Transform the World Through Innovation
As challenges evolve over time,
the industry must innovate to find new solutions
Most would agree that today’s world is very different to what it was in 1980, when the Latin American Petrochemical and Chemical Association (APLA) was founded. In recent times, ongoing trade wars and geopolitical tensions have prompted some opinion leaders to use the acronym ‘VUCA’ – volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity – to describe the current state of affairs. Ironically, the expression was actually first coined in the 1980s, suggesting that while indeed the world may have changed significantly since then, the VUCA concept remains relevant.
Nonetheless, today’s world is very different: the planet’s population is 7.7 billion, compared to 4.4 billion 40 years ago, and that population increasingly lives in urban environments and thus consumes a growing amount of commodities and industrial products. Today’s world is also a global village, meaning that we have never been more connected through transport infrastructure; in 1980, the air industry completed 10.7 million flights, but that figure is estimated to reach 39.4 million flights in 2019. Technology has evolved at an astounding pace, and devices as small as a mobile phone can now accomplish tasks that would have required enormous computers not too long ago. Finally, and most importantly, the planet faces enormous environmental challenges, with climate change and the predation of resources being at the core of humanity’s woes.
As discussed during APLA’s 39th Annual Meeting in Buenos Aires in November 2019, which ended with a keynote speech on innovation, one of the drivers of innovation is indeed set by the challenges, limitations or restrictions that any particular industry faces. In the case of the petrochemicals and chemicals industry, these include the need to reduce carbon emissions as the planet heats up; the efforts to achieve a circular economy, following the failure of different stakeholders to deal with plastic waste; the use of renewable-based feedstock that can even capture carbon emissions; and the health, safety and environmental performance of their products, among others.
Chemistry being part of everyday life, innovation can apply to a multiplicity of segments, from construction to personal care, from packaging to animal feed, and from mobility to agriculture. “There is an evolution in the adaption of technology to mitigate challenges due to climate change,” said Federico Alonso-Hidalgo, general manager of Gleba, a company dedicated to crop protection and pest control. In Argentina, the industry suffered a severe drought in 2018 that caused losses in the range of US$6 billion – which was followed by extreme flooding in early 2019. “Argentina experienced a part of the global climate change, which many regions are suffering from. Agricultural production now has this new component of volatility and uncertainty,” affirmed Alonso-Hidalgo.
Growing public awareness for the potential consequences of chemicals on the environment and human health, as well as more stringent regulations passed by authorities all over the world, are further examples of constraints that are requiring manufacturers to rethink many products. For instance, the phasing out of dichlorofluoroethane, or HCFC-141b, is increasingly commonplace. Austral Chemicals, a Chilean company that has been in business since the 1940s, recently developed new HFO-based polyurethane systems that are expected to eliminate the use of HCFC-141b completely by 2020. Christophe Jacob, director of the firm, ga some examples of how chemical players need to reinvent themselves constantly through R&D: “We launched a best-in-class anti-sapstain preservative to treat fresh wood. Approved by REACH and the European Biocide Directive, it prevents discoloration and fungal spores from leading to an irreversible reduction in the wood’s value and a health risk. We also were the first Chilean company to produce solutions such as a solvent-free mineral coating, a phosphoric-free descaling agent, an inorganic dust suppressor, or an inorganic extinguishing agent for A class fire enabling 30% water and time savings.”
A CARBON-NEUTRAL WORLD
Will the petrochemical industry eventually lose the ‘petro’ part of its name? While the industry’s leading players shy away from stating that chemicals from renewable feedstock will totally replace petrochemicals one day, the truth is that the industry is taking initial steps towards developing a biochemical market. Braskem, for instance, has been producing sugarcane-based polyethylene (PE) since 2010 in Brazil and commissioned another plant in 2018, also under its ‘I’m Green’ brand, to produce ethylene-vinyl acetate resin (EVA) – again, using sugarcane as feedstock.
Braskem states that green polyethylene is 100% recyclable, but perhaps a significant feature of this product is its role in reducing carbon emissions, as sugarcane provides significant CO2 capture. “A carbon neutral society is needed to keep the temperature change below 2°C, the target of the Paris Agreement. Therefore, solutions that capture CO2 from the atmosphere, or that have a very low levels of greenhouse gas emissions, are needed,” stated Jorge Soto, sustainability development director at Braskem.
Croda is also entering this growing segment through an investment in the Atlas Point site in Delaware. The company confirmed this is the first bio-ethylene plant built in the United States for the production of bioethanol-based ethylene oxide (EO). According to Richard Pino, vice-president of Croda do Brasil: “This will result in the production of the largest range of 100% bio-based ECO surfactants in the world. This is a great benefit to our customers as they can move from ingredient containing petrochemical EO to green EO, which opens a huge market for them.”
On its marketing materials, Croda emphasized that the company’s ‘ECO’ range reduces reliance on fossil fuel feedstocks and that the performance of the product is “identical to petro-based options.”
So, considering all this, will bio-based chemicals become the standard in the medium term? Soto of Braskem replied: “Renewable based chemicals will be part of the future. It is too early to determine whether this kind of product will become the norm, but we are confident that we are moving in the right direction.”
REDUCING CO2 IN MOBILITY
The shift in focus toward more renewable feedstock does not only apply to the petrochemicals segment. Because the whopping increase in air travel is often shown to be one of the culprits of global warming, companies involved in this industry are trying to find solutions to the problem. Airbus and Boeing have both managed to reduce the ratio of carbon emissions per passenger, while companies involved in jet fuel are also working on how to reduce overall CO2 volumes.
After it acquired UOP in 2005, Honeywell inherited a very strong trajectory in the field of cleaner fuels, as UOP had developed technologies that eventually led to the production of unleaded gasoline and the adoption of the catalytic converter. José Magalhães Fernandes, vice-president and general manager of Honeywell’s Performance Materials and Technologies division in Latin America, elaborated on a significant new development in the field of transport fuels involving the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO): “As the world moves towards more renewable products, we have developed a unique technology that can convert vegetable and animal oils into a renewable fuel, which we call either Green Diesel [for cars] or Green Jet Fuel [for planes].”
Magalhães Fernandes assured that these products require no changes to engines or fuel infrastructure to perform efficiently, adding that they reduce greenhouse emissions by more than two thirds. “The ability to use this fuel for an aircraft is an indication of its quality,” he continued. “United Airlines uses it, and we are engaged in further conversations with companies in Latin America that are interested not only in utilizing the fuel domestically, but also to export it to international markets.”
Tires are another element to focus on when looking at CO2 emissions. In this field, Evonik has come up with a formula to create ‘green’ tires through the increased use of precipitated silica. At a plant in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the company will serve clients like Michelin, Pirelli and Continental in the local market and eventually also in Mexico, according to Martín Toscano, managing director of Evonik Industries in Mexico.
Finally, while plastic products need to make sure they can be recycled to achieve sustainability through the circular economy, one key feature of these products is their ability to make vehicles lighter, causing a reduction of fuel consumption and therefore a decrease of CO2 emissions.
If innovation is driven by challenges and restrictions, the goals of the Paris Agreement should be seen as a good framework to work within. Right now, the opportunities to innovate and reduce carbon emissions seem endless, and all stakeholders, including the petrochemical and chemical industry, should prioritize finding the solutions that the future of our planet relies upon.