CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT, PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGIES
businesswire | March 24, 2023
Under its sustainability program ‘reduce’, the global chemical company OQ Chemicals has reduced its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 10% at its Bay City, Texas production site in 2022, compared to the previous year's averages. To achieve this, the company carried out a dedicated boiler and flare improvement project to optimize the flow of vent gases from chemical production units and to further improve the combustion process. Project progress was tracked for 2022, and demonstrated improved production process stability and subsequently reduced emissions.
“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is crucial to addressing the urgent issue of climate change. OQ Chemicals has made a significant contribution to this global effort by reducing its emissions at Bay City by 10%. This success was made possible through the excellent collaboration of our dedicated teams from the Engineering and Operations departments. The project aimed to improve boiler controls, enabling increased consumption of vent gases for energy recovery and reduced flaring, and included equipment improvements in the utilities area,” said Kevin Hunt, OQ Chemicals Director of Maintenance and Technical at Bay City, Texas.
OQ Chemicals’ company-wide strategic program ‘reduce’ aims to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next years, with the ultimate goal of becoming climate neutral by mid-century. The boiler and flare improvement project falls under Scope 1, which encompasses direct emissions from production activities. With the reduce program, OQ Chemicals tackles all scopes of emissions, including indirect Scope 2 and all relevant Scope 3 emissions.
“Our ‘reduce’ program takes a comprehensive approach that will eventually cover all scopes of our greenhouse gas emissions, as we’re committed to reducing our carbon footprint across all aspects of our operations. While the ‘reduce’ program currently comprises over 200 projects and initiatives with short-, mid- and long-term goals, the success of the boiler and flare improvement project marks a significant milestone on the path of our sustainability approach,” commented OQ Chemicals CEO, Dr. Oliver Borgmeier.
About OQ Chemicals
OQ Chemicals is a global manufacturer of Oxo Intermediates and Oxo Performance Chemicals such as alcohols, polyols, carboxylic acids, specialty esters, and amines. These are used to produce high-quality coatings, lubricants, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products, flavors and fragrances, printing inks, and plastics. OQ Chemicals employs more than 1,400 people worldwide and markets its chemicals in more than 60 countries. The company is part of OQ, an integrated energy company originating in Oman.
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CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT, MARKET OUTLOOK
prnewswire | March 28, 2023
LyondellBasell, a global leader in the chemical industry, and EEW Energy from Waste, a leading company in thermal waste treatment in Europe recently signed a letter of intent (LOI). The LOI includes exploring a potential long-term strategic partnership to extract and recycle plastics out of incineration waste streams. This proposed collaboration would potentially include construction of waste pre-sorting facilities at or near EEW incineration plants to remove plastics from waste streams bound for incineration, and investment in advanced sorting facilities to further sort and refine the plastic that has been removed. This collaboration supports the new LyondellBasell strategy to invest in advanced sorting infrastructure to produce plastic waste-based feedstocks, grow its Circular and Low Carbon Solutions business, and deliver on its value creation ambitions.
"Collaborations across the value chain are part of our strategy and are increasingly necessary to free up plastic waste from sources that today do not end up in recycling," says Yvonne van der Laan, LyondellBasell executive vice president, Circular and Low Carbon Solutions. "The materials from these sorting facilities would not only support our existing mechanical recycling facilities in the Netherlands and a potential advanced recycling unit in Germany, but also allows us to optimize waste streams and drive additional value."
This collaboration would close the loop on plastics that are today sent for incineration, by sorting them out for use as feedstock in mechanical and advance recycling processes. By removing these materials from the incineration waste stream, the fossil CO2 emissions associated with combusting the materials are also avoided.
"With this cooperation, we are creating a convincing solution for plastic waste for which recycling is still ruled out today," says Bernard M. Kemper, chief executive officer EEW Energy from Waste. "EEW will first build a sorting facility and sort out plastics to recover them for the raw material cycle."
The intended cooperation represents an advancement in recycling opportunities, using the sites and technical know-how of LyondellBasell and EEW to enable a sustainable circular economy.
About LyondellBasell
As a leader in the global chemical industry, LyondellBasell strives every day to be the safest, best operated and most valued company in our industry. The company's products, materials and technologies are advancing sustainable solutions for food safety, access to clean water, healthcare and fuel efficiency in more than 100 international markets. LyondellBasell places high priority on diversity, equity and inclusion and is Advancing Good with an emphasis on our planet, the communities where we operate and our future workforce. The company takes great pride in its world-class technology and customer focus. LyondellBasell has stepped up its circularity and climate ambitions and actions to address the global challenges of plastic waste and decarbonization.
EEW: an indispensable part of the circular economy
EEW Energy from Waste GmbH (EEW) is one of the leading companies in Europe in the field of thermal recovery of waste and sewage sludge. EEW Energy from Waste is already making an important contribution towards protecting the climate and resources and is a key player in the circular economy. Our corporate group currently operates 17 sites that can process around 5 million tonnes of waste per year. The more than 1,400 employees at our plants ensure that the energy stored in waste is utilized, the volume of waste is reduced, the hazards caused by waste are eliminated safely and without negative impact, and that scrap metals and compound materials are recycled. Moreover, we efficiently utilize the energy contained in waste to generate process steam for industrial plants, district heating for residential areas and environmentally sustainable electricity. In line with our vision for the future, we have set a goal to be climate neutral by 2030 and climate positive by 2040. A key measure in addition to carbon reduction will be carbon capture at our facilities. The captured carbon will be partly stored underground or utilised as a valuable feedstock for chemical products in a carbon-neutral economy of the future.
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CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT, PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Businesswire | March 27, 2023
New Energy Risk a wholly owned division of Paragon Insurance Group, and Green Circle, a wholly-owned division of Lummus Technology, announce a strategic partnership in which NER will serve as the preferred insurance supplier for Green Circle’s advanced waste plastic recycling technology.
Upon completing a thorough due diligence process, NER is prepared to provide technology performance insurance solutions to plant owners and operators who license Green Circle’s advanced waste plastic recycling technology. Since 2013, NER’s performance insurance has enabled the financing of over $3 billion for development of new and renewable clean energy technologies and other circular economy projects.
“NER provides an extremely valuable service to project owners looking to deploy early-stage technologies at scale through project finance,” said Greg Shumake, Managing Director of Green Circle. “They thoroughly evaluated our advanced waste plastic pyrolysis technology and are confident in its commercial viability. And as a result, it will be easier for our clients to develop bankable projects to drive a more circular economy.”
The waste plastic pyrolysis technology uses a thermochemical process for turning end-of-life plastics into a high-quality product that can be used to reduce the carbon intensity in the production of both transportation fuels and circular plastics. Green Circle is working across the sector, from Fortune 500 companies to independent project developers, to deploy technologies that close the loop of the plastic product lifecycle.
“Green Circle’s advanced waste plastic pyrolysis technology has been developed with a level of expertise and discipline that is rare,” said Brad Price, Managing Director of Technical Due Diligence at New Energy Risk. “We are proud to help accelerate the adoption of this technology by providing assurance to owners and investors that this technology will perform.”
Green Circle concentrates and expands Lummus Technology’s capabilities to capture new opportunities in the energy transition and circular economy. Green Circle is a leader in providing economically and technically sound solutions to: process solid wastes containing plastics; process various renewable bio-based feedstocks to value-added chemicals, polymers and fuels; decarbonize refinery and petrochemicals assets; and expand production of blue hydrogen and biofuels.
About Lummus Technology
Lummus Technology is the global leader in developing technology solutions that make modern life possible and focus on a more sustainable, low carbon future. We license process technologies in clean fuels, renewables, petrochemicals, polymers, gas processing and supply lifecycle services, catalysts, proprietary equipment and digitalization to customers worldwide.
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