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Sign upOctober 12, 2023
Villeroy&Boch
Valence d'Agen
Villeroy & Boch, a renowned German ceramics manufacturer founded in 1748, is modernising its Valence d’Agen facility in France, where 216 employees produce high-quality ceramics. Despite losing approximately 3,000 MWh of heat annually from the tunnel kiln, the Villeroy & Boch site in Valence d'Agen continued to rely on a fossil fuel energy source-gas-for drying (85°C) and firing (1,100°C) its products.
In 2022, the company launched a €6 million environmental transition plan to drastically reduce fossil gas reliance. Partnering with Eco-Tech Ceram, they initiated a multi-phase decarbonisation program. Phase 1 replaced 11 outdated dryers with 5 high-efficiency units and a high-performance heat exchanger, enabling the dryers to operate entirely on recovered waste heat from the furnace chimney. Phase 2 integrates Eco-Stock® thermal storage and a Power-to-Heat system to reduce kiln gas consumption further.
Environmental: ~950 tCO₂ avoided per year and 4,700 MWh of natural gas saved annually (including both Eco-Stock® storage and heat exchanger recovery). Economic: ~15% reduction in site energy costs, with long-term stability secured by combining efficiency gains and renewable electricity valorization.
The plant will thus reduce its gas consumption by 42% compared with 2021. Without this saving, the site would be threatened by rising gas prices.
Laurent Santarelli, Manager of the Valence d’Agen plant at Villeroy & Boch France
A major amount of the energy consumed in the industry is wasted as lost heat, which represents millions of tons of CO2 uselessly produced. Eco-Tech Ceram’s solution is to recover the heat contained in industrial fumes and store it in refractory ceramics made from industrial co-products. This accumulated heat can either be used as a heating source – hot air at constant temperature level is provided (up to 1000°C) – or be converted into electricity.
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