KOLB receives Responsible Care Award 2010

06-03-2010: From now on the chemical company, KOLB Nederland based in Klundert, the Netherlands, will be using considerably less natural gas for warming up raw materials. Instead of gas, the company reuses heat extracted from its brand new reactor unit. The energy savings are already very promising. The company received the ‘Responsible Care Award’ from the Netherlands Chemical Industry Association (VNCI) for this technological innovation. The annual VNCI award is presented to chemical companies that have an outstanding performance or innovation in the area of safety, health, the environment and sustainability to their credit. The independent jury consists of representatives from the government, environmental movement and chemical companies.

As a result of this innovation, the heat released from a reactor unit is being recovered and reused for the first time. Since the introduction of the ‘recovery system’ in 2009, KOLB Nederland has saved more than 6,700 GJ of energy. The company expects to double this saving in 2010.

KOLB Nederland first conducted extensive research into the possibilities for heat recovery. Using existing technologies – including thermal buffering in continuous processes - the company successfully developed a completely new application. As one of the smaller companies, KOLB Nederland opted to take a progressive approach, said the jury. The project has a substantially wide technological scope and shows great promise for delivering energy savings. The jury’s report further states that the system can also be efficiently applied within other companies. According to the jury, this makes KOLB Nederland a leader in this area and serves as an example of sustainable innovation for other companies to follow.