EDITOR ' S LETTER
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Editor : Dr Andrew Warmington editor @ specchemonline . com
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editor @ specchemonline . com SEP / OCT 2022
Dash from gas
In recent weeks , there has been a rash of announcements from chemical firms , large and small , that portend a longterm shift in how they source their energy . The move away from natural gas is the direct result of soaring energy prices and dependence on Russia , which accounts for about 40 % of Europe ’ s gas consumption . However , this is also happening in North America , which is far less vulnerable . Companies are inevitably describing this as part of their carbon emissions reduction goals and in many cases it will help , though the outcomes are not always so green . Leading the way in technology terms is Dow , which signed a letter of intent with modular nuclear technology firm X-energy in August . Under this , they intend to deploy the latter ’ s Xe-100 hightemperature gas reactor technology to supply “ cost-competitive , carbon-free process heat and power ” at one of Dow ' s Gulf Coast sites by around 2030 . Dow is also taking a minority stake in X-energy . Each Xe-100 is engineered to operate as a single 80-megawatt hours ( MW ) electric unit and is optimised as a four-unit plant delivering 320 MW of power . It can provide baseload power to an electricity system or support industrial applications with 200 MW thermal output per unit of high pressure , high temperature steam , Dow said . Meanwhile , Evonik has made several moves to limit its dependence on Russian gas at its German sites where , it said , the loss of supplies “ would seriously jeopardise chemical production ”. Marl will switch to liquefied petroleum gas ( LPG ) supplied by BP from Gelsenkirchen and as a by-product of C 4 derivative production in the new gas-fired power plant . In addition – and showing that the move away from gas and going green are not necessarily the same thing - the planned shutdown of the coal-fired power plant in Marl has been cancelled . Instead , Evonik will recruit , invest in technical maintenance and secure coal supplies to ensure continued operation beyond this year . It has also begun investing in measures to replace natural gas with fuel oil at its other German sites . In the same time frame , BASF entered into multiple virtual power purchase agreements for wind and solar power totalling 250 MW for over 20 of its US sites , offsetting carbon-intensive grid-supplied electricity and saving about 472,500 tonnes / year of CO 2 emissions . This will mean that renewable energy will be more than 25 % of its electricity consumption in North America . Similarly , DSM has pledged to purchase all of its electricity from renewable sources in its Netherlands and North American operations by 2030 , up from 77 % now . At the same time , it has revised its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions target to 59 % lower than 2016 levels by 2030 , following better than expected progress . DSM has submitted its plans for review by the Science-Based Targets initiative , as has Lanxess , which has now set a target of a 40 % reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030 on 2015 levels and has launched its Net Zero Value Chain Programme based on three pillars of sustainable raw materials , green logistics and climate-neutral products . This is all in addition to the target of becoming climate-neutral by 2040 for Scope 1 and 2 emissions . There have been other announcements in this vein from smaller companies in recent weeks , some of which are in the news . We can no doubt expect many more in the coming months .
Dr Andrew Warmington
EDITOR – SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE
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