Energy savings in the production chains of Tronox

For Tronox, a titanium dioxide producer at the Port of Rotterdam, CE Delft has conducted a study on the scope for improved energy efficiency and CO2 emission cuts. Because the company has already implemented numerous on-site efficiency improvements, the emphasis was now on higher-quality uses of waste streams. The scope for using biomass as a raw material was also investigated.

The study was carried out in the framework of the ‘MEE agreement’, a voluntary agreement on energy efficiency in the energy-intensive industry, with financial support from NL Agency. 

Five options were elaborated in the project: 

• supply of waste heat to the Rotterdam heat grid;
• supply of CO2 as a resource for greenhouse horticulture;
• marketing of HCl from a wastewater stream;
• use of a slurry waste stream as a raw material for road construction;
• use of bio-coke as a substitute for petroleum coke.

The options were analysed in terms of technological feasibility, costs/benefits and impact on CO2 emissions. Overall, the options lead to a surprisingly large reduction in the company’s CO2 footprint: around 25%. Tronox will be using the results to elaborate and plan follow-up action. Prompted by this study, VNCI and NL Agency have also included the issue of bio-coke in the so-called Route Map for the Chemical Industry and commissioned a study to examine the potential for using bio-coke throughout the Dutch chemical sector.