4 minutes - magazine 02 | 2024
The course is set
Over the coming years, we will expand our plant to one and a half times its current size. Adjacent to our repair centre in the Ehingen district of Berg, 500,000 m² of factory halls, acceptance areas and office and social buildings will be built.
Carbon-neutral solution will meet the heat requirements for planned plant expansion
With this triple-digit million euro investment, we are placing an important focus on climate and environmental protection – from building insulation to the biodiversity roof. Signed and sealed: we will utilise the waste heat from the Sappi paper and pulp mill in Ehingen to cover our heating requirements in a carbon-neutral manner.
From left to right: Peter Waizenegger (e-con AG), Maik Willig (Sappi Ehingen GmbH) and Ulrich Heusel (Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH) at the signing of the contract.
With the signing of a long-term waste heat supply contract, Sappi Ehingen GmbH and the energy company e-con AG from Memmingen have laid an important foundation stone for this forward-looking heating supply project. The contract with a term of 20 years regulates the extraction and utilisation of waste heat, which currently has to be discharged, unutilised, into the Danube. e-con AG is planning the construction and operation of a district heating supply system. As the primary customer, we will utilise the waste heat for the planned expansion of our plant in the Berg industrial area. The municipal heating plan involves close co-operation with the town of Ehingen and includes the option for third-party use.
“This initiative by two Ehingen-based companies is a real win-win situation, especially for the environment.”
“We are delighted that we can utilise the waste heat generated at Sappi for our planned green factory in the Berg district,” explains our Production Director, Ulrich Heusel. “This initiative by two Ehingen-based companies has led to a real win-win situation, especially for the environment. And we have found a competent partner in e-con AG.”
“Itʼs great that the contract has been signed,” says a delighted Maik Willig, Managing Director of Sappi in Ehingen. “Utilising our energy for the carbon-neutral heating of buildings will benefit everyone by helping to improve the ecology of the Danube and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The long-term nature of the agreement gives the project the necessary security and is also a positive sign for our production site here in Ehingen.”
Ulrich Heusel, Managing Director Production
Peter Waizenegger, CEO of e-con AG adds: “For our company, the contract with Sappi forms the foundation for our planned heat supply. We initially aim to supply the new industrial estate – with Liebherr as our primary customer. The waste heat from Sappi is so abundant that there is ample potential for expansion into other areas.”
Cold district heating
The waste heat generated at Sappi during the production process is available as treated waste water at a temperature of between 25°C and 30°C. It will be transferred to an intermediate circuit via heat exchangers and transported to the industrial area by means of pipework. This temperature is entirely sufficient to heat buildings and industrial halls built in accordance with the latest energy standards for a large part of the year. By using decentralised heat pumps, higher temperatures can also be generated, for example to heat domestic hot water.
Construction of the heat pipeline and the necessary infrastructure is scheduled to begin in 2025 as part of the development of the Berg industrial estate. “All stakeholders, and above all the project developer e-con, still have a mammoth task ahead of them and there are still many details to be clarified. But we are confident that we will be heating our first new buildings in Berg with waste heat from Sappi as early as 2026,” says Ulrich Heusel. Maik Willig adds: “The new heat source has been secured for the long term and its potential is more than sufficient.”
This article was published in the UpLoad magazine 02 | 2024.
