Opti-MultiSteep, a new process to reduce our water consumption

Preserve resources to meet the challenges of sustainable development.

Malteries Soufflet is positioning itself as the leader in the agro-ecological transition. To this end, the technical and R&D teams continually seek to steer industrial tools and processes towards greater sustainability. The introduction of the new Opti-MultiSteep technology will contribute to our CSR ambition to reduce our water consumption by 30% by 2030.

Continuous improvement and process optimisation

To further improve our water management, we are studying various areas for improvement in-house. For example, our teams are working on various projects to optimise our processes and their management, and to refine the monitoring of our water use. These initiatives are in place at all our production sites. To maximise our impact, our technical teams have focused their efforts on the stages that consume the most water: grain cleaning and steeping. In this respect, the benefits of new technologies such as the Washing Screw and Reverse Osmosis have been assessed.

"With an eye to our 2030 CSR ambition, we are rolling out a number of initiatives at our sites to achieve our goal of reducing water consumption by 30%." Adrien Sig, Environmental Manager.

An innovative combination of two technologies deployed at the Rouen Malting Plant

At the Canteleu Malting Plant in Rouen, our teams have used the Opti-MultiSteep system, which combines two complementary technologies. The first, MultiSteep, patented by Malteries Soufflet, is a process for recirculating water from one tank to another, which reduces our overall consumption. The second, OptiSteep, is already on the market and takes care of filtration and water treatment throughout the steeping process. By combining these two processes, the water can be recirculated and filtered from start to end of the steeping process. Since its commissioning in January 2022, water consumption has been cut by 35% at the Canteleu site in Rouen (76), a site that was already recognised for its water efficiency. In addition to reducing water consumption, this innovation improves the final quality of the malting process by helping to eliminate germination inhibitors. Now that Opti-MultiSteep has proven effective at our Normandy site, the ambition is to deploy innovative solutions at all our sites.