BMW’s engine plant goes green

BMW’s engine manufacturing plant in Steyr, Austria, has boosted its green credentials by completing a new waste water free production process that saves 30 million litres of water a year.

Courtesy of new water filtration techniques, the plant, which produces 60 per cent of all BMW’s engines, now recycles all of its water used during manufacturing. A combination of nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and evaporation systems make the dramatic difference. The process was first introduced in 2003 into several areas of the plant on a test basis but it proved so effective at minimising waste, managers embarked on the ambitious project to make the entire factory self-sufficient. The result of this endeavour has proved so successful that it led to the mains drainage connections all being closed off at the end of 2006. Now the water used in manufacturing is continually recycled.

The news comes as the BMW Group in the UK continues to work at reducing its environmental impact. Plant Swindon recently installed a radiant gas heating system as part of a £40 million investment programme which cut CO2 emissions by 950 tonnes a year. Improved manufacturing processes and increased recycling of waste at BMW Plant Oxford saw the weight of landfill waste per new car produced reduced by nearly 50 per cent. BMW Plant Hams Hall has won awards for its wildlife conservation that includes a composting facility to feed the soil surrounding the three wildlife reserves at the factory.

In total, since 2003, all BMW Group’s manufacturing bases in the UK have cut water consumption by an average of 15 per cent. CO2 emissions from the same plants have similarly been cut by an average of 15 per cent. This is despite output from most business areas over the same period increasing – in the case of Hams Hall, this has been by as much as 66 per cent.