Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp, Eneco and Groningen Seaports opened a facility which will supply steam from biomass to the chemical park at Delfzijl in the
Netherlands – primarily for AkzoNobel’s
Specialty Chemicals site.
Eneco has converted its biomass plant
into a combined heat and power (CHP)
plant, which provides both electricity
and steam from renewable biomass. The
steam is transported via a pipeline constructed by Groningen Seaports.
The conversion has increased the
efficiency of the Netherlands’ largest
biomass plant – the same amount of
biomass now produces twice as much
renewable energy. The transition from
fossil fuels to sustainably-produced
steam means an additional 10 percent
of AkzoNobel’s energy consumption in
the Netherlands now comes from renewable sources, resulting in a reduction of 100,000 tons of CO2 emissions
per year.
Minister Kamp said: “The North of
the Netherlands is leading the way in
the transition to sustainable energy. The
Northern provinces and municipalities
were the first to have a plan for imple-
menting the Dutch Energy Agreement.
The chemical park in Delfzijl is under-
lining these ambitions by switching to
sustainably produced steam. By doing
this, the parties involved are not only
investing in energy reduction and low-
er CO2 emissions, they are also con-
tributing to the regional economy by
enabling the sustainable growth of the
chemical cluster.”
Approximately 10 percent of to-
tal Dutch chemical production comes
from Delfzijl and the industry is a ma-
jor employer in the region. The project
is further improving the long-term com-
petitiveness of the cluster of chemical
companies at the site. The three parties
have jointly invested approximately € 40
million in the project.
Eneco’s biomass plant processes 300,000 tons of timber each year
scrapped from demolition projects and
waste to produce sustainable electricity
and steam. AkzoNobel was already a significant consumer of electricity produced
by the plant.
Groningen Seaports has built the required infrastructure to bring the steam
to the chemical park, including the
steam piping, which is also accessible to
third parties. This makes the site more
attractive for (future) factories, which
will need steam for their production and
supports the sustainable development of
regional industries.
Eneco has entered into a 12-year contract with AkzoNobel for the supply of
bio-steam. In addition, AkzoNobel will
invest in the required infrastructure at
the chemical park, offering continuity in
the provision of a vital utility for other
chemical companies at the location.
PPG Receives DOE Funding
to Develop AGILON
Silica for Non-Tread Tire
Components
PPG announced that the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) will provide funding
to support a $1.14 million project to develop new silica-based performance fillers
for non-tread components that improve
the fuel efficiency and performance of
tires. Research and development work
for the project will be completed at PPG’s
Monroeville, Pennsylvania facility.
Using proprietary AGILON perfor-
mance silica technology, PPG will develop
reinforcing fillers for non-tread tire com-
pounds, which can account for up to 50
percent of the fuel-efficiency impact of a
tire. The objective of the DOE project is
to enable a 2 percent increase in the fuel
efficiency of tires, with an initial focus
on one non-tread component: the side-
wall. The goal is to reduce energy loss
through the sidewall while maintaining
or improving resistance to forces such as
cracking, tearing and abrasion that de-
grade the tire. Another key objective will
be to understand, maintain and potential-
ly improve the aging performance of tires
as measured by crack growth resistance
in an ozone environment.
“Our customers have made consid-
erable progress in recent years using
Agilon silica to improve the rolling re-
sistance of tires, which helps increase
vehicle fuel efficiency,” explained Jim
Faller, PPG commercial director, silica
products. “This new project has the
support of multiple major tire manufac-
turers. Based on their experiences with
Agilon silica, they understand the po-
tential this technology platform has for
optimizing the performance of sidewalls
and other non-tread components.”
DOE funding for the PPG project is
provided through the Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s
Vehicle Technologies Office. This proj-
ect is one of 35 that will collectively re-
ceive $57 million for the development
and deployment of cutting-edge vehicle
technologies, including several initia-
tives to reduce carbon emissions and
petroleum consumption in passenger
cars and light trucks.
Agilon performance silica is a high-value technology platform of chemical-ly-modified precipitated silica that can
improve product performance. When
used in tire treads, it improves vehicle
fuel efficiency, traction and treadwear by
as much as 5 to 10 percent. Agilon performance silica also provides environmental
and manufacturing benefits by improving
throughput and reducing capital expenditures, energy usage and volatile organic
compound (VOC) emissions.
PPG pioneered synthetic precipitated
silica products, becoming one of the first
manufacturers to bring them to the marketplace in the 1930s. Today, PPG’s silica
products group is a global technology
leader in the manufacture of precipitated silica products for use as reinforcing
New Bio-steam Facility Helps AkzoNobel
Reduce CO2 Emissions by 100,000 Tons
