LEROUX & LOTZ is a specialist manufacturer of boilers and industrial equipment for the heat and power generation sector. The company designs and produces industrial boilers for the generation of electricity. It is a leader in the field of biomass boilers, one of the leading renewable sources of alternative energy.
“We offer two types of heat and power solutions; combustion systems and gasification systems,” says Commercial Director Industry Denis Meunier. “We can supply boilers for energy recovery from a wide range of solid fuels and focus on ecological and economical power generation.”
As such, LEROUX & LOTZ has its finger firmly on the pulse of the times. Renewable energy generation is a priority both for national governments and industrial concerns. “We have successfully installed over 200 heat and power boilers ranging in output from 1 MW to 150 MW heat energy,” says Mr. Meunier. “Our combustion and gasification systems are fuelled with biomass and solid waste.”
Both are renewable resources that are regarded as being carbon neutral unlike fossil fuels such as coal and gas. “The company slogan is ‘imagination in energy’ and it was chosen to reflect our approach to the challenges facing the energy sector,” says Mr. Meunier. “The economical and environmental cost of conventional fuels is becoming too high to be sustainable, which is why a new approach is required.”
This is where the company’s research and development efforts are bearing fruit. “We are taking the lead today to invent and implement tomorrow’s solutions so that the energy transition can be made a reality,” says Mr. Meunier. “LEROUX & LOTZ invests 4% of its annual turnover in research and development programmes to ensure it can continue to offer its customers high performance products with added value.”
A recent example of the results of this investment is the development of a turnkey unit for the treatment of liquid organic waste. Its advantages include the elimination of the need to dry waste before treatment, thereby lowering energy consumption.
The unit also produces no flames, NOx, SOx, dioxins, furans or fine particles. The company has also developed a turnkey unit for CO2 capture for which LLT has been elected winner of the Trophy of Public Research Energy-Environment-Climate 2015.
Developed for the industrial sector it is designed to isolate CO2 from flue gases emitted by industrial boilers in order to reduce CO2 emissions. The proposed technology uses a membrane separator to reduce the boiler’s carbon footprint.
Another environmental project is the installation of its own gasification unit on its site of Nantes, a research pilot project unique in Europe. Around two thirds of LEROUX & LOTZ’s annual turnover is generated from its heat and power activities.
The remaining third is generated by its industry products, which focus on the delivery of turnkey modular equipment and complex mechanical systems for the environment or oil and gas industries. As well as developing innovative solutions for alternative energies, it also supplies equipment and services for the nuclear industry, which still delivers the majority of France’s energy.
LEROUX & LOTZ’s customers are the major energy suppliers as well as municipal waste disposal facilities. “We also supply our boilers to public bodies such as hospitals which are responsible for their own waste disposal,” says Mr. Meunier. “In the field of co-generation plants and biomass we are also targeting the major energy utilities as well as industrial facilities. In the industrial sector we offer tailored solutions from conception to turnkey implementation.”
Exports account for between 30 and 40% of sales. “Through our industry products we are active in Asia, Africa and the Middle East as well as Russia,” says Mr. Meunier. “However, the focus of the Heat and Power activity remains firmly on Europe where besides France, the key markets are Spain, Italy, Poland and the UK.”
There is a lot of competition and the public spending policies of the last few years have had a major effect on new investment. “We will continue to focus on innovative solutions that will help us form a sustainable energy supply in the future,” says Mr. Meunier in conclusion.
