Tasmanian manufacturer, Alkaloids of Westbury, Tasmania will invest over $3 million in upgrades in new technology within its operations, to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions. These upgrades are expected to reduce carbon emissions by 39%, with energy cost savings of up to $300,000 each year.
Tasmanian Alkaloids is Australia’s largest manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients derived from opium poppies and the largest global exporter of codeine phosphate and thebaine.
The company will install state-of-the-art evaporation technology to replace an old, less efficient method of concentrating solutions when extracting alkaloids from poppy straw.
The new process involves a piece of equipment called a Centritherm – effectively a spinning cone which evaporates up to 90% of the solvent used in extracting alkaloids. The new process will use far less steam while generating the same output, and in turn, is expected to reduce the site’s gas consumption.
Tasmanian Alkaloids has received $1,046,367 in funding through the Federal Government’s Clean Technology Investment Program, and will contribute just over $2 million of its own funds to the project.
