Creating a "zero carbon" industrial site with zero industrial liquid discharge
Present in Morocco for over 80 years, Renault relied on the strategic position of the port of Tangier to build the largest car manufacturing plant in Africa with a production capacity equivalent to 400,000 vehicles per year.
The challenge
Renault wanted this plant to be exemplary as regards environmental performance by minimising energy usage, eliminating industrial wastewater discharge and reducing the quantity of water extracted.
The solution
Reduce the site's thermal energy consumption
Renault and Veolia worked together on reducing the site's energy consumption. The combination of process redesign, innovative technologies and the best energy recovery practices enabled very significant energy savings: the thermal energy needs of the Tangier plant were reduced by 35% (i.e. over 40 GWh PCI per year) compared to a factory with an equivalent production capacity.
Production of zero CO2 thermal energy
Veolia and Renault identified and implemented a zero CO2 thermal energy production system. Biomass boilers supply the superheated water (high-pressure) required, in particular for the paint process drying ovens, as well as the hot water supplying the heating system for the other industrial processes, and the air ventilation system for the site's buildings. The biomass heating plant burns, in part, olive pomace which is a residue of the local olive oil industry. Wood waste from pallets provides additional fuel.
In 2014, 25,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions were therefore avoided.
A zero industrial liquid waste plant
The use of Veolia's cutting-edge technologies makes it possible to fully recycle the industrial effluent by transforming these into purified water. This water complies with the processes' quality requirements and is reused in the vehicle manufacturing process.
Value delivered
Impact on the environment has been reduced to levels never reached for a bodywork plant. Thermal energy consumption was reduced by 35% with 135,000 tonnes of CO2 avoided. Water usage was reduced by 70% through optimisation of industrial processes and no industrial effluent is discharged into the environment.
Robust and reliable processes and technologies, using in particular Veolia's standardised modular equipment, led to controlled costs, improved lead times and high levels of manufacturing quality.
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Thermal energy needs reduced by 35%
135,000 tonnes of CO2 avoided
Water usage was reduced by 70%