Use of vegetable by-products

CleanBiz, Hobart (Tasmania)

Botanical Resources Australia Pty. Ltd. produces the natural insecticide, pyrethrum, from the growing, harvesting and refining through to the marketing of the product.  The pyrethrins that are grown predominantly in cultures in the north-west of Tasmania and exported worldwide.

In the awareness that conservative use of resources contributes to reducing production costs and improving the CO2 balance, Botanical Resources Australia participated in the state environmental program, CleanBiz, in 2007. Under this sponsorship program, possibilities of making thermal use of the pyrethrin production by-products were investigated.

The cooperation with CleanBiz led to the discovery that raffinate, a by-product of the pyrethrin production, could be used more effectively. This viscous mixture of vegetable oils and waxes accounted for less than half the fuel at the time of the analysis by CleanBiz. Since January 2008, approx. 80% of the boiler fuel at a production facility in Ulverstone, north-west Tasmania, has come from the "raffinate" thanks to the installation of the SAACKE SKVJ 15 rotary cup atomizer.

The installation of a SAACKE SKVJ 15 rotary cup atomizer offers Botanical Resources Australia enormous benefits: On the one hand, the company's fuel costs are reduced because the available raffinate replaces purchased fossil fuels. In this way, for example, it was possible to save 62,000 liters of fuel oil in the 2007/2008 season – a result far surpassing the expectations based on a fuel mixture with 60% raffinate.

On the other hand, disposal costs are reduced: Since raffinate is a waste product if no further use is made, its utilization offers an economic benefit here, too.

Finally the environment also benefits from the use of the SAACKE rotary cup atomizer, as waste is avoided and fossil fuels are replaced by renewable fuels. This leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions of approx. 174 tonnes per year.

Botanical Resources Australia recognized the potential offered by the use of residues and waste products at an early stage. The company had been mixing fuel oil with approx. 30 – 40 % raffinate for some time. The percentage of raffinate that could be added to the fuel mixture, however, was limited by the burner construction. The installation of the SAACKE SKVJ 15 rotary cup atomizer now enables better use to be made of the high-viscosity raffinate: Thanks to the specialized SAACKE SKVJ 15 it was possible to increase the percentage of the raffinate in the fuel mixture with fuel oil to 70-80%.