BASF, Dow Low Carbon Development Initiatives and Inspirations

Enterprises are the key subjects
of carbon reduction.
Multinational enterprises in developed countries have started early in carbon reduction, launched some innovative measures, accumulated some good experience, and clearly put forward the goal
of achieving "net zero" emissions by 2050.
This paper selects international chemical giants BASF and Dow to systematically summarize the innovative measures in the low-carbon development process from the aspects of technological innovation, comprehensive utilization of resources, energy structure, carbon management, etc.
, in order to provide reference
for the green and low-carbon development of petrochemical enterprises in China.

1.
BASF's low-carbon development history and innovative measures

With more than 150 years of history, BASF is a leading chemical giant, with 6 Verbund sites and 241 production sites around the world, producing nearly 10,000 chemicals and materials, including chemicals, intermediates, specialty materials, functional products and agricultural solutions
.
For a long time, the company has been adhering to the purpose
of "creating new roles in chemistry - pursuing a sustainable future".
As early as the 70s of the 20th century, BASF put forward "Responsible Care" to consciously fulfill its social responsibility for environmental protection.
In the 90s, the sustainable development department was established, the sustainable development evaluation index system was established, and the image of "green enterprise" was actively established; At the beginning of the 21st century, with the rapid increase of greenhouse gas emissions and the prominent problem of global warming, enterprises have adopted a series of carbon reduction measures in terms of products and technologies, and have been selected into the "Carbon Emission Performance Leadership Index" for many times, achieving a win-win
situation of carbon reduction and benefits.

Strengthen green and low-carbon product development: increase the proportion of green, low-carbon and sustainable products, and increase investment
in research and development.
BASF spends half of its annual R&D expenditure on the research and development of low-carbon, environmentally friendly and sustainable products such as thermal insulation materials, lightweight materials for automobiles, high-performance battery materials, wind power materials, and zero-carbon emission materials, and the proportion of sales of these products in the company's total sales revenue has increased from 10% in 2009 to 31%
in 2021.
Energy-saving and emission-reducing materials for buildings and automobiles are BASF's two key products
.
As early as 1951, BASF developed the representative material of high-efficiency thermal insulation, white polystyrene foam Styropor.
In 1964, the green insulation board Styrodur was launched; In 1997, by adding graphite beads, the thermal insulation performance of the original product was increased by 20%, and the upgraded Neopor?jiao was launched; By 2019, three series of products will help reduce carbon emissions in the construction sector by 62 million tons per year
.
In 2022, the world's first zero-carbon isocyanate (MDI)
was launched.
In addition, the company has increased the research and development of automotive catalysts and lightweight materials, and the SCR selective reduction catalyst launched in 2009 can reduce vehicle nitrogen oxide emissions by more than
60%.
Since 2010, it has successively developed engineering plastics such as high-performance polyamide, polyurethane, nylon, polyethersulfone, as well as carbon fiber/glass fiber reinforced materials and UltracomTM thermoplastic composites, etc.
, to promote the replacement of steel
with plastic.

Strengthen the comprehensive recycling of resources: promote the construction of integrated bases and strengthen plastic recycling
.
In the 70s of the 20th century, BASF began to implement an integrated development strategy to efficiently use by-products and waste heat in the production process through plant interconnection, and give full play to synergies to save raw materials, energy and reduce emissions
.
So far, 6 Verbund sites have been built around the world (including Nanjing, China), and the integrated production model has reduced energy consumption such as electricity and steam by 92%, reduced production waste and emissions by more than 90%, and saved 1 billion euros
in operating costs per year.
The new integrated site in Zhanjiang, which is under construction, will maximize the use of intelligent manufacturing, renewable energy electrification production, and minimize
the carbon footprint of products.
In recent years, BASF has also focused on closing the loop
on plastics through chemical recycling.
In 2018, the company launched the "Chemical Cycle" project, which realized the production of ethylene and propylene
from chemically recycled plastics for the first time by developing a new catalyst to convert mixed plastic waste into pyrolysis oil secondary raw materials.

Promote the low-carbon transformation of the energy structure: improve energy efficiency and increase the proportion of
renewable energy.
BASF continuously improves the energy efficiency of its plants by relying on energy-saving technologies such as efficient thermal power plants, gas turbines and steam turbines, as well as strengthening energy management to continuously improve the energy efficiency
of its plants.
In 2005, BASF started building a combined heat and power (CHP) power plant to supply electricity and steam, improving the total fuel efficiency to 90 percent
.
By 2018, 25 cogeneration gas-turbine power plants had been built, saving 13.
1 million MWh of fossil fuels and 2.
6 million tons of carbon emissions
per year.
In 2016, we implemented an ISO 50001 certified energy management system at several production sites worldwide to analyze, evaluate and improve energy performance
.
At the same time, BASF is actively using renewable electricity, starting with renewable electricity at 23 sites in Europe, North America and Asia in 2019, and by 2021, renewable energy accounted for 16%
of global production sites.
At the same time, enterprises will increase the transformation of key equipment and power generation devices, firstly, the electrification of key equipment cracking furnaces, and the carbon reduction will be as high as 90% after the transformation; The second is to transform its own gas and steam turbine power plants so that they can be powered
by renewable energy.

Build a green supply chain system: take carbon footprint as the starting point to strengthen supply chain carbon management
.
Since 1996, BASF has been evaluating the ecological benefits of the whole life cycle of products, and based on this, BASF has gradually established a product carbon footprint accounting system to quantitatively control the carbon footprint of the supply chain and optimize the energy saving and emission reduction
of the supply chain.
In 2005, the company conducted a detailed investigation on energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from raw materials to products leaving the factory, and through continuous monitoring, in 2008, as the first company in the world to publish the comprehensive carbon balance results of the company's production operations, and in 2021, announced the carbon footprint
of all 45,000 products.
Through detailed analysis, investigation and accounting of the carbon footprint, 70% of the carbon footprint of BASF products comes from raw materials
.
The company also proposed to strengthen green supply chain management and reduce carbon emissions
throughout the industry chain.
In 2006, BASF launched the "1+3" CSR project of "BASF + 1 supplier + 1 customer + 1 logistics service provider", and cooperated with upstream and downstream to develop energy-saving and emission-reduction solutions.
In 2021, conduct a supplier CO2 management program to provide suppliers with product carbon footprint assessment methods and tools, and work with them to identify levers and targets
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

2.
Dow's low-carbon development history and innovative measures

As the world's second-largest chemical company, Dow operates 201 plants in 35 countries and territories, with more than
7,000 product lines.
He has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 13 consecutive times and has been named a "sustainability leader"
in the global chemical industry.
Dow's long-term commitment to low-carbon development has brought huge "green" profits, with sales of US$55 billion and net profit of US$9.
5 billion in 2021, a four-fold
profit margin compared to 2010 under the condition that sales remain essentially unchanged.

Strengthen green and low-carbon product development: Committed to the research and development of building energy-saving and automotive lightweight products, and actively layout the biochemical industry
.
Dow continues to develop insulation, new lightweight materials and their supporting materials, and has become a recognized leader in the global construction and automotive industries
.
In the field of construction, the company's 1944 invention of ShutailongTM extruded polystyrene is widely used as wall and roof insulation panels
.
By 2008, the use of this insulation material saved nearly $10 billion a year in energy costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by seven times
the total emissions of the company.
In the automotive field, since 2014, the company has successively launched a series of automotive lightweight materials and solutions such as structural adhesives, structural foams, epoxy systems and carbon fiber and derivatives, and cooperated with automobile manufacturers to develop low-energy vehicles
.
At the same time, Dow is actively using biomass materials to replace fossil-based raw materials and develop a renewable products business
.
In 2000, the enterprise developed a new type of grain plastic made from natural plant sugars; In 2012, the world's first fully integrated plant for making synthetic resin from renewable raw materials was built using bioethanol to ethylene technology; In 2019, wood-based renewable naphtha will be used to prepare plastics to accelerate the commercialization of renewable plastic products
.

Strengthen the comprehensive recycling of resources: implement special incentive plans to promote the high-value utilization
of plastic renewable resources.
Since 1986, Dow has implemented the Waste Reduction Always Pays (WRAP) special program, which rewards teams and individuals for developing waste recycling technology, based on which to lay out the plastic circular economy and gradually realize the industrialization of
recycling from primary recycling 。 In 2013, the company built waste recycling facilities across the United States to recover energy and chemicals from non-recycled plastics; In 2019, the first post-consumer plastic recycling product, AGILITYCE, was launched, with 70% recycled plastics; In 2021, the world's first commercial-grade plastic recycling plant was built, using HydroPRSTM supercritical vapor-decomposition plastics, which can halve
carbon emissions.
Dow is expected to recycle 1 million tons of plastic
by 2030.

Promote the low-carbon transformation of the energy structure: pay attention to improving energy efficiency and increase the development and utilization
of clean energy.
Since 1994, Dow has continued to increase its investment in a series of improvement projects such as improving the energy efficiency of power plants and chemical plants, significantly reducing carbon emissions and significantly saving energy costs
.
By 2010, the company had invested a total of US$2 billion, reducing carbon emissions by about 90 million tons, saving more than US$9.
4 billion, nearly five times
the amount of investment.
In recent years, Dow has expanded the use of renewable electricity and hydrogen, becoming one of the world's largest users of
renewable energy.
In 2020, the company partnered with Shell to develop electrocracking technology to replace fossil fuels with renewable electricity to heat steam crackers.
In cooperation with Ecocatalysis Technologies and the Southwest Research Institute, the "Integration of Hydrogen Combustion and Energy-Efficient Ethylene Production" project, replacing traditional steam cracking technology with integrated fluidized bed hydrogen combustion technology, will reduce carbon emissions
by 80%.

Promote green and low-carbon production: combine process control and end-of-line treatment to strengthen low-carbon technology innovation
.
For processes with large carbon emissions, Dow continues to develop and promote low-carbon emission reduction technologies to reduce carbon emissions
in the production process.
Since 2009, it has focused on the research and development of low-carbon foaming technology, and has successively developed a new generation of green and environmentally friendly foaming technologies such as PASCAL vacuum foaming and micro-foaming, continuously reducing the carbon footprint of products; In 2019, BASF and Covestro jointly established the Low Carbon Emission Technology Innovation Program (LCET) company, focusing on the development of emission reduction technologies
for the process of steam cracking to produce olefins and the production process of ammonia synthesis based on methane or water to hydrogen, which is the largest source of chemical greenhouse gas emissions.
In order to strengthen the control of end-of-line carbon emissions, Dow took the lead in deploying carbon dioxide recycling, cooperating with Alstom to recover carbon dioxide from low-pressure flue exhaust gas through the amine scrubbing process as early as 2008, and commercializing a carbon capture system in 2015
.

Third, a few revelations

Strengthen core technology research and improve the supply of
green and low-carbon products.
The first is to strengthen the main position of
enterprise innovation.
Make full use of the national special fund for energy conservation and emission reduction, provincial and municipal special funds for energy conservation and emission reduction, establish an energy conservation and emission reduction innovation fund for the petrochemical industry, increase the incentive for green and low-carbon innovation of enterprises, and support enterprises to integrate scientific research institutes, universities, upstream and downstream and other forces to establish a market-oriented green technology innovation consortium
.
The second is to break through key common technologies
.
Accelerate breakthroughs in new technologies such as new heating furnace technology, carbon dioxide capture technology, and green carbon dioxide chemical utilization technology powered by green electricity, develop low-cost, high-yield, ultra-low-emission production processes, optimize plant design and process flow, and apply cogeneration plants and global energy management systems
.
The third is to improve the proportion and quality
of green and low-carbon chemical products.
Focusing on new energy vehicles, green and low-carbon buildings, green environmental protection packaging and other fields, increase the variety and specifications of thermal insulation materials, automotive lightweight materials, degradable materials and other materials, encourage enterprises to improve product quality, cultivate and create brands in the field of energy conservation and environmental protection, and stimulate new green demand
with high-quality green supply.

Accelerate the layout of circular economy and promote the comprehensive utilization of
industrial resources.
The first is to promote the park-based, base-based and integrated development
.
Support Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and other places to increase the concentration of petrochemical industry through base construction, promote the concentration of new projects in environmental protection and low-carbon chemical parks, accelerate the integrated development of parks, make full use of digital and intelligent means to strengthen the circular link between enterprises, parks and industrial clusters, establish intelligent links between production units and energy needs, and improve the level of
resource utilization.
The second is to promote the coupling development
between industries.
Promote the coupling development of the petrochemical industry with building materials, iron and steel industries, and improve the comprehensive utilization of solid waste and the level of
carbon dioxide recycling and reuse.
The third is to promote the recycling and recycling
of waste materials.
Research and development of waste plastics, waste rubber and other chemical recycling technologies, encourage large enterprises to build plastic recycling demonstration projects in economically developed and large-scale coastal petrochemical bases, cooperate with downstream application enterprises to establish a complete industrial chain of green plastics, and develop and promote biodegradable plastics
.

Promote low-carbon production and green manufacturing, and increase the use of
renewable energy and resources.
The first is to improve energy utilization
.
Accelerate the innovation and application of energy-saving technologies and equipment in key energy-using links, encourage enterprises and parks to build integrated energy management systems, carry out digital transformation of key energy-using equipment and processes, and carry out energy efficiency optimization and regulation
.
The second is to use renewable energy to promote multi-energy and efficient complementary utilization
.
Increase the proportion of renewable energy, develop and utilize green hydrogen and green electricity, establish a low-carbon energy system, implement electrification of key carbon emission links, and gradually realize the electrification and deep decarbonization
of production processes.
The third is to cultivate and expand biochemical industry
.
Accelerate the replacement of fossil raw materials such as vegetable oil, biofuels and bio-based wastes, develop renewable fuels such as renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel and renewable gasoline, and bio-based chemicals and materials such as biomass polyester and biomass plastics, and build a diversified and low-carbon raw material system
.

Build a green management system for the whole life cycle and promote coordinated carbon
reduction in the industrial chain.
The first is to run the concept and idea of green and low-carbon into all links of petrochemical project planning, design, construction and management, establish a green evaluation index system and standard system for the petrochemical industry, and carry out green design, green products, green technology, green supply chain, and green park/base evaluation
.
The second is to promote enterprises to establish and improve the product carbon footprint accounting system
.
Support enterprises to carry out carbon census, accurately calculate, find out the "carbon" background, and establish greenhouse gas emission accounts; Explore the formulation of carbon footprint calculation guidelines for key products, and promote the standardization of industry carbon footprint calculation; Facilitate the disclosure of product carbon footprints and build credibility and customer value chains
.
The third is to strengthen upstream and downstream collaboration
in the industrial chain.
Encourage large petrochemical enterprises to join hands with upstream and downstream to establish cooperation alliances in important links of energy conservation and carbon reduction in the industrial chain, give play to the cooperation mechanism of industry associations, carry out demonstration projects in different fields, and promote the sharing of
low-carbon technologies, carbon footprint information and assessment methods.