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ENGIE x Fleury Michon

BUSINESS CASE

How can waste be recovered on site and transformed into energy?

By ENGIE - 19 January 2022 - 15:12

Owner of fourteen industrial sites, eleven of which being in France and eight in the Vendée department, the food company Fleury Michon selected ENGIE four years ago to recover its organic matter unfit for consumption and to transform it into biogas, in an approach based on circular economy.

over-the-years-image

The ENGIE solution: setting up a biomethane plant in the immediate vicinity of the production sites

Specialised in charcuterie products, fresh ready meals and surimi, the French company Fleury Michon is committed to a CSR approach, which includes the recovery of 80% of its organic matter unfit for consumption and stemming from production. Historically based in the Vendée department, where it has no less than eight industrial sites, including the one in Chantonnay, the company has worked alongside ENGIE BiOZ in its recovery process since 2018.

An anaerobic digestion plant

ENGIE BiOZ has designed, developed and currently operates an anaerobic digestion plant located 200 metres from one of the Fleury Michon sites, in Chantonnay. Each week, five to six tonnes of organic matter are recovered, the feedstock varying according to the company’s activity.

 

Energy consumed on site 

In the past, Fleury Michon would send its materials to a processing site more than 70 km away. The proximity of the anaerobic digestion plant allows to mitigate the environmental impact of transportation. And that is not its only advantage! The production of biomethane sourced from this organic matter unfit for consumption feeds the plant’s main boiler in order to produce, in particular, steam for cooking hams, therefore positioning the activity within a circular economy approach.

 

The project in figures:

  • 2,146,000 Nm3, the plant’s annual production capacity, i.e. the equivalent to the gas consumption of 1,900 households.
  • 250 Nm3/h continuously injected into the gas distribution network for local use
  • 30,000 tonnes of substrates produced each year.
  • 60 tonnes of chemical fertiliser saved.
  • Approx. 5,000 tonnes of CO2 prevented annually thanks to the recovery of organic matter unfit for consumption thanks to the biomethane plant.

 

“Fleury Michon is committed to a CSR approach and aims to recover 80% of its organic matter unfit for consumption. We form a virtuous circle that combines the processing of this matter, its transformation into biomethane by the Chantonnay Biomethane Plant and the use of this biomethane at our production sites.”
Mehdi Cailleaud, General Services Manager in charge of waste management and environment on the Fleury Michon site in Chantonnay

 

“At ENGIE BiOZ, we work in the interest of our partners and the regions. We are involved first-hand with local stakeholders in order to find the most appropriate solutions to promote an effective circular economy. This logic, which is applied at Fleury Michon, has led to the implementation of a local waste recovery solution allowing to reduce annual CO2 emissions by several hundred tonnes.”
Ollivier Chesnais, Development Manager, ENGIE BiOZ West Region of France