Viscofan S A : incorporates a new evaporator that allows it to reduce energy consumption, ratifying its commitment to sustainability

​Viscofan starts up a new evaporation plant at its factory in Cáseda (Navarra) that works with GEA's Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) technology. This technology will allow it to increase evaporation capacity and reduce energy consumption, significantly reducing its CO2 footprint, which is a step forward in Viscofan's commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Viscofan has been operating for many years with a steam-heated evaporation plant to remove water in the bathing process and thus maintain the solute concentration required in the process. The increase of its production in 2021, began to demand an evaporation capacity of 5000 kg / h. It was then that the implementation of a Mechanical Vapor Recompression solution was assessed with the aim of achieving the highest possible level of sustainability without compromising its safe and high-quality processes.

MVR System

An MVR-heated evaporation plant is a solution that uses the enthalpy of condensation from previously compressed steam streams to heat evaporation processes. The steam is recompressed to the pressure of the corresponding evaporator heating steam temperature, using a small amount of electrical energy compared to the enthalpy recovered in the steam. Such processes replace the steam generated by the heating of fossil fuels in a boiler with electric energy (green) that allows the reduction of energy costs and the saving of equivalent CO2 footprint.

This MVR solution achieves a reduction in total evaporator energy consumption costs of up to 90% compared to the old steam-heated evaporator system. With these savings, Viscofan is expected to amortize investment costs in just one year.