New technologies

Fossil fuels represent the largest sources of CO₂ in the chemical industry because chemistry requires energy. To split naphtha into olefins and aromatics for further processing, BASF’s steam crackers need to reach a temperature of 850°C. Until now, the cracker’s furnaces have been fossil-fired, meaning they are operated with natural gas.

If we could operate these crackers with electricity from renewable sources  instead, this would reduce the CO₂ emissions by 100 percent during the heating process.

BASF, SABIC and Linde have signed a joint agreement to develop and demonstrate solutions for electrically heated steam cracker furnaces. The partners have already jointly worked on concepts to use renewable electricity instead of the fossil fuel gas typically used for the heating process. With this innovative approach focusing on one of the petrochemical industries’ core processes, the parties strive to offer a promising solution to significantly contribute to the reduction of CO₂ emissions within the chemical industry.

For BASF, the use of clean hydrogen is a key element in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In Europe, for example, BASF is one of the largest hydrogen producers. At our main plant in Ludwigshafen alone, we produce around 250,000 metric tons of hydrogen per year. The gas is a key and irreplaceable raw material for important products such as ammonia and is found in many consumer products from chewing gum to plastics. Hydrogen is mostly produced from hydrocarbons such as natural gas by steam reforming, which involves high CO₂ emissions (about 9 to 10 tons of CO₂ per ton of hydrogen). This makes hydrogen production one of the largest CO₂ emitters in the chemical industry.

In order to produce hydrogen without CO₂ in the future, BASF is relying in parallel on two processes: commercially available water electrolysis and methane pyrolysis, for which BASF is developing a new process technology. In order to further expand CO₂-free hydrogen production, sufficient electricity based on renewable energy must be available

While hydrogen is used as a material in the chemical industry, it can be used as an energy carrier (mobility, building heating) in other areas of application. Since low-emission hydrogen is in short supply, it needs to be prioritized for those areas in which its use is essential.

Find more about hydrogen here

The chemical industry needs large quantities of hydrogen. For instance, BASF uses it as a reactant for ammonia synthesis. Because hydrogen is indispensable for carrying and storing energy in numerous sustainable future applications, it will continue to grow in importance.

Steam reforming is currently the most important industrial-scale procedure for producing hydrogen from natural gas or coal. However, this process releases considerable quantities of CO₂.

As part of its Carbon Management program, BASF is working together with cooperation partners in a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to develop methane pyrolysis, a methane pyrolysis technology for producing climate-friendly hydrogen from natural gas. Here, methane or natural gas, which mainly consists of methane, is split directly into its components of hydrogen and solid carbon. The process uses comparatively little energy and, if it is run using electricity from renewable resources, is even CO₂-free. Compared to other processes for emission-free hydrogen production, methane pyrolysis requires only around one-fifth as much electrical energy. A pilot reactor has been constructed in Ludwigshafen and is being started up.

It is still unclear how the granular carbon from our pyrolysis will be used. In general, there are numerous markets for solid carbon, especially for high purity carbon, e.g. aliminium or steel industries.

Storage is also conceivable in principle, because our pyrolysis carbon is not a hazardous substance and can be stored in a stable manner. The various approaches are being investigated in the current project.

In water electrolysis, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. Since the energy here is introduced by electricity and not by an oxidation process (combustion), the electricity consumption is high. 

BASF, in cooperation with Siemens Energy, is currently examining possibilities for the construction of a PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) water electrolyzer with a capacity of 50 megawatts for the CO₂-free production of hydrogen from water and electric power at the Ludwigshafen site. This CO₂-free hydrogen is to be used primarily as a material in the Verbund, as well as to a limited extent for the market ramp-up of the mobility market in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.

Our goal is to prevent CO₂ emissions from occurring in the first place. However, if this is not possible, we also want to investigate the use of storage processes for CO₂. At the Antwerp site, BASF is planning to participate in one of the largest projects for storing CO₂ under the North Sea (carbon capture and storage, CCS). Together with partners in the “Antwerp@C” consortium, this offers the possibility of avoiding the emission of more than 1 million metric tons of CO₂ per year from the production of basic chemicals. A final investment decision is expected to be made in 2022.