News item | 13-10-2023 | 15:25
International chemical company LyondellBasell wants to take major sustainability steps at its factories in the Rotterdam-Moerdijk region through the customized approach over the next six years. The company wants to reduce its CO by 20302reduce emissions by 0.35 to 0.55 megatons. This means a reduction of 35 to 55 percent compared to emissions in 2020. The declaration of intent between the government, the province and the company was signed today at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK) in The Hague. It is the ninth rounded Expression of Principles (EoP) within the Dutch tailor-made approach to date.
The declaration of intent is an important step towards reaching concrete and binding customized agreements between the government and LyondellBasell to reduce CO faster2 emissions and contribute to a sustainable economy and a healthy living environment.
Use of green electricity and hydrogen
LyondellBasell has five production locations in the Netherlands, the headquarters for Europe and Asia and provides approximately 1,950 jobs. Processed in the Netherlands LyondellBasell raw materials needed for our daily products such as detergents, mattresses, sports shoes and cosmetics, but also for biofuels, insulation materials and wind turbine blades. Three routes are being investigated to make the production process in the factories in the Rotterdam-Moerdijk cluster more sustainable.
The first route is a partial switch to green electricity. To this end, the company wants to investigate the possibilities of converting installations that still use fossil fuels. The second route is a partial switch from natural gas to hydrogen as a fuel. A possible third route is being examined Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) can be used as an intermediate step in sustainability, especially if the preconditions for the first two routes are not sufficient in the short term.
Ultimately, the company wants to completely switch to the use of green electricity and hydrogen in production processes, which will then result in no CO at all2 more is emitted.
Steam network
LyondellBasell In addition, together with other companies, it plans to invest in a steam network, which will enable the exchange of residual heat between industrial companies. As a result, these companies in the cluster do not have to generate any or less steam themselves. This project can save natural gas and therefore CO2 and nitrogen reduced.
In addition to the proposed CO2reduction is LyondellBasell plans to also contribute to sustainability and a healthy living environment in other ways in 2030. Such as by making the production process more circular at an accelerated pace with bio raw materials, and investing more in mechanical and chemical recycling, as is already happening in a factory in Geleen. Or look at possibilities to work with the Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU)-method CO2 to reuse instead of storing.
Nitrogen emissions are currently LyondellBasell already low and below the legal limit. This will decrease further in the coming years due to the use of steam produced from residual heat instead of natural gas and the construction of new installations. Research into further reduction options also continues.
Next steps for a customized approach
This declaration of intent is an important first step in the customized approach and works towards binding agreements. With the tailor-made approach, the government is making ambitious agreements with the largest industrial emitters to reduce their CO2-reduce emissions additionally and faster and also contribute to a healthy, clean and safe living environment. The government aims to have clarity by mid-2024 and to be able to translate the ambitions of companies into binding, individual tailor-made agreements.