Borealis, a leading provider of innovative, value creating plastics solutions, invests EUR 5 million in their cutting-edge urea solution that reduces pollution by converting nitrogen oxides into atmospheric nitrogen and water. This development enables trucks of the newest generation with EURO IV and EURO V exhaust gas limits to easily meet the demand for lower emissions.The key to this innovative process is an extremely pure urea solution called AdBlue, and the technology involved is called selective catalytic reduction (SCR). A secondary effect derived from the use of AdBlue is a drop in diesel consumption of up to 7%, which in turn leads to a marked reduction in CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the fuel is subject to more efficient combustion and a cut in the emissions of soot particles.
Since the start of this development in the 1990s, the fully owned Borealis subsidiary Agrolinz Melamine International (AMI) has been cooperating closely with the technology leaders in the truck sector and has therefore played a successful role in the further development of this technology of the future.
AMI is the only producer of urea in Austria and put the first AdBlue production plant into operation in 2004 at the Linz Chemicals Park. Since then, there has been a steady and sustained increase in demand, and therefore Borealis is committed to this investment in order to secure market supply and further address the global challenge of climate change. This expansion involves the construction of two special storage tanks in the plant in Linz, with a capacity of 1,000 m? each, which will facilitate annual production capacity of over 100 million litres. The tanks are scheduled to become operational in November 2008.
It is forecast that by 2012, the demand for AdBlue in Europe will rise to 3.5 million tonnes. In addition to the truck market, the car sector looks set to gain momentum on the heels of recent successes in the United States market. Leading German diesel car manufacturers are rapidly developing premium vehicles and sport utility vehicles, which will be launched onto the market in the coming years and require AdBlue for their exhaust systems.
Moreover, in the foreseeable future, off-road vehicles such as tractors, as well as ships and trains equipped with this technology will also enter the market.
- This development underlines the Borealis strategy of making a further positive contribution to environmental protection with differentiated products in the chemicals sector - comments Hubert Puchner, Borealis Vice President, Fertiliser and Melamine Marketing and Sales. "We see an opportunity to create a strong position in the Danube region in conjunction with OMV and other partners.
