MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake has set a target to reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 20% by 2030, based on 2016 levels, the said the company.
Westlake will measure the emissions on a per-tonne basis. As part of its goal to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions, Westlake plans to pursue energy-efficiency projects, use more power from less carbon-intensive electricity providers, add more hydrogen as a fuel gas and adopt other ways to improve operations, the company said.
In regards to hydrogen, other chemicals companies are exploring its use as a fuel. Enterprise Products already has plans to use that hydrogen as a fuel for the heaters of a second PDH unit that it is building in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The move should reduce the carbon emissions at the plant by almost 90% or 450,000 tonnes/year.
Dow plans to use hydrogen as a fuel for a cracker it is building in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta province in Canada. Scope 1 emissions occur from sources that are controlled or owned by a company. The gases could be emitted from burning fuel in boilers, furnaces or vehicles. Scope 2 emissions are indirect ones associated with electricity, steam, heat or cooling that are bought by a company.
Westlake's target does not include Scope 3 emissions. These are produced by activities or assets not owned or controlled by the company but that are still in the company's value chain. Scope 3 emissions arise from a company's upstream and downstream transportation and distribution, business travel, employee commuting and how the company's products are treated after they are sold.
As MRC informed earlier, Westlake Chemical also declared FM on Aug. 31, 2020, for all its North American PVC and VCM, which left it in force in mid-October, 2020. Westlake's shutdown of its Lake Charles complex has idled 38% of its US VCM production, resulting in two VCM plants with a combined capacity of 952,318 mt/year going offline. The complex also has three upstream chlor-alkali plants with a combined capacity of 1.27 million mt/year of chlorine and 1.36 million mt/year of caustic soda - 46% of the company's overall North American chlor-alkali capacity.
Westlake Chemical announced a 3 cent/lb (USD66/tonne) increase in February PVC prices in the US. The announcement of the price increase followed the explosion at the ethylene dichloride (EDC) plant in Lake Charles (Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA) of the Westlake Chemical company. The Lake Charles plant has a production capacity of 2.22 million tons of EDC per year. The company from this facility supplies EDC and vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plants near Baton Rouge and New Orleans, as well as to production in Mississippi.
Westlake Chemical Corporation is an American manufacturer and supplier of petroleum products and polymers headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company's products include ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, caustic, polyvinyl chloride and plastic products.
MRC