Sustainable chlorine production in the spotlight at Technical Conference
The recent tenth Euro Chlor Technical Conference & Exhibition again shared best practices and new technological developments in the areas of health, safety and environmental protection.
Chairman of the Management Committee, Dieter Schnepel, opened this Jubilee edition of the Conference, welcoming 360 participants from 34 countries to the theme: sustainable chlorine production and the road to continuous improvement. He highlighted that our industry will continue to develop in the years ahead of us, as not only will mercury technology for the production of chlorine, caustic and hydrogen soon disappear in Europe, but our high energy demand – inherent to the electrolysis – means we need to find increasingly efficient ways of producing energy. “This again is a driving force for even more environmental and economically effective measures to reduce our energy consumption”, Schnepel underlined.
These and many other topics returned during the conference and in the exhibition, with 46 organisations presenting their equipment, and those services that they offer to our industry. Representatives of member companies and other Institutions also contributed with highly appreciated presentations. Apart from the mercury challenge where “we still have a lot to do before we can finally close the book on mercury”, issues like the effects of the EMF directive on our industry, the protection of worker physical and mental health and the continuation of Euro Chlor’s sustainability programme were some of the many discussed subjects. Within the mercury context, Christopher Allen, Head of the Unit Industrial Emissions and Safety at the European Commission, presented the regulatory framework on the mercury subject. He also expressed his appreciation for our industry’s openness and willingness to share data and learnings on mercury matters.
The conference also benefited from the political perspectives of Thomas Bareiβ, a member of the German Bundestag who specialises in energy matters. He underlined that our industry should stay in Germany and Europe, but that it strongly depends on competitive energy processes. According to Mr. Bareiβ, the chemical industry is an important driver in the German energy transition; commenting that only with the cooperation of business and science, will the Energiewende be successful.
This collaborative concept closed out the conference where Euro Chlor executive director Dolf van Wijk stated that “transparency and working together is one of our shared key values”.
Vincent Richer, an attendee from Descote commented that the “technical discussions have been especially useful, particularly on the JackRabbit experiments in the US as well as the information on valves” Mr. Richer also expressed his interest in seeing “the evolution of the industry and we have been particularly impressed with the international nature of the audience. The conference has been a great chance for us to reconnect with our customers”.
Euro Chlor and its member companies gave substantial support to the success of this Conference and Exhibition through the use of Social Media. Registered participants of this conference, held in a sunny Berlin from May 16 to May 18th, can find summaries of the event on the website www.eurochlor2017.org.
