Under its sustainability program, the global chemical company OQ Chemicals has reduced its carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 10% at its Bay City, Texas, production site in 2022, compared to the previous year's averages. To achieve this, the company carried out a dedicated boiler and flare improvement project to optimize the flow of vent gases from chemical production units and to further improve the combustion process. Project progress was tracked for 2022, and demonstrated improved production process stability and subsequently reduced emissions.

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is crucial to addressing the urgent issue of climate change. OQ Chemicals has made a significant contribution to this global effort by reducing its emissions at Bay City by 10%. This success was made possible through the excellent collaboration of our dedicated teams from the Engineering and Operations departments. The project aimed to improve boiler controls, enabling increased consumption of vent gases for energy recovery and reduced flaring, and included equipment improvements in the utilities area,” said Kevin Hunt, OQ Chemicals director of maintenance and technical at Bay City, Texas.

OQ Chemicals’ company-wide strategic program “reduce” aims to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next years, with the ultimate goal of becoming climate neutral by mid-century. The boiler and flare improvement project falls under Scope 1, which encompasses direct emissions from production activities. With the reduce program, OQ Chemicals tackles all scopes of emissions, including indirect Scope 2 and all relevant Scope 3 emissions.

 “Our ‘reduce’ program takes a comprehensive approach that will eventually cover all scopes of our greenhouse gas emissions, as we’re committed to reducing our carbon footprint across all aspects of our operations. While the ‘reduce’ program currently comprises over 200 projects and initiatives with short-, mid- and long-term goals, the success of the boiler and flare improvement project marks a significant milestone on the path of our sustainability approach,” said OQ Chemicals CEO, Dr. Oliver Borgmeier.

More information is available at chemicals.oq.com.