At Millipore Sigma’s Sheboygan Falls facility in Wisconsin, this reality shaped the design and execution of two EndoTherm projects, both of which were led in collaboration with Watertech of America, Inc the site’s incumbent water treatment provider.

The projects, first in a laboratory building beginning in 2020, followed by two warehouse buildings in 2024 offer a nuanced look at how EndoTherm energy saving hydronic additive can complement traditional water treatment programs and unlock measurable energy savings while reinforcing, rather than disrupting, established best practices in industrial water management.

Energy Efficiency Begins with Water

Hydronic heating systems in manufacturing and laboratory environments are already subject to rigorous water treatment regimes. Corrosion control, scale inhibition, microbiological protection, and system longevity are non-negotiable priorities. As a result, any efficiency intervention that touches the circulating fluid must integrate seamlessly into existing water treatment programs.

At Sheboygan Falls, this integration was central to the project’s success.

Rather than being introduced as a standalone energy retrofit, EndoTherm was implemented by the incumbent water treatment provider already responsible for chemical dosing, system monitoring, and asset protection across the site. This approach ensured continuity, minimized operational risk, and aligned the energy-efficiency objective with MilliporeSigma’s broader maintenance and reliability strategies.

The First Project: A Laboratory Building Under Unprecedented Conditions

The initial EndoTherm project was installed in May 2020 in a laboratory building forming part of MilliporeSigma’s Sheboygan Falls manufacturing campus. The building’s hydronic heating system already operated under a well-established water treatment regime, with stable chemistry control and detailed operational oversight.

This made it an ideal candidate for testing whether incremental changes to fluid properties could deliver energy savings without compromising system integrity.

However, the project quickly encountered an unforeseen variable: the global COVID-19 pandemic.

As an essential life sciences operation, MilliporeSigma remained active throughout the pandemic, but building operation did not remain static. Ventilation rates, temperature strategies, occupancy patterns, and process requirements were adjusted to meet evolving safety and continuity needs. While the underlying water treatment program remained consistent, these operational shifts complicated the task of measuring energy savings attributable solely to EndoTherm.

Using an IPMVP Option C approach, gas consumption was normalized against heating degree days. During the first 17 months post-installation, savings averaged approximately 6%, lower than typically observed in more stable environments.

From a water treatment perspective, the period was nonetheless instructive. Despite changing load profiles and operational stresses, system chemistry remained stable, and no adverse impacts on corrosion control or system performance were observed validating EndoTherm’s compatibility with existing treatment protocols.

Post-COVID Stability Reveals the Underlying Performance

As site operations normalized in late 2021, the energy picture became clearer. With consistent heating strategies restored, the analysis continued for an additional 44 months, revealing normalized gas savings of approximately 8.9%.

Over the full evaluation period, the lab building pilot delivered:

• Nearly 3.8 million cubic feet of natural gas savings
• More than $25,000 in avoided fuel costs
• Approximately 208,000 kg of CO₂e reductions

While these savings were slightly lower than those often seen in intermittent comfort-heating applications, they were notable given the laboratory’s highly consistent thermal demand a condition that typically limits efficiency upside.

For MilliporeSigma, the result demonstrated that even in tightly controlled lab environments, where water treatment and system reliability are paramount, fluid-level optimization can contribute meaningfully to sustainability goals without introducing operational risk.

Scaling with Confidence: Warehouse Projects in Pro 3 and Pro 4

Building on the lab project experience, MilliporeSigma extended EndoTherm deployment in September 2024 to two warehouse buildings (Pro 3 and Pro 4) at the same Sheboygan Falls site. These buildings featured different heating profiles, with greater seasonal variability and fewer process-driven constraints.

Over an eight-month period, EndoTherm in the warehouse buildings delivered:

• Average gas savings of 9.37%
• Over 600,000 cubic feet of gas avoided
• More than $4,200 in fuel cost savings
• Approximately 33,000 kg of CO₂e reductions

From a financial standpoint, the savings achieved during this eight-month period were sufficient to pay back the initial product investment, a critical threshold in manufacturing environments where capital efficiency is closely scrutinized.

Traditional Water Treatment as an Enabler, Not a Barrier

One of the most important takeaways from the Sheboygan Falls projects is the role of traditional water treatment as an enabler of advanced efficiency measures, rather than a constraint.

In many industrial facilities, energy teams and water treatment programs operate in parallel, with limited overlap. At MilliporeSigma, the decision to have the incumbent water treatment provider lead the EndoTherm projects helped bridge this gap.

This approach delivered several advantages:

• Risk mitigation: Existing monitoring protocols ensured chemistry stability throughout the projects.
• Operational trust: Site teams were already familiar with the provider and treatment philosophy.
• Data continuity: Baseline and post-installation comparisons benefited from consistent oversight.
• Scalability: Success in one building could be replicated without introducing new vendors or processes.

In effect, EndoTherm became part of the water treatment conversation, an extension of how fluid chemistry can be leveraged not just to protect assets, but to improve system performance.

The Broader Challenge of Efficiency in Life Sciences Manufacturing

MilliporeSigma’s experience reflects structural realities across the life sciences sector. Facilities are designed first and foremost for product integrity, safety, and regulatory compliance. Energy efficiency must fit within those constraints.

Traditional efficiency measures, setback strategies, occupancy-based controls, or deep retrofits often face resistance or practical limitations. In contrast, measures that operate “below the surface,” at the system chemistry level, can offer a rare combination of low disruption and measurable impact.

The projects also underscore the importance of long-term measurement and verification. Short-term analyses can be misleading, particularly when external factors such as pandemics, supply chain disruptions, or process changes intervene. In this context, the lab building’s multi-year dataset is arguably as valuable as the warehouse buildings’ rapid payback.

Looking Ahead

For MilliporeSigma, the EndoTherm projects demonstrate that sustainability progress can be embedded within existing operational frameworks, rather than layered on top of them. For the wider life sciences sector, they offer a practical example of how energy efficiency can advance without compromising system reliability or water treatment best practices.

In an industry where change is necessarily cautious, the Sheboygan Falls projects suggest a clear path forward: build on what already works, optimize intelligently, and let data—not disruption—drive the transition.