29.03.2021 | Hide from front page | News
D-Tech has developed an innovative disinfection technology for the food industry that uses less water, chemicals and toxic substances. A loan through Nefco’s Green Recovery financing programme will allow the Icelandic company to open new sales offices and strengthen its production capacity in Eastern Europe.
The demand for sustainable disinfection systems in the food industry is expected to increase sharply.
“People’s awareness of disinfection has increased enormously during the pandemic and, in addition, food companies are becoming increasingly aware of environmental aspects in their production,” says Guðmundur Sigþórsson, CEO of D-Tech.
D-Tech, which has more than 15 years of experience developing disinfection solutions for the food industry, has proven that sustainable solutions are bankable . Its disinfection systems are used by all of the largest fish processing companies in Iceland and a wide variety of food companies abroad. The technology is based on spraying an antiseptic solution into the production space with a special sprinkler system. A dense mist is then created that disinfects all surfaces and production equipment, killing bacteria such as Listeria and Campylobacter.
“The method is much more environmentally friendly than traditional disinfection methods in the food industry. Our system reduces the use of disinfectants by 70-80% and water consumption by up to 90%. In addition, the technology shortens the cleaning time considerably, which means that valuable processing time is extended,” Sigþórsson explains.
D-Tech not only reduces the use of water and chemical substances through its technology but is also trying to reduce empty driving by the development of a technology called D-Truck to disinfect food trucks.
The company now has 14 employees, and it operates mainly in Iceland and Poland, where it has established a subsidiary. Sigþórsson says the plan is to scale up its sustainable solution to the UK and Lithuania and strengthen its activities in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
“However, it can be difficult for companies of our size to get bank financing, so the financing from Nefco is important for us to be able to make the most of these opportunities.”
Nefco is an international financial institution that finances the initial scale-up of small and medium-sized Nordic companies that develop environmental and climate friendly solutions for global markets. Nefco’s new strategy emphasises support for environmentally friendly SMEs with ambitions to go international. The institution recently introduced a new type of fast-track green recovery loans to enable SMEs to go ahead with their plans following the pandemic.
Visit www.nefco.int for further information.
Further information about the project:
Vivi Avikainen, Investment Manager, Nefco
vivi.avikainen@nefco.int
www.nefco.int
Guðmundur Sigþórsson, CEO, D-Tech ehf
gs@d-tech.is
www.d-tech.is
About D-Tech ehf
D-Tech is a technical company based in Iceland that produces and develops automatic disinfectant solutions for the food industry. The majority of its customers are leading companies in fishing, and salmon and food processing. D-Tech offers an automatic central disinfection system which is capable of saving water and chemicals with great effectiveness. It has a subsidiary company in Poland, D-SAN Technical Solutions, with a strong foothold in the Polish market.
Photo: D-Tech
Sprinkler system disinfecting the installations of a chicken cooler room in Poland
