Arne Nielsen A/S (UK)

,

By

Arne Nielsen A/S (Marketing)

·

Pharmaceutical production without fossil heat: Oilon heat pumps win Swiss sustainability award

On 18 September 2026, Proto Chemicals AG won first prize at the Glarner Nachhaltigkeitspreis 2026 – the sustainability award of the canton of Glarus, presented by Glarner Kantonalbank. 25 projects were entered, and the winner received CHF 10,000. At the heart of the winning project are industrial heat pumps from Oilon.

What has the plant done?

Proto Chemicals manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients at its plant in Mitlödi. Production has been converted to a combination of low- and high-temperature heat pumps that capture waste heat and cooling energy from the process, raise the temperature and return the heat to production. The heat pumps run on electricity from Swiss hydropower.

According to the organiser, it is one of the first industrial-scale plants where the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients takes place entirely without fossil fuels. The savings are estimated at approx. 1,600 tonnes of CO₂ and approx. 4 GWh of primary energy per year.

Why is this relevant in Denmark?

Many Danish companies have the same starting point: they cool in one part of the process and heat in another. This applies to the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, food and dairy production, breweries, slaughterhouses and data centres. The heat that is sent out through the cooling tower today can be raised to process heat with an industrial heat pump – and cooling and heating can be supplied by the same system.

Oilon ChillHeat covers exactly this area:

  • ChillHeat P series: 30–450 kW per unit and flow temperatures up to 120 °C.
  • ChillHeat S series: 180–2,000 kW per unit for large cooling and heat recovery applications.
  • Complete solutions: several units connected together provide systems from 30 kW up to approx. 50 MW.

How we work with project sales

Arne Nielsen A/S has sold and serviced Oilon equipment in Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland for many years. In a heat pump project, we typically proceed as follows:

  • Screening: we review your cooling and heating needs – temperatures, capacities and operating hours – and identify the flows that can be reused.
  • Sizing: the system is sized together with Oilon using Oilon’s own selection tool.
  • Quotation and project: we bring together delivery, commissioning and documentation, and are happy to work with your consultant and installer.
  • Operation: service and spare parts from stock in Denmark.

Do you have a process with both cooling and heating needs? Send us your key figures at info@arnenielsen.dk – and we will reply in writing with an initial assessment.

Sources

Oilon heat pumps in an industrial plant. Photo: Oilon.

Tags:

, , , , , ,