Facilities in India Switch to Greener Boiler Fuel

Baxter’s Alathur and Waluj, India, facilities use coconut and rice husks as well as sugar cane remnants as energy sources that help to decrease fossil-fuel related greenhouse gas emissions, reduce energy costs and contribute to the local economy.

Baxter’s site in Alathur, India, produces intravenous (IV) solution products. For several years this location used Grade 6 heavy fuel oil for both of its boilers to generate steam to support the manufacturing process. In 2011, the facility switched one of its two boilers to a “green boiler”, which uses a local biomass fuel – a renewable energy source – instead of fuel oil. The biomass fuel consists of coconut and rice husks as well as sugar cane remnants. During the first five months of use, the converted boiler produced about 16,400 gigajoules of energy, approximately 26% of the total energy used by the site during this period.

This initiative has several benefits for Baxter and the community:

• It contributes to the company’s progress toward its goal to increase facility energy usage of renewable power worldwide to 20% (of the total) by 2015.
• It contributes to Baxter’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45% indexed to revenue from a 2005 baseline. In 2011, the boiler decreased the site’s GHG emissions from operations by about 1,130 metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e).¹
• In 2011, the initiative saved the site about $200,000 in energy costs, and had a capital recovery period of eight months.
• During the first five months of operation, Baxter’s purchase and transportation of biomass fuel contributed about $80,000 to the local economy.

"Energy costs contribute significantly to the total cost of the IV fluid bottles we produce at the Alathur site," K.R. Shibu, engineering manager at the facility, said. "This has been further impacted by steep price hikes in Grade 6 fuel oil in recent years. Switching to renewable biomass fuels has saved money while also stabilizing energy costs and reducing our environmental impact."

Also in India, in 2011 Baxter’s Waluj facility, which produces IV and Renal solutions products, contracted with a third party to own and operate a green boiler on Baxter’s property. The boiler, which began operating in February 2012, uses a locally available renewable energy source, composed of residual biomass material from the sugar cane and cotton industries. This system, which previously used fuel oil, will realize similar benefits to the green boiler at Baxter’s Alathur location. It is expected to provide 100% of the site’s steam energy needs while reducing yearly GHG emissions by 4,300 metric tons CO₂e and saving Baxter about $380,000 annually while contributing to the local economy.

Including other locations outside of India, Baxter now produces 8% of the energy it consumes worldwide for operations using biomass fuels. Given the success of these initiatives, the company is exploring other opportunities to use renewable energy fuel sources.