Lilly Speke Makes Environmental Improvements

Lilly’s Speke facility, which is on Merseyside in the UK, has put in place several innovative systems to address environmental challenges.

Wastewater

Facility engineers redesigned a manufacturing process to cut zinc levels in the facility’s wastewater in half without any loss in yield or product quality. As a result, we are now able to comfortably meet our CTD limit for zinc. The process was recognized externally with a Business Commitment to the Environment Award.

Solvent recovery

Two bulk solvents (Butyl Acetate and AcetoNitrile) are in use in the Speke site. Butyl Acetate is recycled by distillation and reused on-site. Following continuous technical development, this recovery process is greater than 98 percent efficient. We have also invested heavily in containment to ensure that we minimize all physical losses. We have also made improvements to our management of AcetoNitrile by segregating different waste streams containing the solvent such that they can be disposed of in the most environmentally effective way. In doing so, we have moved from a situation in which all of the waste solvent was incinerated to the current situation in which the solvent is either recovered for reuse off-site, or used as a secondary fuel with subsequent energy recovery. We are actively working on proposals to recover and reuse the solvent back into the process.

Energy management

Speke uses a Combined Heat & Power Plant (CHP), which, when it was installed, was the most efficient generation technology available. We have worked with BP Energy to identify cost-effective ways of reducing energy usage and related emissions. We have begun to replace old equipment with energy-efficient, state-of-the-art solutions. For example, we recently replaced our chilled water generators with a system based on vapor absorption, which saves about 20 percent of the energy used by the previous system, uses available excess steam efficiently, and avoids use of traditional refrigerants with their associated atmospheric ozone impact.

Waste management

The Speke facility produces around 50 tons per day of mycelia waste that is currently landfilled. UK implementation of the EU Landfill Directive and revised regulations governing the rules for acceptance of waste at landfill sites in the third quarter of 2007 mean we will not be able to continue landfilling this material without changing our process. The site has invested significant resources to find an alternative environmentally sound solution. We have identified changes to our process that will enable continued acceptance of mycelia at landfill sites as an interim measure, and we have identified co-combustion of the mycelia as a long-term environmentally friendly route. Detailed commercial discussions will commence shortly with the proposed service provider.

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