A TRUE ROLE MODEL S o m e time ago, we already report- ed on this custo- mer project, which w a s s u cce s s f u l ly implemented in a small town in Panama on the isth- mus between Central and South America. Here, in Garicin, stands the brand new, state-of-the-art, and environ- mentally friendly coffee processing plant of Empresa Panameña de Alimentos (EPA). With its diverse business units encompassing Cookies, Candies, Snacks, Coffees, Teas, Pastas, Oils, and Margarine, EPA has established itself as one of the largest food companies in Panama with a portfolio including popular brands such as Café Durán, Pascual, La Suprema, Gold Mills, and Super Fry. Café Durán, with a remarkable 115-year history, has successfully positioned itself as the preferred coffee brand among Panamani- ans, thanks to the unwavering loyalty of its consumers. In 2018, the company made the decision to build a brand-new roasting plant. Since EPA looks back on many years of successfully collaborating with PROBAT—the roasters and grinders in the old plant were also supplied by the world market leader back in 1996 and 1999—the choice absolutely fell again on PROBAT as a partner also in this endeavor. With a pan- demic-related delay of several years, the highly motivated project team was then finally ready to relocate the old coffee pro- duction to a progressive plant that meets the highest standards in terms of efficien- cy, quality control, and sustainability. Since ecological corporate governance is firmly anchored in the EPA management system, mere compliance with Panamani- an environmental regulations was not sufficient for the customer as part of the project. From the very beginning, the main focus was on protecting local residents from undesirable process-related impacts such as odors and visible emis- sions (water vapor). Therefore, they put a strong emphasis on high-level exhaust air treatment technology when laying out the “Aside from the very low emission values and the outstanding energy savings, it was crucial for us that we could connect the two NEPTUNE 1500 drum roasters to just one PROFORTE, and thus only had to invest in one system instead of two while maintaining both energy and cleaning efficiency. We are also able to minimize the impact on local residents, as odor and visible emissions such as steam are virtu- ally non-existent", explains EPA Directora de Ingeniería Luz Teresa Castro Ramírez. “In general, the collaboration with the PROBAT team has been remarkable, not only planning and communication were precise and clear, but particularly their openness to find solutions and face unforeseen issues, that arose during the implementation of the project, thus mak- ing it a huge success”, she concludes. THE EPA ROASTING PLANT IS A TRUE ROLE MODEL FOR SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN THE INDUSTRY. m new plant. And to make sure not to over- look any major aspect of concern, they even involved the municipality already in the early planning stage. This way also worryings that the plant’s water consump- tion would effect local farms could be dis- pelled thanks to EPA’s surface water col- lection system. Although governmental regulations would have allowed the customer to choose a more basic, thus lower investment tech- nology, their ecological commitment led them to choose the PROFORTE, the best system available on the global market. And when PROBAT first presented the pioneering technology to EPA, they were immediately convinced: The EPA roasting plant is a true role mod- el for sustainability within the industry as beside the use of cutting-edge envi- ronmental technologies and the already mentioned collection of surface water for irrigation, they have also installed photo- voltaic panels which allow them to gener- ate about 70% of the electricity that they are using. Altogether, PROBAT delivered two NEPTUNE 1500 roasters, one PROFORTE exhaust air purification system, and two grinders UW 1203 which were installed within the scope of this project. Success Story – EPA Panama 17