Page 44 - Food&Drink magazine April-May 2023

BEVERAGE PRODUCTION
Achieving
sustainability
in production
In 2022,
HUMANKIND is facing major challenges that do not stop at the beverage and food industry, including the ever increasing pace of climate change and the growing world population.
To solve these challenges, humanity is facing a great feat of strength that it can only accomplish together.
Krones incorporated sustainability into its product development process more than a decade ago.
The foundation was laid back in 2008, with the enviro management system certified by TÜV Süd.
Sustainability is becoming the biggest innovation driver in new and future developments. While digitalisation and fully comprehensive services in production will also play a decisive role in increasing performance and reducing resource consumption.
Krones is seeking to apply sustainability attributes even more comprehensively to its entire portfolio in process technology, filling and packaging technology, and intralogistics.
The company defines this ambition in its new corporate vision, focusing on three challenges facing humanity – climate change, feeding the world’s population, and the responsible use of packaging materials. Krones’ ambition is to contribute to solving these three pressing issues.
This is also reflected in the new Krones claim: Solutions beyond tomorrow.
But how can beverage bottlers meet the challenges?
BEVERAGE INDUSTRY: ON A GOOD PATH
Beverage bottlers are in a more comfortable situation than some other industries.
There are already many solutions available that reduce CO2 emissions or contribute to the use of renewable energies.
One example is the biomass conversion Phoenix BMC by Steinecker, which allows brewing residues to be used energetically and fermented into biogas.
The residues are first converted into valuable raw materials. After the valuable
ingredients have been extracted from brewer’s grains, yeast
and malt dust, the remaining mass can be converted in a biogas plant.
Phoenix BMC is part of another major innovation of recent years: the energy- autonomous and CO2-neutral brewery Brewnomic.
WORLD POPULATION CONTINUES TO RISE Ensuring food security for the world’s population is another component of Krones’ vision.
At the end of 2021, there were already 7.9 billion people living on earth. According to the United Nations, the forecast for 2050 is around 9.74 billion.
Supplying people with packaged water must be guaranteed in the same way it is with food.
This is where one of PET’s advantages comes into play –
the material is unbreakable. In regions where transport routes are not well developed
and access to clean drinking water is very limited, PET bottles are easier to transport.
PET bottles also have a much lower environmental impact than other materials when transported over long distances.
Since water is mainly bottled in PET bottles, this type of container will continue to
play a major role in the future, particularly as beverage companies work to meet the increasing demand. According to Global Data, growth rates will average 3.7 per cent annually until 2024, so bottling plants need machines that have greater capacity.
In response to this, Krones developed the world’s first wet-end block, achieving an output of 100,000 0.5-litre water bottles per hour.
44 | Food&Drink business | April/May 2023 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
“ The critical discussion often fails to recognise that PET can be sustainable, if the materials are produced in a resource-conserving manner and kept in a closed cycle.”