Donau Chemie
By: Jürgen Steiner, Messer Austria
Reading time: 3 Minutes
◤ SUSTAINABILITY
Partnership with a climate effect
Carbon dioxide is a versatile gas that is used in many areas. At the same time, the aim is to let as little as possible escape into the atmosphere. Messer is working with Donau Chemie to recover CO₂ from flue gas.
The most important industrial gases are bulk goods by virtue of the fact that they are required in large quantities. This is also true of CO₂, for instance in the beverage industry. Distances are a key consideration here: the greater the proximity between where the gas is recovered and where it is used, the less the mileage involved in transportation. This lowers overall costs while at the same time reducing the carbon footprint. Another aspect is the seasonal and market-related fluctuations in CO₂ recovery, which to a considerable extent depends on fertilizer production. However, the preferred period for overhauling the facilities used in fertilizer production is the summer months – just when the fizzy gas is particularly sought after.
Donau Chemie
❝
Our cooperation with Messer marks another step in our efforts to make our production more environmentally and climate-friendly.
Richard Fruhwürth, member of the Executive Board of Donau Chemie AG
A million-kilometer reduction in transportation by road
Messer is targeting greater security of supply and reduced transport costs with regard to its carbon dioxide customers in the central Alps. A suitable new gas source was found in Landeck, in the heart of Tyrol, where Donau Chemie produces the basic chemical calcium carbide. This substance is required for the desulfurization of crude steel as well as the production of ethyne – better known as the welding gas acetylene. “The flue gas from the production process has a very high carbon dioxide content,” explains Mathias Heßler, Technical Director at Messer in Austria. “Thanks to CO₂ recovery in Landeck, we can reduce truck transportation by around a million kilometers a year,
which represents a significant reduction of exhaust emissions.” Richard Fruhwürth, member of the Executive Board of Donau Chemie AG, sees the secondary use of the CO₂ from an ecological and social perspective: “Our cooperation with Messer marks another step in our efforts to make our production more environmentally and climate-friendly in line with current technical possibilities. Environmental investment at Donau Chemie is done with the environment as well as the economic stability of the company in mind – and therefore, also serves to safeguard jobs.”
❝
At the same time, we are enhancing production reliability and security of supply in the Alpine region.
Michael Holy, Managing Director of Messer Austria
Major investment in environmental and climate protection
At the site of Donau Chemie in Landeck, Messer has been provided with the necessary space for its CO₂ recovery and treatment facilities. This represents an investment of over ten million euros by Messer. Here the gas is refined to food-grade standard and liquefied for transportation. The majority of customers are in Tyrol, South Tyrol, and Vorarlberg as well as in the adjacent regions of Austria, Switzerland, and Germany.
The customers mainly use the CO₂ for the carbonation of beverages, greenhouse fertilizing, and the neutralization of construction site water. In the case of the latter, the gas is permanently removed from the atmosphere. CO₂ is also used for the production of dry ice, as a coolant in air conditioning systems, and for fire extinguishers. “This partnership once again underlines our commitment to environmental and climate protection. At the same time, we are enhancing production reliability and security of supply in the Alpine region,” says Michael Holy, Managing Director of Messer Austria, clearly happy about the company’s cooperation with Donau Chemie.