Group Management Report Products Safety and Health Environment Human Resources Social Commitment Consolidated Financial Statements 95
administration, and research. Included are CO² emissions
resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels, primarily natural
gas (Scope 1), as well as indirect CO² emissions from
energy consumption, particularly in the form of electricity
(Scope 2). The climate neutrality to be achieved by 2025
also includes the CO² emissions resulting from necessary business
trips, company cars, and goods transport (Scope 3).
This means that for the areas mentioned, CO² emissions into
the environment will be avoided or compensated for
through suitable measures. As a result, ALTANA is contributing
to the achievement of the climate goal adopted at the
UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015 by limiting
global warming to well below 2°C by 2050. ALTANA uses
the following levers to reduce its CO² emissions:
1. Avoidance of unnecessary energy consumption
2. Improvement of energy efficiency
3. Use of energies from renewable sources
4. Replacement of energies from fossil sources
In the year under review, ALTANA consistently pursued
its climate protection goals and created facts.
To avoid unnecessary energy consumption, facilities and
machines were identified that can be temporarily switched
off or run in a reduced operating state without impairing operational
processes and safety. These include, for example,
ventilation systems, circulation pumps, and heating and air-
conditioning systems. Corresponding projects have already
been launched at ECKART in Güntersthal and Wackersdorf,
and at ELANTAS in St. Louis. By means of numerous measurements,
ACTEGA identified suitable measures to reduce
the energy consumption of machines and processes. For
example, at ACTEGA Terra, production times were significantly
cut due to continuous measurements of the pH val-
ue. Hence approximately 30,000 kWh / year can be saved.
In fiscal 2020, ALTANA carried out numerous projects
to improve energy efficiency. For example, BYK optimized
the thermal afterburning and drying processes at its site
in Gonzales, Texas. Consequently, natural gas consumption
for these processes was reduced by around 50 %. BYK in
Wesel refurbished the entire heating and cooling system of
the laboratory area to make it energy-efficient. In the process,
several buildings were connected with uniform heating
and cooling circuits. This saves around 380 tons of CO² a
year.
The ECKART division, too, was able to further increase
its energy efficiency thanks to improved process flows and
the installation of low-energy motors and cooling units. At the
Güntersthal site, it was possible to significantly increase
the material throughput in the mills, saving around 160,000
kWh / year. At one tank plant, the running time of the circulation
pumps was changed from continuous operation to
adapted interval operation. Due to this measure, around
60,000 kWh / year are conserved. ECKART also replaced cooling
units in Güntersthal, saving around 135,000 kWh / year.
Comparable projects were also carried out at the Painesville
and Louisville sites.
ELANTAS succeeded in reducing natural gas consumption
by 670,000 kWh / year at its site in Ascoli by optimizing
thermal afterburning. Meanwhile, in Collecchio, ELANTAS
implemented further energy-saving measures, including adjustments
to the ventilation system, automatic control of
the heating chambers, optimization of the compressors, and
the use of LED lighting. The division thus achieved total
savings of 50,000 kWh. With a new training program, employees
at ELANTAS in Italy are being made more aware
of how to use energy more efficiently. In the production of
a two-component resin system, targeted process optimization
reduced the reaction temperature from 240°C to 120°C
and at the same time cut production time from eight to
two hours. Both effects lead to significant energy savings. At
the ELANTAS site in Zhuhai, China, energy consumption
can be monitored via a new system and suitable countermeasures
can be initiated promptly if necessary.