Water Intensity Measurements for Chemical Companies

It seems to me the best sustainability measurement for chemical company water use is water intensity measurement.  This measurement is the annual amount of water a company has used divided by the metric tons of product produced for the year.  Such a measurement has value of comparability from company to company.  The higher the intensity, the more water a company uses to produce a ton of product  

Twelve chemical company 2018 sustainability reports were searched to find the companies water intensity measurements.  Those found are shown in this table:

company	water intensity measurement (cubic meters of water used divided metric tons of product produced)
air liquide	measurement not provided and cannot be computed from data in the report
basf	measurement not provided and cannot be computed from data in the report
borealis	measurement not provided and cannot be computed from data in the report
clariant	measurement not provided and cannot be computed from data in the report
dsm	measurement not provided and cannot be computed from data in the report
evonik	measurement not provided and cannot be computed from data in the report
huntsman	measurement not provided and cannot be computed from data in the report
lanxess	39.3 cubic meters of water per ton of product produced
lyondellbasell	3.87 cubic meters of water per ton of product produced
mitsui	measurement not provided and cannot be computed from data in the report
ptt global chemicals	1.99 cubic meters of water per ton of product produced
solvay	measurement not provided and cannot be computed from data in the report

Unfortunately, as shown in the table, most companies do not report water intensity measurements. All the companies provide various measurements related to water use, such as fresh water withdrawn, reuse amounts, etc., but only the three companies shown in the table provide water intensity measurements.    Without water intensity measurements, a needed measurement on how well a company is doing in its water use is missing.  How well a company is using water in its operations compared to other companies is not possible without such a measurement as the water intensity measurement.  Just knowing amounts of water withdrawn and other water use data provided in sustainability reports does not offer needed relevancy about water use, e.g., how much product is produced for amount of water used.

As we move further into the climate change and resource limitations era, company sustainability goals and accomplishments are becoming essential for universal well-being.  And relevant measurements, which serve well to guide decision making towards the needed sustainability goals and accomplishments, are needed.  And these measurements need to be provided in company sustainability reports.    Unfortunately, at the current time, when it comes to water use, such a relevant measurement is not in common use.

Ultrapure Water Use Comments

Market reports on the internet indicate that in 2018 global purchases (capital expenditures) of technologies for use in providing ultrapure water in industry were about $6.2 billion.    Industry sectors using ultrapure water include: semiconductors; coal-fired power stations; flat panel products; pharmaceuticals; and gas turbines.   Processes in these sectors required ultrapure water to work as intended.

A 2015 RobecoSam report (Water: the market of the future; click here to read the report – PDF file) indicates that in 2018 approximately $24 billion will be spent by industry on water processing technologies, including for ultrapure water use.  Thus, capital expenditures related to ultrapure water represents a high percentage of the total – 26% ($6.2 billion divided by $24 billion).

Of the $6.2 billion spent related to ultrapure water use, the sector spending the most is semiconductors – estimated at $2.1 billion or 33% of the total.  Water purification levels now required by semiconductor producers are in the parts per billion and parts per trillion range for the most recently designed microchips.    This purification level is beginning to exceed the ability of analytical instrumentation to determine impurity concentrations.  Improved purification and measurement technologies related to this level of purification (parts per billion and trillion) are areas of active research and development.    With respect to ultrapure water use in the semiconductor industry, only the very best service providers are likely to succeed.

The following identifies some of the leading vendors providing purification and analytical products and services related to ultrapure water use:

Airliquide – analytical services (click here for more information)

Entegris – ultrapure water filters (click here for more information)

Evoqua – ultrapure water systems (click here for more information)

Kurita - ultrapure water systems (click here for more information)

Nalco (Ecolab) - ultrapure water systems (click here for more information)

Pall – ultrapure water filters (click here for more information)

Snowpure – electro deionization and other technologies (click here for more information)

Suez - ultrapure water systems (click here for more information)

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – July 2019

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is July 2019.

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the June 2019 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the June alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.

Helium:  global; production not keeping up with demand

Section II.   Shortages Reported in July not found on the Previous Month’s List

Construction sand: India; supply not keeping up with demand

Recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET): United States; supply not keeping up with demand

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none

2.  Production not keeping up with demand: none

3.  Government regulations: none

4.  Sources no longer available: none

5.  Insufficient imports:  none

6.  Supply not keeping up with demand: construction sand; recyclable polyethylene           terephthalate (PET)  

Tungsten – Uses, Prices, and Production

This blog highlights information and data I have found on the Internet related to tungsten uses, prices, and production.   Key Blog objectives are to present a tungsten 2018 global production amount and the amount of global revenues represented by the sale of this production.

Uses.  Tungsten’s high melting point (the highest of any metal) and its anti-corrosive, unreactive nature accounts for most of its uses.  These uses include:  in electrodes at high temperatures; as filaments to generate light by electric current passing through the filaments; combined with metals to form highly resistant, strong alloys; and in electrical equipment to meet heat-resistant, conducting needs.   The largest use of tungsten is in its combination with carbon to form tungsten carbide, an extremely strong compound, which is used in cutting tools and drills in many industries.

Prices.  Tungsten does not appear as an element in nature but combined with other elements.  The minerals scheelite and wolframite account for most of the source of tungsten.   These minerals are mined and chemically processed to form ammonium paratungstate (APT), which is sold by the processors to customers who further process (by reacting with hydrogen) the ATP to obtain the tungsten element.   The average 2018 global price of high-grade ATP was about $33,000 per metric ton (mt).

Production.  Estimates are that approximately 81,000 mt of ATP was produced globally in 2018.  With the ATP average price of $33,000 per mt, this gives a 2018 global tungsten revenue of $2.7 billion (81,000 mt times $33,000 per mt).

Chemical Processing of Plastic Packaging Waste

About 300 million metric tons (mt) of plastic waste are believed to have been generated globally in 2018.  And about 45 to 50% (135 to 150 million mt) of this 300 million mt of plastic waste are estimated to be plastic packaging waste.    Unfortunately, a large amount of this 135 to 150 million mt of plastic packaging waste was not recovered (recycled) (for example only about 15% in the United States and about 40% in Europe).  One of the restraints on the recycling (recovery) is that only some of the plastic package waste (that portion having the needed properties such as uniformity), can be recycled using mechanical processes.   Much of the rest of the plastic packaging waste does not have the needed uniformity and other properties to be mechanically process and recycled.   

In order to recycle the rest (the amount not able to be mechanically recycled), the plastic needs to be chemically recycled.  In generally, when the term chemical recycle is used, it refers to one of these three methods:

1.      Purification – dissolving the plastic into solution followed by purification into components, which then can be used to form new plastics;

2.      Decomposition – de-polymerization of the plastic by various means into the monomers, which then can be used to form new plastics; and

3.      Conversion – using pyrolysis to convert the plastic packing waste into oils or gasification to convert plastic wastes into hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide (syngas), which then can be used to form new plastics.

Unlike in mechanical recycling, which eventually will mechanically damage the plastic after repeated recycling, chemical recycling of the newly formed plastics can continue indefinitely.

The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners has produced a 2018 report that provides an excellent review of chemical recycling and identifies dozens of companies that have developed various purification, decomposition, and/or conversion processes for recycling plastic packaging waste.  Click here to read the report (PDF file).

Estimates can be found on the Internet that the plastic packaging waste that is not recycled could be converted into new plastic (from the components, monomers, or syngas produced via the chemical recycling process) with a market value of $80 to $120 billion.   Also, reusing plastic packaging waste as new plastic products avoids using fossil fuels to make the needed products, reducing carbon dioxide emissions.  And, recycling the packaging prevents the entry of the plastic into the environment as waste.  So, for these reasons, as well as for the technical advances that are being made in chemical recycling, as indicated in the Center for the Circular Economy Report, much interest is being generated in chemical recycling of plastic wastes.

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – June 2019

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is June 2019.

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the May 2019 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the May alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.

Helium:  global; production not keeping up with demand

Section II.   Shortages Reported in June not found on the Previous Month’s List

Freon:  Florida; production not keeping up with demand

Hydrogen:  California; production not keeping up with demand

Paper:  United States; production not keeping up with demand

Polysilicon:  China; supply not keeping up with demand

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none

2.  Production not keeping up with demand: freon; hydrogen; paper

3.  Government regulations: none

4.  Sources no longer available: none

5.  Insufficient imports:  none

6.  Supply not keeping up with demand: polysilicon

Aluminum – Uses, Prices, and Production

This blog highlights information and data I have found on the Internet related to aluminum uses, prices, and production.   Price and production amounts represent global data.

Uses.  Several aluminum qualities, which make it an abundantly used structural metal, include light-weightiness; strength; durability; ductility; and malleability.   In 2018, aluminum accounted for the second highest sales revenues of all metals used in structural applications, behind iron’s use in steel.  Aluminum also has good electrical and thermal conductivity, with high use due to these properties.  Aluminum is useful as an additive in such products as glass and paint and is frequently alloyed with other metals, such as copper, zinc, and magnesium.  Aluminum finds use as a combusting agent, a reflecting surface, and in sound absorption.

Most aluminum, which does not occur separately as an element in the earth’s crest, is electronically separated from aluminum oxide (also known as alumina) after the oxide is chemically separated from bauxite rock.  Both the bauxite and the aluminum oxide have financially meaningful uses separate from the aluminum metal derived from them.   Bauxite serves well as an abrasive; as an anti-skid agent; and as an additive, e.g., in cement.  Aluminum oxide serves well as an additive in ceramics and glass, increasing their strength; as an absorbent; and as an abrasive.

Prices.  Bauxite and aluminum oxide prices are relevant to the aluminum market price.  Average 2018 price for bauxite was in the $30 per metric ton (mt) range and for aluminum oxide, in the $550 per mt range.   The 2018 aluminum average price was in the $2,100 per mt range.  The 2018 price of aluminum oxide varied significantly due to problems at some major bauxite-to-aluminum oxide processing plants.  

Industry knowledge suggests for aluminum producers to be profitable, the ratio of aluminum oxide to aluminum price needs to be less than about 20%.  With the average 2018 aluminum oxide and aluminum price ratio at about 26% ($550 per mt aluminum oxide price divided by $2,100 per mt aluminum price), 2018 was a difficult year for aluminum producers with respect to profit.

Production.  Internet data suggests that in 2018 approximately 300 million mt of bauxite was produced.  If the average bauxite 2018 price was $30 per mt, this gives a 2018 bauxite production value of approximately $9 billion (300 million mt times $30 per mt).

Internet data also suggests that in 2018 approximately 130 million mt of aluminum oxide was produced.   Assuming the average aluminum oxide 2018 price was about $550 mt, this gives a 2018 aluminum oxide production value of approximately $71.5 billion (130 million mt times $550 per mt).

And internet data suggests that in 2018 approximately 62 million mt of aluminum was produced.  Assuming the average 2018 aluminum price was $2,100 per mt, this gives a 2018 aluminum production value of approximately $130.2 billion (62 million mt times $2,100 per mt).

Based on the above production data, bauxite quantity mined results in aluminum produced having approximately 21% of the weight of bauxite mined (62 million mt aluminum produced divided by 300 million mt bauxite mined).

Also, assuming the above production data is approximately correct, the 2018 production value that the aluminum element adds to the global economy in terms of sales revenues is around $210.7 billion ($9 billion for bauxite; $71.5 billion for aluminum oxide; and $130.2 billion for aluminum metal).