Antoine Meffre, CEO ofEco-Tech Ceram, and Laurent Santarelli, Director of the Villeroy & Boch plant in Valence d’Agen, an international giant in the ceramics industry,
inaugurated the commissioning of innovative industrial solutions for decarbonizing industry, reducing the plant’s natural gas consumption (17%, i.e. 5.5 GWh and 1,000 tonnes of CO2) in a sustainable and cost-effective way, based in particular on the recovery of waste heat and the commissioning of a European R&D facility*.
The inaugural event is a concrete expression of France’s ambitions in terms of decarbonization solutions for industry, and a demonstration that we have the technologies to become the leader in green industry in Europe.
The inauguration was attended by :
- Representatives of Agence Energie Climat Occitanie(AREC) and GreenFlex
- Representative of the Communauté de communes des Deux Rives
- Antoine Beauvois, New Energy Systems Task Manager , Comité Stratégique de Filière
- Vice-President of La Région Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Région Occitanie
- Céline Vachey, Regional Director,ADEME Occitanie
- Vincent Roberti, Prefect of Tarn-et-Garonne
- Marco Rubinato, European Commission
- Bertrand Piccard, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation
This installation is the fruit of a huge team effort. On the one hand, the manufacturer Villeroy & Boch, in particular Laurent Santarelli, who placed his trust in us, and on the other, Eco-Tech Ceram, which provided the turnkey solution. And in between, the funders(European Commission, La Région Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée, AREC Occitanie, ADEME, GreenFlex) who provided the financing for the entire operation. What we have just done is exemplary and demonstrates the strength of the collective.
The technologies we have developed are the concrete embodiment of the ambitions announced by Emmanuel Macron and the European Commission to decarbonize industry.
The Villeroy & Boch plant’s low-carbon transition operation began with an energy audit to identify the priority solutions to be implemented to effectively reduce energy consumption. Once we had clearly identified heating needs and waste, we decided to combine 2 solutions to meet 2 objectives:
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Making the most of waste heat
We have installed a heat exchanger to transfer the calories contained in the baking oven fumes and supply 100% of the dryer’s heat requirements.
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Replacing fossil fuels
We have developed an innovative solution consisting of a system that converts #electricity into high-temperature heat (Power to Heat) and a high-temperature heat storage system (Eco-Stock®). This device feeds the furnace with decarbonated heat, reducing natural gas consumption. Coupling thermal storage with the algorithm optimizes electricity consumption, making decarbonization as competitive as possible.
*This technological innovation is part of a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 879608. Budget: €1,978,750. European Commission contribution: €1,385,125.
