BASF has received funding approval from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action for the construction of the world’s most powerful industrial heat pump. In the coming months, the company will therefore be able to start the preparatory construction work for the project at its Ludwigshafen site. The project is intended to make an important contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. Recently, Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, presented the funding approval to Uwe Liebelt, President European Verbund Sites, BASF SE.
Commenting on the development, Markus Kamieth, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, said, “Incorporating new technologies into our chemical production processes is one of the key components of the green transformation at BASF. And our heat pump even has a unique selling point: the planned plant will be the first of its kind to be used for steam generation – there are no comparable industrial pilot projects anywhere in the world. That’s why we are thrilled that the Federal Ministry is supporting our project and thus investing in new processes that play an important role in the development of sustainable value chains in the chemical industry.”
The planned heat pump will have a capacity of up to 500,000 metric tons of steam per year. The waste heat, which is used as a thermal energy source, is generated during the cooling and cleaning of process gases in one of the two steam crackers at the site.
