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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Six world's major
petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany,
and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) have announced the creation of a
consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be
operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels, as per Borealis'
press release.
The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF,
Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals
while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies have agreed to
invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of
transitioning their base chemical production to renewable
electricity.
Base chemicals, which include ethylene, propylene, butadiene
and BTX (benzene, toluene, xylenes), are produced in steam crackers and mainly
transformed into plastics. These are used for lightweight components in
vehicles, improving passenger safety and comfort and reducing fuel and
emissions. Plastic packaging saves and preserves food from field to table.
Overall, polymers make a major contribution to resource and energy efficiency
and positively impact society.
Polymers will always be needed, especially
in emerging, renewable energy-related technologies, where they are crucial, for
instance for wind turbines, solar panels and batteries. The chemical industry
has been at the forefront of those innovations and will continue to deliver
solutions for a more sustainable future.
Steam crackers represent the
principal opportunity for reducing the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. One
option currently under consideration is to electrically heat the cracking
furnaces, rather than rely on fossil fuels.
Using electricity produced
from renewable sources would significantly reduce cracker emissions. The key
challenges in developing electricity-based cracker technology are ensuring that
the chosen emissions reduction solution is technologically and economically
feasible compared to the current process; that it fits into a future low-carbon
value chain; and that it can be implemented in time to meet policy targets.
Assuming these challenges are met, developing and implementing electricity-based
cracker technology will help the sector maintain sustainable operations while
reducing the carbon footprint of its products.
Following the signature of
the agreement, the members of the consortium have begun exploring and screening
technical options. If a potential technical solution is identified, the parties
will determine whether to pursue joint development project(s), including R&D
activities that could include a demonstrator for proof of concept in the case of
base chemicals.
The collaboration is a direct result of the Trilateral
Strategy for the Chemical Industry drawn up by the North Rhine-Westphalian,
Flemish and Dutch ministries of economic affairs and the industry associations
VCI (Germany), Essenscia (Belgium) and VNCI (Netherlands) to boost the
sustainability of the chemical sector. The Trilateral Strategy to "become the
world'?s engine for the transition towards a sustainable and competitive
chemical industry cluster" was presented to the European Commission in late
2017. Three tables have been set up to elaborate strategy: Energy,
Infrastructure and Innovation.
The Innovation Table has three key success
factors: technical innovations to enable the energy and feedstock transition,
digital transformation to enhance competitiveness, and framework conditions to
enhance innovation through cross-border cooperation.
The trilateral
region of the Netherlands, North Rhine-Westphalia and Flanders was a logical
choice as a European starting point, since the combined region is the largest
chemical cluster in the world with annual revenue of EUR180 billion and 350,000
jobs.
The six members of the Cracker of the Future Consortium, chaired by
the Brightlands Chemelot Campus (Geleen, the Netherlands), aim to create
innovative value propositions in developing sustainable technologies together in
line with competition law.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for
producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven
months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At
the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120
tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block
copolymer and homopolymer PP increased. |
