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A wastewater treatment plant at SPI Pharma's manufacturing site in Lewes, Delaware, United States
Our Ingredients businesses aim to minimise their impact on local water resources, communities and biodiversity, by using water efficiently and returning it safely to the environment after use.
Water abstracted across the Ingredients segment decreased by 8% in 2024, reducing from 17 million m3 in 2023, to 16 million m3. Of the amount abstracted in the year, 80% is attributed to AB Mauri which continues to reduce its need for water through targeted water management initiatives.
The amount of wastewater generated across the Ingredients segment also decreased in 2024 by 4% compared with 2023, reducing from 14.3 million m3 to 13.7 million m3. While contributing only 19% to the segment’s total wastewater in 2024, ABFI has decreased the amount of wastewater generated by 24% compared with the previous year, which has led to the segment’s overall reduction.
AB Mauri’s total water abstraction in 2024 was 13 million m3. AB Mauri's water strategy focuses on reducing water use and reusing where possible, and recycling after treatment where feasible. The business assesses water risks affecting each site and ensures that any water returned to the environment is managed as safely as possible.
To support this strategy, the division has built significant in-house capabilities in water usage and wastewater management formalised into guidance documents, reporting tools, procedures and standards that facilitate the management of all water-related matters. A Global Water Champion works with a group of regional water leads to implement this strategy.
Since 2010, AB Mauri has invested $120m in wastewater treatment. Many of its production facilities have complex on-site effluent treatment plants that include biological processes, evaporators and reverse osmosis membrane systems that can produce reusable water and useful co-products. The selection of technologies addresses the local aquatic sensitivities and water quality objectives. At a minimum, sites design their treatment systems so as not to disrupt any downstream municipal processes.
The division is also focused on reducing its water intensity ratio (the quantity of water consumed per tonne of product, excluding by-products) over time. Initiatives include large, capital-intensive projects such as the installation of new cooling towers in the Tucuman yeast factory (see the case study below).
It has also completed many smaller, incremental improvement projects, such as at its yeast site in Chiplun, India, which saved 5% of the site’s total annual water consumption through recycling water after treatment with membranes. This combination of approaches has enabled AB Mauri to reduce its water intensity ratio by more than 25% since 2017/18.
Finally, AB Mauri has developed its own tool to help its sites identify current water supply risks and those calculated in 2030 and 2050. The tool makes use of data from the WWF Water Risk Filter and Aqueduct, as well as the sites’ own experience and knowledge of local mitigation and adaptation measures to assess overall risk levels. The tool considers water supply risk in terms of water stress risk, regulatory risk, reputational risk and water quality risk.
Total water abstracted
(million m3)
The risk assessment is combined with a forecast for water use, incorporating any projects the site has that will reduce or increase water use. The tool is completed annually at all sites with material water use. The results are reviewed and presented to AB Mauri's global Manufacturing Leadership Team, Environment Leadership Team and Global ESG Steering Group.
AB Mauri has also developed a tool to help sites identify their flooding risk up to 2050. The tool makes use of data from the WWF Water Risk Filter and Aqueduct, as well as the sites’ own experience and knowledge of local mitigation and adaptation measures to assess overall risk levels and identify candidates for further assessment.
ABFI uses benchmarks to identify opportunities for improvement and to encourage its teams to find ways to increase efficiency, such as by recirculating water.
Additionally, effluent wastewater is treated before discharge and ABFI monitors the oxygen demand of wastewater effluent across its operations. This information and regular monitoring are fundamental to ensure its operations remain compliant with regulation.
ABFI’s ABITEC Corp Janesville site has invested in a distributed control system to reduce the water needed to cool its chemical reactors. It works by controlling the contact time to allow more heat to be absorbed by the water.
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AB Mauri’s yeast site in Tucuman, Argentina
Cooling requires significant water use in yeast manufacturing. At AB Mauri’s yeast site in Tucuman, Argentina, river water was previously used to cool equipment before being returned to the river, a practice known as ‘once-through cooling’. This practice meant the site was reliant on river flows that had become increasingly unreliable and required treatment before use, which incurred additional costs.
In 2018, the site decided to invest in eight cooling towers to replace the use of once-through cooling, dramatically reducing water abstraction, increasing the resilience of the site and reducing the impact on the environment. The site also reduced its net energy requirement as the energy required for cooling towers was offset by reduced energy for river water pumping. Over this time, the site has also installed six cooling towers which have reduced the site’s surface water abstraction by more than 60% compared with the baseline in 2017/18. A further two cooling towers will come online in 2025, eliminating the use of surface water.
