Tire Technology International - March 2024 Issue
Carbon-neutral tire warehousing
2024-04-06 09:16:16
Automated warehousing solutions not only increase efficiency and productivity but are an integral part of comprehensive carbon-neutral solutions for sustainable logistics
For more than 40 years, Pesmel has been providing its customers with many benefits, including improved energy efficiency, shorter turnaround times and space optimization. Today, the company’s high-bay ASRS (automated storage and retrieval system) also enables carbonneutral warehousing, improving the overall sustainability of customer operations. Because warehousing and distribution are a key element of any tire supply chain, creating carbon-neutral distribution centers has a big role to play in reducing the environmental impact.
Examining the possibilities
To fully understand the contribution that can be made with sustainable distribution centers, Pesmel prepared a new climate impact summary examining the carbon footprint of Pesmel solutions. An ASRS with a storage capacity of 660,000 tires, annual tire production of four million units, eight stacker cranes and a lifecycle of 40 years was evaluated. The lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of this system were calculated at just under 22,000 metric tons of CO2e, the majority of which comes from two sources – the steel required for manufacture and the operational energy consumption. The calculation included product manufacturing, use of the system and disposal.
Steel is the main material used in ASRS, with the racking, cladding and stacker cranes all primarily using the metal. In Pesmel’s example, over 2,900,000kg of steel is used, or 90.6% of all material. The remainder is mainly accounted for by mineral wool, fuel, oil and zinc. Although the production of steel requires significant energy outlay, the metal holds an important position in the circular economy. It is the most recycled material in the world and can be recycled many times without reducing its quality, while using only one-third of the energy needed to make virgin steel. For every 1kg of steel that is recycled over the product’s life, a saving of 1.5kg of CO2e is realized. Therefore, the steel in the ASRS example represents a saving of about 4,360 tons of emissions and an equivalent reduction in carbon footprint.
Sustainable solutions
Another way to reduce CO2e emissions is to increase the energy efficiency of the ASRS. The ultimate goal is to create a system that produces more energy than it consumes. For many years, Pesmel has included regenerative drive technology in stacker cranes as a well-established and easy way to reduce energy use. Included in the standard offering, braking energy is collected and fed back into the power grid. This technology is paired with energy-efficient operating devices that are optimized according to use requirements.
To minimize carbon dioxide emissions, Pesmel recommends the use of rooftop solar panels. As shown in Figure 1, left, harvesting on-site renewable energy to supply power needs makes a big difference, more than halving the CO2e emissions per handled tire, assuming average EU solar energy potential. The ASRS’s electric infrastructure can also be used for rooftop solar power grids. Pesmel can include the solar energy system as part of the delivery.
Carbon-neutral warehousing
The climate impact summary showed that using the specified system results in carbon dioxide emissions per handled tire of 0.14kg when solar panels are not installed. With their installation, the CO2e emissions drop to just 0.06kg per handled tire.
The remaining emissions, representing less than 0.5% of the total ASRS investment costs, can be offset using certified emission reduction schemes such as wind power, solar energy and forest planting or protection projects, resulting in a lifetime carbon-neutral tire warehousing solution.
Tire supply chains are very long, and distribution centers are vital parts of those chains, bringing the products almost directly to the end consumer. By enabling carbon-neutral warehousing, Pesmel’s ASRS has become an essential part of a sustainable tire logistics ecosystem.
Pesmel
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