Risk analysis

PROTON FINISHING

A first step towards climate neutrality

Proton Finishing is the Proton Group’s pioneer in climate calculations. The first was completed in the spring of 2022 at Proton Finishing in Forsheda.

“Apart from learning precisely where we need to implement measures, we can now give our customers detailed information about how the surface treatment they choose impacts the climate,” sustainability developer Sandra Vatn tells us.

Sandra Vatn is sustainability developer at Proton Finishing. Her job is to improve the company’s health and safety and environmental measures and to head various development projects, including calculating the impact of the business activities on the climate. In 2022 the company began doing climate calculations for all units at Proton Finishing. The first to be completed were for Proton Finishing in Forsheda, and the other units are under way in autumn 2022. The goal is for all climate calculations for Proton Finishing to be completed by the end of the year.

What is a climate calculation?

“We calculate our climate footprint by converting all impact our activities have on the climate into CO2 equivalents*. We include all of our processes, both upstream and downstream in the facility, as well as the type of energy used and what CO2 emissions the products have before they come to us, as well as the impact they have at the end customer’s.”

Sandra Vatn is the sustainability developer at Proton Finishing.

That sounds complex!

“It is. The tricky part is that climate calculations are fairly new to all of us; there’s not a lot of information for us to go on. But now that the first one has been done in Forsheda, we’ve established a working structure that we can base our continued work on, both in the Finishing companies and in the other parts of the Proton Group. What we’ve learned is that it takes close dialogue with our suppliers; our

* Conversion of the impact of all greenhouse-affecting gases, expressed as a single shared unit. purchases of chemicals and energy make up a large part of our climate impact. Many of our suppliers didn’t have this information, but developed it at our request. And that takes some time and patience. By making these demands on our suppliers, we are also helping to drive development forward. Several of our customers have also started to demand the same things of us.”

How do you handle questions about climate footprint from your customers?

“We use our climate calculation to obtain key figures per surface-treated surface and line. This means that the customer not only knows the average for the entire facility, but can also get detailed information on the difference between different processes and base their decisions on that.”

What does the climate calculation at Proton Finishing in Forsheda show?

“That 72% of the business’s climate impact is due to the use of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). Next is the use of chemicals at 10%, alkaline rinse water at 5% and zinc pellets at 5%. Therefore, reducing or completely phasing out the use of LPG is priority one. We use LPG to raise the temperature and burn off solvents in our spin line. This requires temperatures of 750 degrees Celsius, so district heating, which only reaches 90 degrees, is not an option. We are currently investigating the option of investing in a wood pellet furnace, but it is a major investment and no decisions have been made. We have also started a heat-recycling project at Proton Finishing Eskilstuna, which is also highly dependent on LPG.”

Do you have any other projects under way?

“Yes, we are pursuing several development projects currently, but I want to be clear that none of these investments have been decided on yet. Among other things, we are looking into solar power at Proton Finishing Industripulver. Using other types of powder in the processes, and using evaporation as a purification process for alkaline rinse water are other improvements we will be evaluating.”

Surface treatment is an energy-demanding process in some cases.

“The Stena Recycling facility in Skarvikshamnen in Gothenburg specialises in water and oil purification. They receive polluted water and oil from many different industries.

The separator from Volute is a strategically important part of the pipe installation by Jonas Bäckström and his colleagues at Gunnar Hansson Svetsteknik at Stena Recycling. Their sustainability commitment also extends to the grid structure and the piping on the roof. PROTON STRUCTURE

Stena Recycling squeezes out the last drops

Recycling specialists Stena Recycling lead the way in the industry’s transition to greater sustainability. Pipe laying is a strategically important link in the company’s latest project in the port at Skarvikshamnen in Gothenburg, which is being carried out by the specialists at Gunnar Hansson Svetsteknik, a part of Proton Structure.

tena Recycling is one of Sweden’s biggest recycling companies, aiming to help create a more circular society. Its business concept is to receive waste material from industrial production and other businesses for reuse or refinement into new products or new energy. Iron and metal, hazardous waste, electronics, plastic and paper are just some of the materials in which Stena Recycling has extensive expertise. The Stena Recycling facility in Skarvikshamnen in Gothenburg specialises in water and oil purification. They receive polluted water and oil from many different industries.

“The automotive industry, other manufacturing industries and car washes are our most common customers,” says Robert Karlsson, head of technology and development at Stena Recycling.

“All companies today face difficult demands to handle their waste materials properly. And that’s where we come in.”

Things no one wants

The idea is to take care of materials that are a problem for a customer, and further refine them

Sin a sustainable way so they can be of use in the next step. “For example, say we get waste oil. We purify it and can send it on to another area of use. Everything we do is about sustainability – from the services we offer to our own operations. Our facility here in the port handles hazardous waste, which of course adheres to all legal requirements.”

Even more sustainable

Right now, Stena Recycling is remodelling its water purification process with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of its own operations. To help you to understand the details, let Robert Karlsson give you a crash course in water purification: “When you purify water, it results in a substance called sludge, which consists of the impurities and particles that were removed from the water. The challenge with the sludge is that it still contains some water – to put it nicely, it’s sort of like chocolate sauce. This sludge has a value, because it can be sent for energy recovery, for example to a combined heat and power plant. Currently, the sludge is stabilised with another material for transport.”