PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL - How paper factory Vrancart cut its natural gas consumption by 50%. Markus Schranzer, Managing Director, HoSt Bioenergy Systems - Paper Technology International 2026 - Book - Page 119

PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL - How paper factory Vrancart cut its natural gas consumption by 50%. Markus Schranzer, Managing Director, HoSt Bioenergy Systems

PAPERTECHNOLOGYINTERNATIONAL
Figure 2: The process
The comparison before and after the start of the war in
Ukraine is instructive as context. European TTF natural gas prices,
which had traded below 20 euros per megawatt-hour for most of
the decade prior to 2021, surged above 300 euros per megawatthour at their peak in August 2022 and have remained structurally
elevated compared to historical norms. Ongoing instability in the
Middle East has added a further layer of uncertainty, with regional
con昀氀ict periodically disrupting LNG shipping routes and amplifying
price volatility across European energy markets. For a manufacturer
consuming gas at industrial scale for process heat, the 昀椀nancial
exposure is real and persistent. The CHP plant effectively mitigates
the company’s exposure to that risk across the operational lifetime
of the asset.
Waste processed and environmental impact
The plant processes 5.3 tonnes of RDF per hour, operating
at over 8,000 hours per year. This represents a substantial annual
volume of waste material diverted from land昀椀ll or from third-party
waste-to-energy facilities, and converted into productive energy for
on-site use. Every tonne of RDF combusted in place of natural gas
displaces fossil fuel consumption and reduces the associated CO2
emissions.
A proportion of the calori昀椀c value in RDF derives from
biogenic sources (paper 昀椀bres, wood, organic sludge), which
are considered carbon-neutral in EU regulatory frameworks. The
displacement of fossil natural gas delivers a genuine reduction in
net greenhouse gas emissions. For a company operating under
the European Green Deal policy environment, with increasing
investor and customer scrutiny of scope 1 and scope 2 emissions,
this improvement in the carbon pro昀椀le of operations carries both
regulatory and commercial value.
Reliability, availability, and 昀椀rst maintenance stop
Industrial energy assets of this complexity are only as
valuable as they are reliable. A CHP plant that supplies process
steam to a continuous paper production line must operate with high
availability; any unplanned outage has an immediate impact on the
manufacturing schedule.
The Adjud plant has demonstrated the high availability that
HoSt’s technology is designed to achieve, with an availability rate
consistent with the greater than 8,300 hours per year speci昀椀cation.
The planned maintenance stop, an important early milestone for any
newly commissioned installation, con昀椀rmed that the plant’s systems
were performing as designed.
The simplicity and accessibility of HoSt’s equipment design,
which is engineered to minimise both the frequency and duration
of maintenance interventions, is a factor that Vrancart’s operations
team noted speci昀椀cally.
Conclusion: RDF-Fired CHP as a proven route to energy
independence
The Vrancart project in Adjud demonstrates, with precision,
the value that RDF-昀椀red combined heat and power technology
can deliver for energy-intensive manufacturers who generate
combustible waste. In a single investment, Vrancart has achieved
three objectives that previously required separate strategies: it has
reduced its energy costs, it has eliminated a waste disposal burden,
and it has transformed its exposure to volatile external energy
markets from a structural vulnerability into a managed, predictable
operating cost.
The technology itself is well-suited to replication. Paper
mills, cardboard producers, and other manufacturers in the paper
and packaging sector almost universally generate RDF-grade
waste streams. The fuel is available, the combustion technology
is proven, and the regulatory framework for compliant operation
is well established across the EU. What the Vrancart case adds
to this picture is a real-world performance reference: a plant that
was commissioned in 2024, is operating at design capacity, has
completed its 昀椀rst planned maintenance stop, and is delivering the
昀椀nancial returns that were projected.
For other manufacturers facing the same structural
challenge, the question is less whether this technology works and
more whether the conditions are in place to make the investment
case compelling. Given the sustained elevation of European energy
prices, the increasing regulatory pressure on waste disposal, and
the growing commercial value of demonstrable progress on carbon
reduction, those conditions are, for many companies, already met.
“RDF-昀椀red CHP is one of the most effective routes available to industrial manufacturers seeking genuine energy
independence. The Vrancart project shows what is possible when the right technology, the right fuel supply, and
the right engineering partner come together. We are proud to have delivered a plant that is now a cornerstone of
Vrancart’s energy strategy, and we look forward to more projects like it across the paper and packaging sector.”
Markus Schranzer, Managing Director at HoSt Bioenergy Systems
119

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