A Green Newcomer
Editor: Kerstin Stenger
Where are Lewatit® ion exchange resins used?
Consumers are familiar with Lewatit® ion exchange resins primarily from water treatment at home. In household water filters, ion exchange resins remove limescale from water, making tea and coffee taste better. They also soften the water in dishwashers and washing machines, thus extending the service life of household appliances. However, they are mainly used in industry, for example in industrial and municipal water treatment, energy generation, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
Recently, the small beads have also played a decisive role in the production of materials for stationary energy storage and batteries for electric vehicles. The production of solar panels and microchips would also be inconceivable without ultrapure water generated by ion exchangers.
These examples make it clear: Even though ion exchange resins have been used in industry for decades as an established technology, they will also play an essential role in the green transformation of our societies in the coming decades.
What's new about the little beads? Why are they sustainable? Where are they used? We asked Tanja Deubner, Head of Strategy in the Liquid Purification Technologies business unit.
Some of our ion exchange resins are based on polyacrylate. The main raw material required for this, acrylonitrile. It has so far been conventionally obtained from petroleum. In order to make our entire value chain climate-neutral by 2040, we want to successively reduce the proportion of this and other fossil raw materials in our products. Ultimately, we would like to do without them altogether if possible.
We worked closely with our raw material suppliers to find sustainable solutions. In the process, we came across an alternative: tall oil. This sustainable raw material is obtained from a waste product in the production of pulp from softwoods. This waste product is converted to propene, which yields sustainable acrylonitrile by reacting it with ammonia. Tall, by the way, is Swedish and means pine. So it is a natural product.
How high is the CO2 savings potential?
First of all, "green" caustic soda has been available to our production at the Leverkusen site since 2023. It is generated using electricity from a German hydropower plant on the Rhine. All ion exchange resins produced at the site benefit from this.
Take Lewatit® S 8227, for example, a product used in water filter cartridges. The switch to "green" caustic soda alone results in a 14 % reduction in the product carbon footprint of the standard product. Through additional use of the sustainable acrylonitrile according to the mass balance process, we achieve an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 71 % for Lewatit® S 8827 Scopeblue compared with the conventional grade from 2020.
Where are the new Lewatit® Scopblue products currently being used?
For the launch, we have targeted the consumer-related products around drinking water. This is where we have the highest leverage and the opportunity to achieve the greatest CO2 savings.
In the consumer sector, our Lewatit® product accounts for a much larger proportion of the end product than in industry. Let me give you an example: Water filter pitcher. Lewatit® ion exchange resins are often used in the cartridges of water filters. The ion exchange resins represent up to 80 % of the CO2 footprint of the cartridge. Thanks to Lewatit® Scopeblue the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of these filter cartridges can be reduced by almost 50 %.
This example shows: With Lewatit® Scopeblue we are not only gradually moving closer to our own CO2 reduction targets, but we are also helping our customers to make their products more climate-friendly.
Basically, it is difficult for consumers to recognize Lewatit® Scopeblue products. When buying products such as water filters, make sure that a reduced carbon footprint or a high proportion of sustainable raw materials is disclosed. This is a good indicator.
By the way, the more consumers demand sustainable products in the market, the more producers are willing to switch to sustainable products.
What does it take a company to produce sustainably? What are the requirements?
Switching from conventional to sustainable production is quite an effort and cost-intensive. For products to be declared sustainable, production facilities must be certified by external institutions. In addition, the mathematical allocation of sustainable raw materials to the end product must be audited. In 2022, we had our Lewatit® production plant in Leverkusen externally certified. This took around one year.
Next, we intend to have our second German production facility in Bitterfeld certified. Once a plant is certified, all products manufactured there can then be produced in accordance with the green mass balance process. Of course, the availability of sustainable raw materials also plays a major role. Yet, not all raw materials are already available in mass-balanced form, and the quantities available are often still very limited.
What influence do sustainable raw materials have on quality?
Our Lewatit® Scopeblue products have the same physical and chemical properties as our standard products and deliver the same high quality. The sustainable raw materials can be processed by us in the same way as conventional raw materials. The resulting ion exchange resins can also be integrated 1:1 into the customer's existing production process. Therefore, neither equipment nor processes need to be adapted and our customers receive a consistently high product quality.
Which applications will benefit next from sustainable raw materials?
We will continue to prioritize end-customer-oriented applications for the time being. However, we are of course open to inquiries from any of our customers.
We will successively expand our sustainable portfolio in the coming years, because as demand will increase.
Thank you very much for the interview, Ms. Deubner.
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