(from left to right): David Boulanger (Production Director, Arla Group), Lillie Li Valeur (Arla Germany CEO), Peder Tuborgh (CEO, Arla Group), Daniela Schmitt (Minister of Economic Affairs, Rhineland-Palatinate), Jürgen Wolf (Plant Manager Arla Pronsfeld), Jan Toft Nørgaard (Chairman of the Supervisory Board Arla Group)
After around three years of construction, Arla Foods today officially inaugurated its new milk powder production plant in Pronsfeld. With the second milk powder production plant at the largest Arla site in the world, the dairy cooperative is strengthening its international business, especially to meet the growing global demand for affordable, nutritious dairy products. The new drying plant cost €190m and can process 685m kg of milk into 90,000 t of powder.
The new plant was built with a special focus on sustainability. For example, the new, extended refrigeration plant in combination with the new energy centre for electricity and heat generation (CHP: combined heat and power plant driven by a gas turbine) saves about 1,800 MWh of electricity and about 1,200 t of CO2 per year compared to a conventional refrigeration plant with an electrically driven compressor. As no “green” energy alternative is currently available on the site to a sufficient extent, Arla will, as a short-term solution, purchase green electricity certificates corresponding to the CO2e emissions for both the gas used in the new production tower and the electricity used there. In addition, the dairy cooperative is looking into replacing 25 per cent of the natural gas used in the energy centre with green hydrogen in the future.
