Barracuda biogas boilers bring sustainability breakthroughs
By introducing a biogas system in the production of camouflage at the Barracuda facility in Gamleby, the project will fulfil close to 50% of Saab’s total COâ‚‚ reduction target for 2025 and increase security of supply. The change also reduces Barracuda’s total COâ‚‚ emissions by 65% and brings opportunities for further improvements in the future.
When Saab Barracuda’s management team started looking into ways to reduce their COâ‚‚ emissions, few thought that just one change would be able to make such a difference. But thanks to the drive from the team in Gamleby to make a difference, a multitude of successes were accomplished.
“This was our strategy and our aim from the beginning. We want Saab to be a leader within sustainability but we also wanted Barracuda to take the lead within the company. We went ahead with this project because we believed in it and we managed to secure backing for it,” explained Charlotta Fridell, Production Manager at Saab Barracuda in Gamleby.
Production of camouflage is an energy and heat intensive process. Two boilers are heated up, now by biogas but previously by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and that heat is then used in the production process to dry pieces of camouflage. This heating process used to create 1,250 tonnes of COâ‚‚ a year, but now with the biogas, it creates almost zero direct emissions.
The old LPG process created greater COâ‚‚ emissions, but the gas even had to be transported to Sweden by ship from eastern Europe, itself contributing to large emissions throughout the transportation process. The new biogas is produced in Sweden, not only reducing emissions from the delivery of the gas, but also increasing security of supply. Some of the biowaste used in the production of the Swedish biogas even comes from the nearby town of Västervik, making it a real local process.
We started looking into biogas after we received funding from Saab’s internal Climate Fund to do the first pre-studies back in 2022. Then Västervik Council mentioned that it might also be possible to receive a grant from the Swedish climate organisation Klimatklivet.
“We committed to the project in Q3 of 2024, before we received confirmation from Klimatklivet that we would receive the grant. Hearing the news about the grant made the result even better, but we would have continued regardless," explains Henrik Nilsson, Industrial Engineer at Saab's Barracuda facility in Gamleby.
Then the planning began and during the summer production break in 2025 we installed the new biogas system over a six-week period, just in time for everyone to return after their summer holidays! There was no need to extend the break in production, which was really important to management.”
Now the Barracuda team are looking into if it would be possible to capture the excess energy from the production process and use this to heat the rest of the factory, as well as spaces to introduce solar panels, in order to deliver even more wins.
“The success here has really grown the enthusiasm across the Barracuda team and wider Saab. This is something we needed to do to contribute to Saab’s environmental goals but also something we wanted to do as an example to others of what is possible. It was a real team effort from Saab management, the environment team and those involved in production here in Gamleby,” Charlotta concludes.