DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences New Century Plant has been working over the past four years to reduce its footprint of anhydrous ammonia and aggressively improve the safety of ammonia handling processes.

“At DuPont, we’re committed to protecting the safety and health of our employees, our contractors, our customers and the people in the communities where we operate. The goal of this project was to reinforce worker safety and reduce the potential for incidents,” said Tim Wise, New Century Plant Manager, DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences.

As with many food manufacturers, the New Century manufacturing site uses anhydrous ammonia as a refrigerant used in process cooling. Despite anhydrous ammonia being a highly efficient refrigerant that is more environmentally friendly and effective than synthetic refrigerant alternatives, in late 2015 DuPont invested considerable capital to implement a multiphase project to reduce its anhydrous ammonia footprint. The project was completed in October 2019.

Wise said, “We have succeeded in making a 90 percent reduction in the amount of anhydrous ammonia handled at the site through this project, which will make a significant, positive impact upon worker, contractor and community health and safety.”

As part of this capital investment, new equipment and process designs were implemented to support the long-term viability of our business. The New Century site celebrated this momentous achievement with a barbecue for all employees and construction partners that contributed to the success of the project on October 3 and 4.

The new equipment was successfully commissioned on Oct. 9 and is meeting all performance standards identified by the project team.

DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences New Century Plant is focused on the production of emulsifiers and food enzymes for use in many food and beverage applications, primarily serving the North American market. The site overall comprises of 130 employees who deliver in-depth knowledge of food and nutrition combined with current research and expert science to provide healthy, nutritious and sustainable added-value solutions for our customers.

For more information: www.dupontnutritionandbiosciences.com or www.biosciences.dupont.com.