The company Vegetales Línea Verde from Tudela, a pioneer in using water without chemical products
Innovation
The IV and V range firm has installed the innovative Greentech technical solution in its refrigeration equipment. Now, he will apply it on a large scale, to wash and disinfect vegetables
Updated on 01/30/2022 at 22:25
Changing ways of working that have been ingrained for years is not always easy. And even less so when it means putting into practice a system so innovative that your company is going to be the first to install it in Navarra, in distinguishing itself by doing something differently from the rest. But the firm Vegetales Línea Verde Navarra -dedicated to the fourth and fifth range- relied on the proposal of the company Greentech Efficient Solutions to be more sustainable and, at the same time, improve its economic profitability. Today, Línea Verde - a supplier of chopped vegetables and other ready-to-eat dishes to distribution chains such as Mercadona and Lidl - has not used disinfectant chemicals in the refrigeration equipment at its Tudela plant for six months. The applied technique has allowed the firm (51% La Linea Verde and 49% Grupo AN) another improvement: reduce water consumption by 60% in the aforementioned equipment.
“We are very satisfied.Vegetales Línea Verde made an act of faith in us. We are a young company, barely two years old, the system is disruptive and the important thing was that a client gave us the option of demonstrating that the technological solution and our work meet the objectives”, says the CEO of Greentech, Javier López Palacios.
This engineer explains that agri-food companies have refrigeration equipment to maintain a low temperature in the plant during the manufacturing process. According to López, these systems use water and fight against legionella with chemical components such as biocides, biodispersants and antifouling. “So that these chemicals do not affect the balance of the water too much, what is traditionally done in the circuit is to evacuate water and renew it almost constantly depending on certain parameters. It is as if there was an open faucet to add water and another to throw it away ”, he details.
The technique applied by Greentech does not use chemicals. It is based on a physical chemical system called electroporation. “The water passes through a reactor that creates a large magnetic field between two poles, positive and negative, which causes two effects: it destroys bacteria and viruses and, in addition, it generates chlorine from chlorides (salts) naturally present in the water. ”, explains Lopez.
The engineer, before lighting Greentech, worked for eight years at Maquinaria Ferlo, the world's third largest manufacturer of autoclaves. Those years of experience gave him a good technical knowledge of how the sector works and made it easier for this engineer to think about moving to agribusiness a system that is already applied in swimming pools, spas and cooling towers. For this reason, Greentech has a collaboration agreement with Geodesic Innovations, a company that already uses this technology -called Geo FDP- for water treatment in places such as swimming pools. Greentech has exclusive rights to its reactor for Navarra, La Rioja and the Basque Country.
5 MILLION LITERS SAVED
The installation of the new technology has provided another competitive advantage to Vegetales Línea Verde. Less water is needed for the three evaporative condensers of the plant's refrigeration equipment. "Since there are no chemicals, the balance of the water is maintained and it is not necessary to purge so much quantity," explains López. Specifically, it figures the annual reduction in water consumption in the equipment at just over 5 million litres. “Now, it uses close to 9 million liters. It is 60% less”.
This saving is added to the one that already means doing without the purchase of chemical products, something that according to the Greentech manager "also generates a lower carbon footprint". Another aspect derived from the new technique is a reduction in the money that the Agro-industry pays a fee for discharging water with chemical waste. "We expel less water and what we throw away is natural," she adds.
25% CHEAPER
Greentech is in charge of the installation of the equipment, its control and maintenance. Among other tasks, it measures water quality 24 hours a day, seven days a week and has an agreement with an external laboratory to carry out the most exhaustive monthly and quarterly analysis required by regulations. The company offers a contract for its services "for a long period of time" which, in principle, will be for about five years with Vegetales Línea Verde. He defines it as "a kind of renting", in which a service is charged, with a price that will vary according to the installation. “The goal is for the company to have a more sustainable system and for less money than before. That you save around 25% of what you paid ”, he indicates.
To offer this service, the company currently has four workers and plans to create a network that offers the service to all companies that install it in the future. "We are going to grow. At the end of this year we expect to add at least another two or three workers to provide service to the ten companies that, by then, we hope will have this solution," he details.
ALSO IN WASHING VEGETABLES
The technical director of Vegetales Línea Verde, Luis Viñal, highlights the importance of properly managing water consumption in a 16,000 m2 plant, "both because of the costs involved and because of the attempt to minimize the environmental impact, the result of our activity". The manager positively values the collaboration with Greentech. "We have significantly reduced the consumption of water in our evaporative condensers, in addition to completely eliminating the use of chemical products in the treatments thanks to an innovative process."
The collaboration has been so satisfactory that what has been an experience in something specific, such as the treatment of legionella in evaporative condensers, will be applied to a larger scale.Vegetales Línea Verde is already working with Greentech to adapt this technological solution to the washing and disinfection of your lettuce and vegetables. "What has been done so far is the beginning of a collaboration to continue working together," says Luis Viñal.
The CEO of Greentech is also delighted with the new challenge that lies ahead since, as he confesses, the initial objective of the company was precisely the washing and disinfection of vegetables without chemical products and saving water. López advances that In this adaptation, electroporation will be used combined with other techniques, and that in the washing and disinfection of the lettuce, in addition to eliminating chemicals, a saving of 80% of water will be achieved. “The consumption of water in the production lines is much higher than that of the cold equipment. The factory can use about 300,000 liters of water per day. The reduction of the water footprint, the saving of water, there it will be enormous”.
Viscofan and 5 other portfolio companies
With the elimination of chemicals and water savings at the Vegetales Línea Verde Navarra plant, the company Greentech marks an important turning point in its barely two years of life. While the agri-food company, which manufactures 82 million bags and bowls of salads and vegetables per year, can champion its greatest commitment to sustainability in its commercial discourse, Greentech has its first reference in the vegetable plant, although in 2020 it already carried out a specific water-saving solution at the El Cabildo company.
The future of Greentech looks bright. As the IV and V range firm from Tudel is owned by Grupo AN, a conference is shortly organized so that all the technical managers of the companies of the Tajonar group (Dantza, Avícola Mélida, Caceco, etc) ) come to Tudela to know the experience in situ and, in this way, assess if they apply these services in their factories.
Greentech is currently negotiating with other agri-food companies. Viscofan also installed this technological application a few months ago for the treatment of legionella and, shortly, plans to close a collaboration agreement for several years, according to the director of the start-up, Javier López. “Viscofan can spend millions of liters of water per day and the savings will be very significant. We cannot serve all companies in the sector. We need a minimum of water consumption for them to be profitable”, adds Javier López.
In addition to Viscofan, there are five other companies in the portfolio, most of them with large volumes and relevant names in the sector, but the manager prefers not to mention them until they close collaborations. "We give a trial period of six months and, from there, we negotiate the agreement." By the end of this year, they plan to offer their services to some ten companies in Navarra, La Rioja and the Basque Country. "Our plans are not only focused on the agri-food industry, but on other sectors, such as metallurgy, where our tests are giving good results," says Javier López. The young company, which in its first year had a turnover of 150,000 euros, is confident of achieving and exceeding its first million euros this year.
PROFILE Javier López Palacios (San Adrián, June 15, 1987) is an electrical industrial engineer from the Public University of Navarra. The youngest of three brothers, he is the son of businessmen. His parents have the company Janae, in the riverside town, dedicated to decoration. Another of his brothers, Daniel, also an engineer, has the Isada company, in the Navarrese capital. Right after finishing his degree, Javier joined Maquinaria Ferlo where he worked for 8 years (assembly of lines, equipment, etc.), five of them heading its delegation in Peru.
GREENTECH EFFICIENT SOLUTIONSName: Greentech Efficient Solutions. In January 2021, he won Cein's Impulso Emprendedor contest. Creation: February 29, 2020. Ownership: two partners. One is Javier López Palacios, CEO of the company. Location: in Cein, but with plans to move to a building in the Cordovilla industrial estate in summer. Workers: Four. His forecast is to create a network to provide service. It will add another two or three people this year. 2020 turnover: 150,000 euros. 2021 turnover: 500,000 euros. Forecast 2022 turnover: One million.
VEGETALES LÍNEA VERDEName: Vegetales Línea Verde Navarra. Ownership: 51% of the Italian group La Linea Verde (Battagliola family) and 49% of the AN Group. Creation: May 2009. It was the first commercial initiative from the Italian group. Workers: up to 325 in Tudela (450 in all of Spain). Turnover: 65 million in 2019. Group plants in Spain: In addition to Tudela, it has Naturvega in Lodosay El Jimenado (Murcia). Elaboration: IV and V range products. 82 million units a year in Tudela (bags and bowls of salads with dressings). Brands: its brand in Spain is Diquesí, but it also makes private labels (Mercadona, Ldil, Carrefour and Aldi, among others).
LABELS
Comments
We recommend that before commenting, you read the participation rules of Diario de Navarra
CLOSE
SEE PHOTO CAPTION
By iclothingfashion
