TEAM SPIRIT AND TECHNOLOGY LEAD
TO A CARBON-FREE SITE
At the BYK plant in Wesel, a new system has ensured more efficient processes and the
resulting saving of valuable resources for some time now. The installation exemplifies
the ALTANA Group’s path to climate neutrality – everywhere in the world.
Heiko Moritz has reason to be satisfied. The 38-year-old, who
works as an Operations and Planning Engineer at the BYK plant
in Wesel, has played a significant role in achieving two sustainability
related goals at the same time: lower energy requirements
for the site’s heat supply and purified exhaust air with lower
greenhouse gas emissions and the related positive effect on the
environment. As a result, Moritz and his team are implementing
something that ALTANA as a Group is committed to worldwide:
a significant reduction in natural gas consumption as a major
step toward zero carbon sites. ALTANA aims to be climate neutral
worldwide by 2025.
Conversion of exhaust gas cleaning and heating of heat
transfer oil
At the BYK plant in Wesel, it was about the conversion of the ther-
mal afterburning system. This system converted process ex-
haust air into CO² and water vapor. In addition, the plant was used
to heat so-called thermal oil, which is deployed for heating in
the plant. The problem: The energy efficiency was only around 85
percent and thus behind today’s technical possibilities.
As the responsible engineer, Heiko Moritz was tasked with
finding a sustainable replacement for the existing afterburning
plant. The team around the engineer examined various options up
to and including a complete rebuild of the existing plant. It
quickly became clear that the strongest effects could be achieved
by decoupling heat generation and exhaust gas cleaning. In
the future, special scrubbers should ensure clean air. But many tasks
had to be performed in the course of the changeover, which
would put too great a strain on a single team. For the trial opera-
tion in several pilot plants alone, measured values had to be
collected and evaluated to ensure compliance with all environmental
specifications. Good teamwork was an essential key to
success. The measurement data was collected using in-house mea-
In terms of heat generation, BYK was able to increase efficiency from
85 percent to 95 percent and reduce the associated greenhouse gas
emissions by around 400 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year.
surement technology, while the analytics department carried out
the evaluation.
Replacement during operation
The replacement was akin to open-heart surgery because operations
had to continue. This, too, was possible only thanks to a
great team effort. “Everyone worked hand in hand. We don’t just
talk about climate protection, but implement it step by step as
a team,” says Heiko Moritz. The result speaks for itself: Heat loss
could be reduced by two thirds. In addition, the now separate
heat generation occurs with a ten-percent improved efficiency,
which is now up to 95 percent. This effect gives rise to a consid-
erable reduction in natural gas consumption, thus reducing greenhouse
gas emissions by around 400 tons per year. It is not only
the company that benefits from the new plant, by achieving savings
and improving its carbon footprint. The area surrounding
the BYK plant can also look forward to even better exhaust gas
values. Last but not least, there is Heiko Moritz himself, who
lives in Wesel with his young family. “It’s nice to be able to experience
the effect of your own work so directly – especially if
you like to be hands-on and put your money where your mouth
is, for the benefit of future generations. The experience gained
from the retrofit project was so inspiring that now, as a Planning
Engineer, I’m already looking forward to the next project on
our way to becoming a carbon-free site,” he concludes.
22 Climate Protection at ALTANA