Industry has a major role to play in achieving the climate goals in 2050. To make it completely sustainable, two things are inextricably linked: the use of sustainable energy and the reuse of raw materials. The process industry and chemistry in particular face the challenge of continuing to make useful products in the future, but fully sustainably. TNO supports them with expertise in, among other things, technologies, circularity, business models and legislation and regulations in the form of a tailor-made TNO Green Print.
MORE THAN ENERGY TRANSITION
'The energy transition rightly receives a lot of attention, but that is only part of the story,' says Martijn de Graaff, cluster manager Industrial transformation at TNO. Take the manufacture of solar panels or wind turbines. You need raw materials for this, which will soon have to be sustainable. But it also requires energy, which must also come from a sustainable source. In other words: without sustainable energy, there are no sustainable raw materials and vice versa. If you have sustainable energy but no sustainable raw materials, you are not making a sustainable product. Everything is interconnected and the major challenge we face is to ensure that the industry can continue to make products without emitting harmful substances.'
“Without sustainable energy, there are no sustainable raw materials and vice versa.”
TRANSITION ENERGY AND RAW MATERIALS
The energy transition is complex and far-reaching enough in itself, but going hand in hand with the raw materials transition makes the matter even more comprehensive. And that is exactly why TNO is throwing itself full force into this task.
'We offer companies what we call not blue but green prints. All our expertise comes together here and we also work intensively together. The industry faces complex long-term decisions. As a society, we will continue to need their products: food, medicine, building materials, electronics, transportation, you name it. But the step from fossil raw materials and fuels to renewable ones is a big one. The industry has traditionally been used to working linearly based on oil, gas and coal. Their current business operations and infrastructure are based on this. Now the industry must go much further than just greening their energy consumption.'
DECARBONIZATION OF ENERGY AND RECARBONIZATION OF RAW MATERIALS
Decarbonizing energy and recarbonizing raw materials is the challenge in short. Biomass, recycled plastics, CO2, clean gases and water for green hydrogen form the basis for making raw materials more sustainable. Switching to this is inevitable due to the climate agreements and upcoming regulations.
Martijn: 'It is easier to replace your current electricity consumption with green energy than your raw material consumption. We are talking about new technologies, production processes, infrastructure, new value chains. But in fact there is no choice. The industry has to deal with society and governments that want things differently. 2030 is eight years away and 2050 within thirty. If you know for how many years companies have been making long-term investment decisions, those choices are needed quickly.'
If you know for how many years companies have been making long-term investment decisions, choices are needed quickly
BIOFUELS OR GREEN HYDROGEN?
TNO has traditionally had a strong knowledge position in the field of sustainable energy and reuse of raw materials. National and international networks have also been built up with companies, knowledge institutions and governments. This makes TNO ideally positioned to support these parties with advice and assistance in making complex decisions.
'Companies want to know what they should invest in for the longer term. Biofuels? Hydrogen? A combination? Other routes? These are already difficult choices, but as a company you are also connected to the companies in your value chain that have to move in the same direction. Otherwise you will not receive the renewable raw materials, or you will not have sustainable energy for your factory. There are many uncertainties: availability and supply of raw materials and sustainable energy, changing legislation and regulations, is there a market demand for my products in the future?'
COOPERATION AND KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
To answer the many questions in the industry, TNO has, among other things, set up a platform for industry transformation with the Belgian research organization VITO and the German DECHEMA. The so-called ARRRA cluster (Antwerp-Rotterdam-Rhine-Ruhr area) forms a large infrastructure and produces almost half of the petrochemicals in the EU. There is much to learn by viewing this as a coherent whole. TNO focuses mainly on such large industrial clusters, such as in our country Rotterdam-Moerdijk, the North Sea Canal Area, Northern Netherlands, Zeeland/West Brabant and Chemelot in South Limburg. Here, TNO analyzes current activity and what is needed in the near future to make the industry more sustainable. Collaboration and knowledge exchange are the key words.
“Companies know the value chain in which they operate, but that will change irrevocably.”
CROSSOVERS
Martijn: 'Companies know the value chain in which they operate, but that will change irrevocably. Other players from other sectors are coming to claim their role. Your company is going to change. Completely different connections arise. Because TNO is active in various companies, sectors and clusters, we see and understand the crossovers that arise or need to be realized. In addition, we have knowledge of all relevant technologies and combinations thereof that can play an essential role in this. And we link these to business models for the chain. Based on the many data and models we have, we make analyses, feasibility studies and scenarios in which we develop options for the future.'
KNOWLEDGE BASE
TNO plays a major role in several European projects aimed at making the industry more sustainable. Hubs for circularity investigates what options there are for circularity in the various regional clusters in Europe.
In HY3 TNO and partners investigated the potential value chains to connect hydrogen production at sea off the Dutch and German coasts with industrial clusters in both countries. This will be further developed in the follow-up project HY3+.
The MIDDEN database, a knowledge base for the transition of the industry, was built with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. This is a wealth of information about all industrial clusters and processes in our country. MIDDEN (Manufacturing Industry Decarbonization Data Exchange Network) was created with the cooperation of universities, ministries, trade organizations, CBS, RVO.
Source: TNO
