May 13, 2025
Minister Melissa Depraetere visits Evonik Antwerp
During the visit to Evonik, various projects were explained in detail in the context of the energy transition and electrification. Ivan Pelgrims, managing director of Evonik Antwerp, took the minister through our climate plan, in which we pay particular attention to our carbon footprint, our impact on biodiversity and our use of water. Evonik not only applies its own expertise to these issues, but also enters into solid partnerships with several outstanding partners.
An important part of the day was the visit to the ECLUSE site. Microtunnelling is being used to drill a tunnel between the left and right banks to the Evonik site. This will enable the recovered energy from the waste-to-energy installations of Indaver and SLECO to be transported to Evonik in the form of steam. The switch to steam from ECLUSE will also result in the avoidance of 100,000 to 150,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
Ivan Pelgrims, Managing Director of Evonik Antwerp: "At Evonik, we are proud of our contribution to the energy transition and innovative water management. Our investments in projects such as ECLUSE, the expansion to the 150 kV grid and hydropower demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and environmentally friendly solutions. We felt it was extremely important to share these efforts with the minister and other stakeholders during the port visit."
V.l.t.r. Mieke Michiels, Project Manager ECLUSE, Wim Feyen, COO K-Boringen, Melissa Depraetere, Deputy Prime Minister of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Housing, Energy and Climate, Tourism and Youth, Wim Ooms, Indaver - Director of the Doel site - Director ECLUSE, Karim Bachar, Alderman for Youth, Environment and Community Development, City of Antwerp, Ivan Pelgrims, Managing Director Evonik Antwerpen NV, and Ann Wurman, Director essenscia Flanders.
Several ingenious sustainable projects
In addition to its partnership in the ECLUSE project, Evonik Antwerp is working on several ingenious sustainable projects. Research is currently being conducted into solar mirrors, an alternative solar technology that is important for the production of green steam for manufacturing processes.
As an alternative to the PV obligation, the chemical company is building an additional wind turbine, with work set to start this year. This will enable Evonik to green up to 7% of its current electricity consumption in an economically attractive way.
In relation to biodiversity, Evonik Antwerp also wants to halve its nitrogen and sulphur emissions in the short term. The catalyst unit already installed in one of the Animal Nutrition plants and the planned expansion in the autumn are aimed at reducing nitrogen/NOx emissions. The Steam@ANT project will also contribute to this.
The new 150 kV station is an important foundation for further sustainability initiatives, as this high-voltage station makes it possible to electrify processes or process steps. Thanks to the use of green electricity, we can reduce our CO2 emissions even further. This will contribute to our long-term goal (i.e. by 2050) of becoming CO2 neutral.
Finally, Evonik Antwerp wants to use water responsibly and, in the first instance, drastically reduce its consumption of precious drinking water. We want to do this by switching to more circular process water. This process water will be obtained from the purified domestic wastewater of the Antwerp region through the Waterkracht project. Here too, we want to make the switch by 2030, in order to reduce drinking water consumption by more than 95%.
"As Minister for Climate and Energy, I am delighted that so many companies are actively participating in the energy transition. That they are investing – with support from Flanders – in innovative climate-neutral technologies for the future. Such as the Ecluse steam network under the Scheldt. This not only reduces their emissions, but also contributes to better air quality and allows nature to recover. In this way, we are supporting companies towards a climate-neutral future. That is good for the planet and our industry," says Melissa Depraetere.
Ann Wurman, director of essenscia Flanders, the sector federation for chemistry and life sciences, adds: "The chemical sector has been investing heavily in the energy and climate transition for years. The results are clear: CO2 emissions have been halved, energy efficiency has increased significantly, nitrogen emissions have been greatly reduced and drinking water consumption has been cut by a quarter. It is important that the minister can see these efforts and investments for himself in the field. Because in order to continue this momentum, there is an urgent need for a more robust industrial policy that improves the international competitiveness of the chemical industry in the short term. The concrete measures from the Flemish government's “Industry Action Plan” must now be implemented urgently."
These initiatives demonstrate the commitment of Evonik and the companies involved to contributing to a sustainable future through energy transition and innovative water management.
Evonik: Leading beyond chemistry
Evonik gaat verder dan de grenzen van de chemie dankzij een combinatie van innovatiekracht en toonaangevende technologische expertise. Het chemiebedrijf, dat actief is in meer dan 100 landen en zijn hoofdkantoor in Essen heeft, behaalde in 2024 een omzet van 15,2 miljard euro en een operationeel resultaat (aangepaste EBITDA) van 2,1 miljard euro. De gemeenschappelijke drijfveer van de ongeveer 32.000 medewerkers: klanten een doorslaggevend concurrentievoordeel bieden met op maat gemaakte producten en oplossingen als superkracht voor de industrie – en zo het leven van mensen verbeteren. In alle markten. Elke dag opnieuw.
Disclaimer
Voor zover wij in deze persmededeling prognoses of verwachtingen uitspreken of toekomstgerichte uitspraken doen, kunnen deze prognoses of verwachtingen bekende of onbekende risico’s en onzekerheden inhouden. De actuele resultaten of ontwikkelingen kunnen verschillen, afhankelijk van veranderingen in de markt. Noch Evonik Industries AG, noch de concernondernemingen zijn verplicht om de prognoses, verwachtingen of uitspraken in deze mededeling te actualiseren.
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