part of GE’s ecomagination commitment, which
focuses on developing technologies and solutions to meet tough
environmental challenges like water scarcity. Through vision and
creative innovation, GE is helping create a prosperous, better tomorrow.
This was not the first environment-related project developed together by
GE and SCC. GE’s technologies contributed to other sustainable
initiatives in the past years:
- The cooling tower monitoring and control system TrueSenseTM
and GE’s advanced chemistry reduced make-up water consumption in the
cooling towers by controlling concentration cycles at higher rates.
- The pasteurization process was improved with a significant reduction
of water and steam consumption.
About Sociedade Central de Cervejas
Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas was founded in 1934 by four of
the oldest Portuguese brewers. The “Sagres” brand was born in 1940, as a
prestige beer for export, to represent SCC at the Portuguese World
Exhibition, inaugurated in May of that year. The Group SCC – Sociedade
Central de Cervejas e Bebidas, S.A. which also includes Sociedade da
Água de Luso, S.A. belongs since March 2008 to the Heineken Group. SCC's
head office is located at Vialonga. Its main activity is the production
and commercialization of beer and malt and also the commercialization of
water and soft drinks.
In June 1996, Central de Cervejas was the first Portuguese brewer to
have the Quality System certified according with ISO 9001 and in 2008
the Vialonga Plant obtained the certification of its Environmental
Management System in conformity with ISO 14001:2004. In 2011 SCC has the
Food Safety Management System certified according with ISO 2200.
Brewing a Better Future is SCC’s long-term integrated approach to create
genuine shared value for all our Stakeholders. Sustainability is part of
how we manage our business. Protecting water resources and managing
water usage are focus areas of our sustainability program.
About GE
GE (NYSE:GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best
technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in
energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering,
moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For
more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power
generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve
their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy
industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas
and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy.
The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the
world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and
quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power,
Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services,
Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in
Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.
Follow GE Power & Water and GE’s water business on Twitter @GE_PowerWater
and @GE_Water.
*Trademark of the General Electric Company; may be registered in one or
more countries.
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