Ence’s biofactory in Pontevedra has obtained, for the second consecutive year, the certification of the energy management system in accordance with the international standard ISO 50001 of the Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification (AENOR), which assesses the energy efficiency of this facility.
This seal confirms the Lourizán plant as a company that carries out a systematic approach to performance, procurement and energy consumption during its production process. Thus, this AENOR audit confirms that the company practices an energy policy and adequately manages the energy aspects derived from its activity, which implies real and quantifiable savings in the cost of energy during the production process.
Ence has managed to increase the energy efficiency of this factory and contribute to achieving a more efficient and sustainable process. The first step was to identify those activities with the highest consumption during the manufacture of cellulose pulp. With these data, a plan of measures was launched to minimize the consumption of its facilities and systems in an integrated way, the result of which has been the aforementioned increase in energy efficiency.
Ence’s biofactory in Pontevedra is a clear example of a circular economy. During pulp production, the plant works with materials of natural and renewable origin, generating, at the same time, renewable electrical energy. This energy is obtained in its boilers from the biomass resulting from the manufacture of cellulose, made up of elements such as the branches, leaves and bark of the tree, as well as lignin, a component of wood that constitutes an excellent renewable biofuel and natural.
The plant is self-sufficient, since it is capable of generating all of the energy it consumes. With this renewable energy, Ence Pontevedra contributes to reducing the energy intensity and the carbon footprint, while helping to advance on the path of the energy transition and towards the decarbonisation objectives set by the European Commission. Likewise, the plant manages to give value to the forest remains that, otherwise, would not be used.
The plant also has outstanding international environmental recognitions, such as the Gold Distinction from the European Commission and the Nordic Swan ecolabel, the official ecological seal of the Scandinavian governments. Its pulp has also been recognized with the EU Ecolabel for graphic paper, for tissue paper and tissue paper products.
