“The Future Belongs to Sustainable Products”
Interview with Dr. Anno Borkowsky, Member of the Board of Management LANXESS AG
For the new age of sustainability, products must become more sustainable than ever - finite resources must be replaced by bio-based or circular alternatives in the medium and long term. We spoke with LANXESS Board of Management member Dr. Anno Borkowsky about possible paths and the future of sustainable products.
Dr. Borkowsky, you are witnessing the transformation of the chemical industry “first hand” as a board member at LANXESS. Exciting times – especially for you as a chemist, right?
Definitely - maybe the most exciting years of my professional career. With my colleagues on the Board of Management and the many colleagues at LANXESS, we are now really setting the course for the future. And that includes everyone – from the chemists to the engineers in the plants to the administrators – and we talk from molecule to plant level really!
What makes me particularly happy is that in recent years we have been joined by a large number of young colleagues who are driving the issue of sustainability forward with a great deal of passion.
What does that transformation entail?
Looking at the world today, the challenges are quite obvious.
We are facing a climate crisis – which is not only caused by burning fossil fuels to create energy or emissions of other harmful gases. Much of the CO2 is also emitted when products that contain carbon, like plastics for example, are not recycled but burnt at the end of their life span.
To turn this around, our economy needs to become climate neutral within the next decades – and we also need move away from linear “use and dispose” consumption models that consume finite resources and in the end lead us into a dead end.
Can we change this? Yes we can! And it is especially the chemical industry that can do this.
For example: Many molecules, including fuel, can be produced from biomass - like algae, for example. And with innovative processes like chemical recycling for example, molecules can be recovered from waste and re-used virtually unlimited.
Very actively – because we know that the future of our planet, but also of our company and our business, is at stake. We look at sustainability topics from an integrated value chain perspective. It's like a cooking recipe - what ingredients do we need, what steps are necessary? And then we look at how we can gradually reduce emissions, adapt processes, and replace raw materials by more sustainable alternatives if necessary. While safety and sustainable manufacturing are the basis, the objective is to develop our products towards climate neutrality and circularity. Because: The future belongs to sustainable products.
Can you give us a concrete example?
The new series of our industrial preservatives of the Preventol® range is made from vegetable raw materials derived entirely from renewable sources and are supplied by our partner Matríca from the site in Porto Torres (Sardinia, Italy). We can now develop a new generation of preservatives based on renewable raw materials for numerous applications.
And by the way: Biocides are used to preserve products. In doing so, they help reduce the waste burden on the environment by extending the life of valuable materials.
This is what is called the “enabling” property of chemicals.
Exactly. LANXESS, for example, is a leading producer of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid, phosphorus chemicals and thionyl chloride, key raw materials for electrolytes for lithium-ion battery cells. Our synthetic iron oxides are used as precursor for lithium iron phosphate and our ion exchange resins help refining and producing battery-grade nickel, cobalt and lithium as cathode materials for battery electric vehicles. LANXESS immersion cooling fluids are enabler for next generation, fast-charging batteries and our flame retardants increase the safety of the cars.
Sustainable raw materials are a key lever to make climate neutral and circular products for the “new age of sustainability”. What is possible?
There are basically two ways to derive raw materials:
First, biobased resources made from the “building blocks of nature” – molecules that are available in nature, e.g. carbon – and are taken from the so-called biological cycle. One example is succinic acid, a raw material that we use to produce our “Adiprene® Green” polyurethane prepolymers – it can be made by fermentation of organic materials.
Second, recycled resources made by breaking down products back into their original components – sometimes down to the molecular level – and those are taken from the technical cycle. Recycled glass is an example – it is used to mechanically reinforce engineered plastic compounds of our Durethan ECO polyamide product range.
And to “keep the cycles running”, we need clean energy. The success of transformation away from conventional raw materials depends on it! And in view of the current scenario especially in the German energy landscape, there is still a lot of work to be done.
There are some materials that can be produced recycled or made bio-based. Which is the preferred option?
Clear answer: The most feasible one that fits the given context best – and which one this is will also change over time! In principle, we should open up as many options as possible in order to be able to choose from a large toolbox. The only thing that matters is to bring emissions down quickly – why wait for the ideal solution when there is a “second-best”-option that we can implement right now, until we have the technology to realize the “best option”?
Also an organic molecule produced from crude oil in a cracker with a carbon capture device has a significantly lower Carbon Footprint than a conventionally produced product and is a huge step forward for the climate – even if it is still “called” fossil.
We at LANXESS therefore consider all options – technology open.
LANXESS has just announced the target to achieving a climate-neutral supply chain by 2050 – and only offer climate-neutral products from 2050 onwards.
…and the linchpin for achieving this ambitious goal is our raw materials. After all, they account for the largest share of Scope 3 emissions. In the future, we will increasingly need sustainable raw materials that are of plant origin, come from a recycling process and are produced using renewable energies.
Today, the market is not yet developed enough to provide these sustainable raw materials in sufficient quantity. But we have fully embarked on this journey. We are researching and piloting options for climate neutral and circular products together with customers and partners – and some of these products are already on the market.
It is exciting, because to a certain extent, the cards are being reshuffled. Only those companies who are able to manage this transformation will prevail - and we want to among them.
