The "verbund" (integrated production system) of Basf approach uses available resources more effectively

Given that renewable sources will never be able to provide 100 per cent of the energy we need, we are obliged to treat the fossil energy sources in the most responsible way possible. And, in this area, the chemical industry, in the hands of the Basf company, is making an important contribution in two directions: on the one hand it is reducing its consumption of fossil fuels and, on the other hand, its products help save energy significantly.

The escalation of oil prices has cornered the headlines for months, and it has naturally had an impact on Basf. The price of gasoline, the most important raw material for the manufacture of chemical products, has increased in parallel to the oil, increasing by 30 percent. There are many experts who think that the price of oil will remain high in the future.

World energy consumption forecasts suggest that energy demand will continue to increase in a linear fashion and that the oil will remain the most important energy source. He is also expected to increase the importance of natural gas. According to the analysis of the Energy Information Agency, is expected that the demand for natural gas will increase at a rate of 2.2 per cent per year between 2001 and 2025, with what will be the fastest growing primary energy source.

The global density electrochemical plant

It lies in the Centre of Basf

in Ludwigshafen (Germany)

BASF is reducing its dependence on oil in different ways

In comparison, is expected to renewable energies grow 1.9 percent per year. Asia is currently the main vector of the increase in global energy consumption. Only China and India, provides energy needs to be doubled in the next 25 years.

BASF is reducing its dependence on the price of a barrel of crude oil in different ways: to develop its own oil activities and gasistas through its subsidiary Wintershall, through intelligent processes and concepts of integrated production (verbund) and also through generation of energy efficient technologies.

At Basf, the energy management begins with exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas in the regions selected through its subsidiary Wintershall. The deposits are located and evaluated using latest technology, such as seismology in 3D and high-performance data processing. Other activities are geared to improve the rates of extraction (which are of the order of 35 to 50 percent of the crude oil) and to optimize the production of oil and gas. With an annual production of approximately 104 million barrels, Wintershall is the largest German company in the sector.

Oil remains the most important source of raw materials for the chemical industry, and the gas is the main source of energy. The gas covers about 70 per cent of the needs of primary energy of Basf, and is used to generate electricity and steam in their combined electricity and steam (CHP) plants. This form of energy supply, particularly effective, is known as cogeneration and, with an efficiency of 85 percent, is the most avant-garde that exists with regard to industrial-scale energy conversion methods. Currently, Basf operates nine CHP plants around the world, and has another three under construction.

In its major production centres, Basf applies a verbund approach

In its major centers of production around the world, Basf applies a "verbund" approach that combines intelligently the requirements of production and energy. The aim is to use the primary sources of energy - as raw materials and to produce electricity and steam - in the most efficient manner possible, minimizing the consumption.

In 2003, the residual heat from the production process was used to generate 48 percent of the steam that Basf needs around the world, and that accounts for 52.8 million metric tons. 23.1 Million megawatt-hours of fossil and alternative fuels, were used to produce electricity and steam which is equivalent to almost 2 million metric tons of crude oil. Without the approach, however, "verbund", the total energy needed to generate electricity and steam needs the Basf group would have been much larger: about 3.4 million metric tons equivalent petroleum.

This approach also allows the company to exploit with highly efficient processes of intensive use of energy, such as electrolysis chlor, which is used to produce chlorine, sodium hydroxide of high purity and hydrogen (by-product). At the same time, this hydrogen can be used as raw material in other processes of the network of Basf plant.

The global density electrochemical plant is located in the Centre of Basf in Ludwigshafen (Germany). These plants have the advantage that are extremely efficient with regard to the conversion of thermal energy; in other words, using a high proportion of energy which is supplied to them. This advantage is also reflected in a locked process of organic electrosynthesis, that can be used to make two products of utility: precursors of chemical aromas and plant protection products, without generation of by-products.

Catalysts for fuel cells

Chlor electrolysis is used to produce chlorine, sodium hydroxide of high purity and hydrogen

Within the processes of production, improvements in catalysts have resulted in significant energy savings. An example of this is the production of acrylic acid, which is a precursor of the superabsorbentes materials used, for example, in the diapers. Continuous catalyst system improvement has allowed to significantly increase the performance of acrylic acid. And, given that Basf has an annual capacity of approximately 800,000 tonnes of acrylic acid, these improvements are equivalent to cut emissions of carbon dioxide in 230,000 tons. As a result, is has been able to move about 690,000 megawatt-hours of electrical energy production to other locations, and carried out in a way that generates less CO2. This amount of electricity is equivalent to the consumption of 140,000 homes.

Scientists from Basf are also making use their experience in the field of catalysts to contribute to the development of fuel cells. So that these sources of energy can become mass produced items, must be to significantly improve a series of steps of reaction occurring in the cell. In regards to the stationary cells, may be the source of thermal and electrical energy to the homes of the future, the desulphurisation of natural gas used as fuel is essential. Researchers at Basf have managed to solve this problem using absorbent new. In a series of steps that occur in the fuel cell generates hydrogen from natural gas; the catalysts involved in them have improved, so that they are more economical and reliable over time.

BASF is currently the only company in the world capable of supplying large amounts of latent heat reserves to construction industry developing free of formaldehyde (also called phase change materials or PCM). These materials require a suitable carrier in order to be used in buildings, and the gypsum and plaster, panels, stuffed and fillers or wood-based materials are suitable for this. Phase change materials attenuating the peaks in temperature and release heat at night, improving the thermal environment and saving energy and money. They allow to remove the equipment of air conditioning or, at least, use lower power equipment.

Buildings and vehicles absorb heat mainly through transparent surfaces. Opaque elements, such as walls, ceilings or roofs may be combined with reflective surfaces to reduce the transfer of heat, but surfaces transparent as window or façade elements require selective filters for certain wavelengths.

BASF has launched a series of developments in both areas: a system of selective passive filter, based on a new type of absorbent organic near IR, which is able to protect the transparent elements of construction of the thermal radiation, while for the opaque elements is developing a new generation of products belonging to the class of inorganic pigments of special effect.