TotalEnergies and Air Liquide have signed agreements to develop two projects in the Netherlands, for the production and delivery of some 45,000 t/y of green hydrogen produced using renewable power, generated mostly by the OranjeWind offshore wind farm, developed by TotalEnergies (50%) and RWE (50%).
The path to a sustainable, net-zero future for the chemical industry is paved with challenges – and also opportunities.
French industrial gases group Air Liquide is launching a renewable hydrogen production project at La Mède, France, to supply TotalEnergies’ biorefinery at that site under a long-term contract. AirLiquide will build, own, and operate the new unit with a capacity of 25,000 t/y, producing hydrogen from recycled biogenic by-products instead of fossil hydrocarbons.
The path to a sustainable, net-zero future for the chemical industry is paved with challenges – and also opportunities.
Italian energy group Eni has finalized its transformation and relaunch plan for Versalis, its chemicals business. As part of the plan, Eni will invest about €2 billion to reduce emissions by approximately 1 million t of CO2, currently about 40% of Versalis' emissions in Italy.
With sustainability and carbon reduction high on the global agenda, industries are under increasing pressure to meet decarbonization targets in line with the Paris Agreement. To support companies in the chemical sector in meeting this challenge, Together for Sustainability (TfS), a global sustainability initiative representing more than 50 major chemical companies, has announced the launch of its Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) Exchange solution.
Italian engineering group Maire Tecnimont announced that its subsidiary NextChem, which specializes in sustainable technology solutions, has been awarded a feasibility study and a pre-FEED (front-end engineering design) contract by FertigHy to use NX Stami Green Ammonia and NX Stami Nitric Acid technologies.
Air Products and TotalEnergies have entered into a 15-year contract to annually deliver 70,000 tons of green hydrogen in Europe, commencing in 2030. This first long-term agreement is a response to TotalEnergies' tender for 500,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, aimed at reducing carbon emissions from TotalEnergies' European refineries.
SABIC, Scientific Design (SD), and Linde Engineering have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on decarbonizing the SD Ethylene Glycol Process.
Danish technology company Haldor Topsoe has been chosen by Ascension Clean Energy (ACE) to provide its Syncor autothermal reforming technology for a world-scale ammonia plant to be built in Louisiana, USA.
Leading global chemical companies and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have announced that they are entering an agreement to formalize the Low-Carbon Emitting Technologies (LCET) initiative into a stand-alone entity by the end of 2023, to share early-stage risks and co-invest in developing and upscaling low-carbon emitting technologies.
The EU Commission’s ambitious plan for a European Green Deal, launched shortly before the pandemic struck in early 2020, aims to make the continent the world’s first climate-neutral region by 2050. The goals spelled out in January last year call for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% up to 2030, compared with 1990 levels.
To take advantage of the opportunity hydrogen presents, the European chemical industry must engage in the emerging hydrogen market now, setting up specific pilots, develop an appropriate partner and ecosystem network and, most crucially, adapt the R&D portfolios and investment plans needed to capture a share of the hydrogen opportunity.
The European Chemical Industry has set out on an ambitious path to become carbon neutral. Germany, as one of the major chemical manufacturing nations, has committed to achieve this goal by 2050. But companies need to translate this industry vision into their specific context.
