Specialty chemical company Clariant says it has been awarded the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Sustainability Leadership Award 2022 in the environmental protection category. The accolade recognizes Clariant’s global climate initiative, which offered a free load of the company’s nitrous oxide (N2O) removal catalyst EnviCat N2O-S to ten nitric acid producers who did not have such an abatement technology in place.
The ten producers selected in Clariant’s campaign were:
- Egyptian Chemical Industries KIMA, Egypt
- Gemlik Gubre, Turkey
- Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals, India
- Jiangsu Huachang Chemical, China
- LSB Industries, U.S.
- Proman, Trinidad and Tobago
- Sichuan Lutianhua, China
- One additional nitric acid producer from China
- One additional producer from India
- One additional producer from the U.S.
With a combined annual nitric acid production of more than 2 million tons, the companies reportedly will be able to reduce their N2O emissions by more than 4 million tons of CO2 equivalents annually when using EnviCat N2O-S.2 This translates into more than 860,000 gasoline passenger vehicles driven for one year. Clariant says the catalyst is proven to effectively remove up to 95% of harmful N2O emissions. An independent attorney drew the winning producers.
“Globally, around half of all 500 nitric acid plants operate without N2O removal technology. Through our campaign, we wanted to show the industry that the problem is serious, yet the solution is simple. We are pleased to have converted our winning nitric acid producers into N2O reducers, and the strong interest in our initiative gives us hope that many others will follow,” says Stefan Heuser, senior vice president and general manager at Clariant Catalysts, in a press release from the company.
Chris Jahn, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, says, “Judged by an external panel of experts, the Sustainability Leadership Award recognizes outstanding initiatives led by chemical industry visionaries advancing sustainability. Clariant is dedicated to developing innovative products that can considerably reduce its customers’ environmental footprint. We applaud Clariant on their achievement, and the impact their products make on helping create a better, more sustainable world.”
Read the press release at www.clariant.com
