Making the most of side streams in the animal-based food production in France

One of Alfa Laval’s customers located in the heart of French farming country specializes in producing high-quality edible fats from the by-products of pork and duck processing. With a history going back 130 years and 90 employees and 25,000 tonnes of products packaged each year, the company offers one of Europe’s largest ranges of edible fats.

The company collects raw materials from farmers, slaughterhouses and cutting plants, and processes the animal fats for human consumption using a wet-rendering process.

To ensure that quality and nutritional value are maximized through optimal and timely process improvements, they have established an expert partnership, over a number of years, with Alfa Laval France – specifically Olivier de la Chapelle, Market Manager Protein & Edible Oil, and his colleagues in the sales company.

The technical expertise and process knowledge demonstrated by the Alfa Laval team was central to their decision to upgrade its wet-rendering processing line, which handles four different types of raw material – high-collagen pork; high-fat pork; high-fat duck; and low-fat duck – with the installation of a SANX 3-phase decanter.

“The target was to run the decanter for all products without changing the power tubes position and to have a clear stick water phase, free of fat and suspended solids,” explains Olivier. “Our decanter design facilitates very good performance without changing the position of the liquid outlets, which enables the customer to change easily between the four different kinds of feedstock. The results have exceeded the customer’s expectations regarding quality and quantity.”

The company builds on a long tradition for turning by-products into a valuable product and operates from a belief that fat is essentially good and a key ingredient in bringing out the flavour in a variety of foods and dishes. Taking this to heart, Alfa Laval has explored how the company can continue to upcycle by-products with the best performance of their equipment and the most efficient use of energy and water to produce a value-added product in high demand across food industries and restaurants. The ultimate objective was to cement the company’s position at the centre of more sustainable food production,” says Olivier.  

The Alfa Laval team’s focus was geared towards a cross-functional customer-centric approach to sharpen the focus on how equipment can improve performance, optimize yield, and support customer operations while increasing efficiency and sustainability.

“At Alfa Laval, we understand that you cannot just be a salesperson. You must have a deep understanding of the customer’s process and be an expert partner at the process technology level,” Olivier concludes. “Success comes when the customer has trust and confidence in your knowledge and expertise, when they can see that you fully understand their challenges and what they want to achieve. We can help them meet and even exceed their expectations – then it is a win-win for Alfa Laval and our customers.”