Together with other industrial companies in the Rotterdam Botlek area, LyondellBasell takes action to decrease natural gas consumption and reduce CO2- and nitrogen emissions by reusing steam released from industrial processes. All parties involved signed agreements to expand the Botlek Steam Network. With this far-reaching collaboration, manufacturers, grid company, the municipality of Rotterdam and the province of South Holland are joining forces to make the industry in the Rotterdam Botlek area more sustainable. As the ink dries from the signatures, preparations have already started.
Dutch waste processor AVR and Cabot Corporation generate steam from recovered energy from their operating processes. This will replace steam now produced with natural gas. The result is a combined reduction in natural gas consumption of at least 50 million cubic meters, equivalent to a reduction in CO2 emissions of about 100 kilotons per year and a reduction of 40,000 kilograms of nitrogen emissions per year.
LyondellBasell will be the main consumer of this Botlek Steam Network expansion. The extension of the Botlek Steam Network will have a potential capacity to further reduce gas consumption up to 200 million cubic meters, a CO2 reduction of 400 kilotons and 160.000 kilograms of nitrogen emissions per year.
Working together for a more sustainable industry
"Addressing climate change is one of the most pressing challenges our world faces and we believe collective action and a sense of urgency are needed. We have set ambitious 2030 interim targets to reduce our emissions," says Jan Dirk van Loon, Senior Director Net Zero Strategy & Execution EU at LyondellBasell. "We need to collaborate to achieve our goals, especially in a heavily integrated industrial cluster like Rotterdam Botlek. When the steam network is operational, we can save a collective amount of gas at the Botlek cluster that is comparable to the annual consumption of about 45,000 households, a city like Schiedam, and our greenhouse gas emissions in Botlek will be reduced by 15%".
Province and Municipality of Rotterdam support sustainable collaboration
The Province of Zuid-Holland and the municipality of Rotterdam co-invest € 2 million and € 0.7 million respectively in the expansion of the Botlek Steam Network. The Port of Rotterdam, as initiator, played an important role in connecting the partners in the Botlek Steam Network. The expansion will be constructed in an 'oversized' way. This means that the network is better geared to future developments and can handle much more than is needed now. In time, this will make it possible to connect other steam sources and customers to the network, such as steam generated from residual heat or sustainable sources such as geothermal energy.
Grid company NetVerder, daughter of the Dutch Stedin Group, is responsible for the expansion of the Botlek Steam Network, which is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2026.
