As well as reducing CO₂ emissions by as much as 30% compared to conventionally produced K derivatives, the company’s new sustainable products will help customers in the food and consumer care industries as well in industrial applications and pharmaceuticals comply with the rules of the EU’S Green Deal, said Jacques Sturm, Vynova’s vice president for the potassium derivatives business.

The new low-carbon range to be produced at Tessenderlo, Belgium, and Thann, France, will include Vynova’s full potassium derivatives portfolio, which consists of liquid and solid potassium hydroxide as well as potassium carbonate. Its portfolio of circular and renewable products also includes renewable caustic soda as well as the bio- and circular-attributed PVC ranges.

With an eye to compliance with the Green Deal, Vynova said it has screened its entire potassium derivatives supply chain and production process in terms of CO₂ footprint and impact on the environment, from the extraction of the raw materials to the delivery of the product and defined where it can apply innovative solutions.

Among other things, the solutions are said to cover the use of renewable energy in the company’s membrane electrolysis production process as well as more ecological approaches to potassium chloride sourcing, packaging and transportation, Sturm said. In particular for transportation, Vynova as the only K derivatives producer with multiple manufacturing sites in Europe, has the needed flexibility to customize the supply chain, he added.

At the end of 2021, the company that belongs to International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) began construction on a new €4 million plant for liquid potassium carbonate at Tessenderlo, which will replace an existing facility. Expected to be operational by mid-2022, this is being billed as the largest of its kind in Europe.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist