All forecasts are based on the electrification of the vehicle fleet. Are we in a period of transition or stabilization? It’s not yet clear. The most optimistic forecasts are no longer exactly the same, nevertheless a transition is inevitable even if there is currently a shift in the predominance of all-electric technology with a period where hybridization will perhaps last longer. It’s more of a youth crisis for this market, and we’re seeing big investments in lithium in Asia, Australia and Latin America.
You are not industrially present in these markets…
No, our industrial sites are in Europe and the United States, but we have a strong commercial presence in other territories, and we sell all over the world; these are products that travel relatively well if they are competitive.
And how to be competitive from productions in Europe?
Solvay’s historical advantage, particularly for soda ash, is our 160 years of history and we are the world leader in volume. We are completely integrated with our welders and their salt and limestone production, the main inputs. The disruptions come from our energy needs but our energy transition projects will help us. Finally, the important thing is the competitiveness achieved by the customer. Most of our sites benefit from local demand around them, relying on efficient logistics and a lot of flexibility.
Isn’t this a handicap on your export markets?
There is a network effect. We are present in the United States, from where we can serve all destinations in a very competitive manner. Some of our European sites, such as that in Bulgaria, also have relevant export projection capacity. Certainly, the situation is not made easier by the energy crisis and the embargo on Russian energy, there is a temporary competitive bias effect. But our leadership helps us to be on the best technologies and to have the right partners.
Is the situation for baking soda different?
Growth rates are higher than those of soda ash, growing almost twice as fast as GDP, whereas soda ash tends to follow GDP growth. These different dynamics give us more resilience and balance for the division, thanks to underlying markets for bicarbonate that are less affected by the sluggish global economy.
There are many cases of unfair competition in Europe in the chemical industry. Are you suffering in these segments?
In these two markets, we do not suffer from dumping or unfair competition. The rules differ from one market to another and are evolving, as with the upcoming arrival of the carbon border adjustment mechanism in the EU. There are also necessarily particular circumstances such as the war in Ukraine and the embargo on Russian energy raw materials, which can create a little occasional distortion, but that does not deter us from our ambitions of competitiveness and decarbonization.
Decarbonizing soda ash and bicarbonate activities remains Solvay’s biggest project for your carbon neutrality. You have planned a billion euros of investment with the objective of reaching it by 2050. Where are you?
These activities have been engaged for a long time on the path to ecological transition. This is one of the keys to our persistence in our markets, which require carbon-free solutions for, for example, their production of glass and lithium batteries, ultimately used in construction and automobiles. Reducing the footprint was even one of the foundations of the group’s creation. The soda ash production process developed by the Solvay brothers in the 19th century was more environmentally friendly than the one it replaced. We are still continuing in the same direction. From a competition point of view it is also a race: tomorrow those who do not know how to decarbonize these productions will have difficulties, due to the increase in the cost of CO2. This industry was built around coal and gas, inexpensive energies. It is very complex because all the technologies do not yet exist, the sectors do not all have the same maturity, and no two sites have the same solution. It is also very capital intensive. Solvay still plans carbon neutrality for 2050 and one billion euros is still the amount at stake. It is possible, and we are doing it.
You say that decarbonizing will also serve to remain competitive. But will it be more expensive?
These solutions systematically present a double constraint: sustainability and competitiveness. Each project is different because we rely locally on existing sectors which must be sustainable and at least as competitive, and find regional or European support schemes to support the investment. The solutions are deployed as in a symphony, with a timing that will depend on all the elements: the availability of technologies, the most mature sectors, the quality of partners, and public aid.
Which of your sites have already stopped using coal?
Those of Green River, in the United States and of Rosignano in Italy have switched to 100% natural gas supply. In Germany, the Rheinberg site now reaches 100% biomass, while the Bernburg site has used solid recovered fuels (SRF) since 2008. There remains Dombasle which will phase out coal in 2025, and two sites for which it is more complicated. In Torrelavega, Spain, we have a biomass project well underway, which will take a few more years to be realized. The site where the issue seems more distant is in Devnya in Bulgaria. The wood waste or biomass sectors are less established, and given the size and scope of the site, we have in mind a horizon of 2030 or more with potentially technologies such as electrification and small nuclear reactor.
In Dombasle, the CSR cogeneration unit was planned for commissioning this fall. But you now say current 2025. What about?
The project is ongoing and will come to an end. But with the aftermath of the end of Covid, then the war in Ukraine, it fell behind schedule due to the financial solidity of all elements. Today we are talking about the end of the project rather in the fall of 2025. This is the life of this type of large project but it is on the right track, technically and in terms of financing.
This project is part of the energy transition contracts with the State on the 50 highest-emitting industrial sites in France. Is the State playing its role in terms of promised aid?
The delay is not linked to public aid, but rather to industrial issues. The political situation in France was a source of some concern, particularly between the results of the legislative elections and the appointment of the new government. We had to ensure that all the systems in place would be maintained. Today we have confirmation that this is indeed the case.
Is the goal still to reduce emissions by 50%?
Yes. By completely eliminating coal, we are acting on one of our two sources of emissions in this welder: those linked to steam production. The CSR boiler will reduce CO2 emissions from the energy part by 50%.
In Dombasle you are also working on the industrial scale-up of a new process, e.Solvay, with a pilot unit. Where are you?
It is a complete re-invention of the synthetic process for manufacturing soda ash, electrifying the entire lime kiln part of the process and dispensing with any fossil fuels. We will avoid emissions and reduce the consumption of water and raw materials such as limestone. It’s truly revolutionary. It takes time. After laboratory validation, the pilot unit has already made it possible to validate a certain number of hypotheses on a larger scale, to validate the choice of a certain number of raw materials and equipment, and to make progress on competitiveness. of this solution. This new process requires competitive, carbon-free electricity. In France, we will be able to rely on the nuclear fleet, it will perhaps be other renewable sources elsewhere. We confirm the timetable for industrial deployment by 2030.
Are you the only ones using this new process?
We are the pioneers. We have developed the intellectual property, we are more than one step ahead of our competitors and we are the only ones to have a pilot unit on this scale.
Is the objective to deploy this process on your other sites?
Yes but it will necessarily be a gradual deployment, there is an economic equation when we replace equipment which has a lifespan of 15-20 years. We will deploy it gradually on our European sites. This process only applies to our synthetic welders.
Is this not possible on your American site?
Schematically there are two processes for soda ash. The synthetic route, based on salt and limestone, is the historic Solvay process, and all of European production, but also in India and China. The second process is based on trona, which is a rock, an ore that contains carbonate and bicarbonate. This is the case of Wyoming (United States), the largest known trona reserve in the world, of a good part of the production in Turkey and recently in China in Inner Mongolia. The process of producing soda ash from trona involves mining the rock, followed by its crushing, grinding, refining and drying to obtain the soda ash powder. This also consumes energy, but for this process, the final phases of decarbonization, which will occur at a later stage, will require the development of other technologies, such as, for example, carbon capture and sequestration.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
