How we produce: smarter and greener

At Empro, circularity isn’t just something we apply to our end products — it’s embedded in the way we produce them. If you valorize animal by-products into high-quality proteins, then energy should be treated with the same respect. In this second part of our sustainability series, we look behind the scenes at how Empro reduces energy use, recycles heat, and builds a more climate-friendly factory from the inside out.

Using energy wisely: from necessity to opportunity

Running a modern processing plant takes steam. A lot of it. Our ingredients are made by treating poultry by-products under high pressure and temperature, which naturally requires significant energy input.

But rather than treating that as a cost of doing business, we see it as an opportunity: how can we use the energy we need more efficiently — and even recover part of it in the process?

Our answer is a combination of smart engineering and targeted investment: a hybrid steam boiler, an advanced heat recovery system, and rooftop solar panels to support part of our electricity needs.

Hybrid steam boiler: reducing odor and recovering heat

One of the most impactful upgrades

One of the most impactful upgrades in our production process is the installation of a hybrid steam boiler. This system is designed to burn both natural gas and odor-rich vapors, with built-in energy recovery. The results are impressive:

• 9 tons of steam per hour (up to 11 tons with electric boost)
• Simultaneous combustion of odor compounds (500 m³/h) and natural gas (605 Nm³/h)
• An average of 70 MWh of heat recovered per week (equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of approximately 20 Belgian households)

That recovered heat is put to good use in our drying lines — turning odour removal into an energy-positive process within that stage of production. That’s rare in the industry, where odour treatment is usually a net energy cost.

Other parts of the site, such as office spaces, sanitary facilities, and preheating circuits, are supplied with recovered energy from our Blue Tower installation — ensuring efficient heat use across the board.

What makes this system truly future-proof is its hybrid flexibility. When electricity prices drop — for example due to overproduction on the grid — the boiler can switch to electric steam. This allows us to balance grid demand and minimize both emissions and energy costs.

Solar panels: a first step toward energy independence

In 2025, Empro took its first tangible step toward on-site renewable energy by installing solar panels on the factory roof. The system is expected to produce around 374 MWh per year — about 10% of our total electricity use. That’s not only a financial win (more than €40,000 saved annually), but also a strategic one: reducing reliance on external and fossil-based energy.

Capturing and reusing heat: the condensation system

Another unsung hero in our energy story is the heat recovery system integrated into our hydrolysis and drying processes. During production, high-temperature vapors are released — vapors that still hold a lot of usable energy.

Instead of letting that energy escape, we channel the vapors through specially designed heat exchangers, capable of heating water up to 95°C — an exceptionally high temperature for industrial reuse.

The captured heat is reused to:

• maintain temperature in our water treatment system,
• dry finished products,
• and heat water for cleaning in office and sanitary facilities.

This system doesn’t just save energy — it also improves odor control. By cooling and stabilizing the vapors before they reach the filters, the entire odor treatment process becomes more efficient.

We don’t stop there: even the vapour gets a second life:

One smart example is our MVR evaporator (Mechanical Vapour Recompression). In this system, water vapour released during processing is compressed using electricity, increasing its pressure and temperature so it can be reused as steam.
This steam is then fed back into our production lines — more specifically to concentrate liquids during the drying process. By doing this, we reduce the need for fresh steam and recover energy that would otherwise be lost. It’s a perfect example of how circular thinking applies not just to raw materials, but to energy flows as well.

Smart production means thinking differently

At Empro, we see innovation not as a buzzword, but as a way of thinking. Anything that contains heat is seen as a potential resource. Any emission is a chance to recover value. What costs money today might just become a sustainability gain tomorrow.

As CEO Vaast Vanoverschelde puts it:

“With every investment, we ask: how can we recover, reuse, and repurpose whatever’s left? Feathers, vapors, exhaust gases — if there’s value in it, we’ll find a way to capture it. Not because we have to, but because it’s simply the smarter way forward.”

Up next in Part 3: Tackling odor emissions at the source — from biofilters to chimney stacks, guided by data and dialogue.