Engie to supply biomethane to BASF in Europe

BASF SE and Engie Group SA have signed a seven-year biomethane purchase agreement (BPA), and throughout the term of this agreement Engie will supply BASF with 2.7 TWh to 3.0 TWh of biomethane, according to a joint statement on July 4.

Biomethane is a renewable gas produced through the fermentation of organic waste from households, agriculture or industry, the companies said. It significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared with fossil resources, they said.

BASF uses certified biomethane at its Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Antwerp, Belgium, sites as a sustainable alternative to fossil raw materials in its manufacturing process, the companies said.

“The approach supports the company’s sustainable transformation by reducing its carbon footprint. The biomethane amount is allocated to the end product using a third-party, globally recognized certification scheme, known as the Biomass Balance approach,” they said.

With the purchase agreement and usage of biomethane, BASF further expands its product portfolio by offering products with lower or zero product carbon footprints to its customers across industries including automotive, packaging and detergents, the companies said.

“With a biomethane portfolio steadily growing, this new deal sets us on the right path to achieve our ambition to sell 30 TWh of biomethane per year by 2030. With a strong growth potential, and Europe’s ambition to produce 35 billion m3 by 2030, we believe that BPAs will experience significant growth,” said Edouard Neviaski, CEO of Engie’s global energy management and sales business.

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Covestro AG has signed a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with BP for the supply of renewable energy from a solar power plant in Spain for Covestro’s production site at Tarragona, said the company.

The PPA will raise the share of green electricity used as part of Covestro’s total electricity consumption in Spain from less than 10% to approximately 30%, it said. It will also enable the company to cut its CO2 emissions by approximately 16,000 metric tons per year, it said.

BP will supply Covestro with a high double-digit GWh volume of renewable electricity for 10 years, backed by an equivalent volume of Guarantees of Origin, it said. The renewable power will be sourced from a solar photovoltaic farm already in operation at Teruel, Spain, with which BP has an existing offtake agreement in place.

Covestro operates plants at Tarragona producing about 220,000 metric tons per year of methylene di-para-phenylene isocyanate (MDI), MDI feedstock chlorine, and chlor-alkali output byproduct caustic soda. It also operates a logistics center for the distribution of hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, its own railway hub, and infrastructure for other companies located in the site’s chemical park.

Three smaller production sites in Spain operated by Covestro are already wholly powered by renewable electricity following an announcement in 2022, it said.

The agreement with BP allows Covestro to “continue to promote the strategic positioning of our Tarragona site through a more stable, more predictable and, above all, more sustainable long-term energy supply,” said Andrea Firenze, general manager/Spain at Covestro.

Covestro has previously announced the target for 100% of its production to be powered by green energy by the end of 2035. At the end of 2023, a total of 16% of its global electricity needs were supplied by renewable sources, according to the company.

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A consortium of seven companies across five countries has jointly established a supply chain for more sustainable polyester fiber, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Instead of fossil materials, renewable and bio-based materials as well as carbon capture and utilization (CCU*) will be used in the manufacturing of polyester fibers for The North Face brand in Japan. The consortium parties are Goldwin, in the role of project owner, Mitsubishi Corporation, Chiyoda Corporation (all three from Japan), SK geo centric (South Korea), Indorama Ventures (Thailand), India Glycols (India) and Neste.

Neste will provide renewable Neste RE as one of the required ingredients for polyester production. The polyester fiber produced in the project is planned to be used by Goldwin for a part of The North Face products, including sports uniforms, in July 2024. After that, the launch of further Goldwin products and brands will be considered.

The seven companies apply a mass balancing approach to ensure credible traceability of material streams throughout the supply chain and will jointly continue to proactively promote the defossilization of materials to contribute to a more sustainable society.

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BASF SE said its monomers division has announced that in the second quarter of the year it increased the capacity of its sodium methylate plant at Guaratingueta, Brazil to 90,000 metric tons per year, said the company.

Sodium methylate is a catalyst that provides a more sustainable solution for the production and use of biodiesel, meeting the requirements of engine manufacturers for fuels and lower emissions, BASF said, adding that sodium methylate supports higher yields and low preparation cost for biodiesel.

“With sustainability in the minds of more and more organizations within South America, we see the market for biodiesel quickly expanding,” said Alejandro Grassi, director/monomers division South America at BASF.

Brazil is one of the world leaders in the use and production of biofuels, like biodiesel, BASF said. Its development has been leveraged by the established legislations to mix a percentage of biodiesel with petroleum diesel, the company added.

We remind, BASF SE and Engie Group SA have signed a seven-year biomethane purchase agreement (BPA), and throughout the term of this agreement Engie will supply BASF with 2.7 TWh to 3.0 TWh of biomethane, according to a joint statement on July 4. Biomethane is a renewable gas produced through the fermentation of organic waste from households, agriculture or industry, the companies said.

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Syensqo SA said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Allozymes (Singapore), an enzyme engineering startup, to combine the strengths of the two companies in biotechnology toward the development of advanced biosolutions for home and personal care, especially for the skin care market, said the company.

Allozymes has developed an ultra-high throughput microfluidics platform for the engineering of enzymes and microbes that enables the rapid and cost-effective development of biomanufactured ingredients and bioprocesses, setting a new standard for innovation and sustainability in the industry, Syensqo said.

This agreement marks an important milestone in Syensqo’s strategic agenda of rapidly expanding its beauty specialty ingredients portfolio based on biotechnology, the company said. It complements the company's recent acquisition of South Korean ceramides specialist JinYoung Bio, it said.

We remind, the business activity index (PMI) for the manufacturing industries of the Russian Federation in June 2024 increased to 54.9 points from 54.4 points a month earlier. Recent figures show a sharp improvement in the Russian manufacturing sector.

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