.AB Mauri’s yeast site in Tucuman, ArgentinaCooling requires significant water use in yeast manufacturing. At AB Mauri’s yeast site in Tucuman, Argentina, river water was previously used to cool equipment before being returned to the river, a practice known as ‘once-through cooling’. This practice meant the site was reliant on river flows that had become increasingly unreliable and required treatment before use, which incurred additional costs.
In 2018, the site decided to invest in eight cooling towers to replace the use of once-through cooling, dramatically reducing water abstraction, increasing the resilience of the site and reducing the impact on the environment. The site also reduced its net energy requirement as the energy required for cooling towers was offset by reduced energy for river water pumping. Over this time, the site has also installed six cooling towers which have reduced the site’s surface water abstraction by more than 60% compared with the baseline in 2017/18. A further two cooling towers will come online in 2025, eliminating the use of surface water.