Specialty chemicals company LANXESS and French energy group TotalEnergies have collaborated on the supply of biocircular styrene. Unlike conventional styrene, the raw material used by TotalEnergies is based on tall oil, derived from a tree resin and is a by-product of pulp production. LANXESS uses styrene to produce sustainable ion exchange resins. These products are applied primarily in the treatment of wastewater and chemical process flows and the food industry.
“Our customers increasingly ask for sustainable solutions, and raw materials with a low carbon footprint are a key lever here. By partnering with TotalEnergies, we can further expand the respective offering for our customers,” says Marcel Beermann, Head of Global Procurement & Logistics at LANXESS.
The sustainable origin of the styrene is certified in accordance with the mass balance approach of the ISCC PLUS standard (“International Sustainability and Carbon Certification”). Under the mass balance approach, the certified and non-certified materials are mixed physically but kept separately on a bookkeeping basis. This method allows companies to document and track sustainable materials through the complex production process and ensures full traceability through the entire supply chain. The ISCC PLUS certification of styrene is an important requirement, as LANXESS offers its products in accordance with this certification standard and therefore relies on the same transparency for its raw materials.
“The collaboration is a perfect illustration of the orientation taken by the Refining and Chemicals branch of TotalEnergies to develop lower carbon intensity products, in line with TotalEnergies’ Climate Ambition to get to Net Zero emissions by 2050, together with society,” said Jean-François Renglet, Vice President Marketing Base Chemicals Division at Total Refining and Chemicals.
In addition to styrene, the specialty chemicals company already sources many other sustainable equivalents of fossil raw materials. Biocircular acrylonitrile is used for another type of ion exchange resins. The preservative Preventol is also available with various fatty acid mixtures based on sunflower oil. Prepolymers under the Adiprene Green brand contain starch-based polyether polyols. The intermediate Trimethylpropane Scopeblue consists of about half sustainable N-butylaldehyde. The composite Tepex Scopeblue is based on flax and polylactic acid. And the high-performance plastic Durethan Scopeblue uses biocircular cyclohexane and waste glass.