Krka awarded for an Energy Efficient Project 2025

As part of the 27th Energy Days, the Slovenian business daily Finance presented energy awards for various projects in four different categories. Krka was awarded the Energy Efficient Project Award 2025, as selected by online users and an expert panel, for its project on how to effectively use by-product heat at the Krka wastewater treatment plant in the balancing basin. The project ensures adequate operating conditions for the wastewater treatment plant and exploits the thermal potential of the generated wastewater, which would have otherwise been lost to the atmosphere.

The main purpose of the project is to ensure that the wastewater at the Krka industrial wastewater treatment plant maintains the right temperature and, as a consequence, exploits the waste heat generated by the production and auxiliary processes at the Ločna site.

“Given the relatively high temperature levels of the wastewater entering the biological treatment process, the need for cooling has become apparent, especially during transitional periods and in summer when the need for heating is greatly reduced. A detailed analysis of the situation and regular monitoring has shown wastewater’s energy potential, which was previously deemed less interesting to exploit because the temperatures had been too low. However, with the advent of high-temperature, or now medium-temperature heat pumps, we were able to carry out a comprehensive analysis for such waste heat recovery,” explained Krka’s Energy Manager Mitja Smešnik.

Among several options, the installation of a heat pump proved to be the most efficient, allowing us to harness the heat potential of the wastewater to heat the internal hot water system that supplies the entire Ločna production site. The project was completed in April 2024 when the Engineering and Technical Services staff commissioned the system and started testing different operating scenarios.

“Operation in 2024 demonstrated that the energy project has generated annual savings equivalent to the annual heat energy consumption of approximately 3,000 households,” Smešnik said, stressing that the beneficial use of waste heat is a model example of how large companies can contribute to sustainable energy supply and use of natural resources.