Meet Biacryl - The lowest CO2 emissions in the chemical industry
“The earth’s resources are finite.” These are the opening words when you open the Non-Financial Declaration from Röhm. We had the chance to talk to owner, Bernward Bielawski from CMC Biacryl SA, a specialized manufacturer of oversize acrylic sheets in Switzerland. Read on to learn what Biacryl pro-actively implemented to protect our finite resources.
We wanted to learn how Bulk Monomer customers are implementing concepts to reduce resources. Partnership with our customers is key to reducing the carbon footprint and reaching our common environmental goals within the value chain.
Biacryl works in a special market providing unique sizes of PMMA sheets. Zoos are a good example of the types of customers Biacryl has. In a German zoo, they created three curved tunnel elements with a weight of over 15 tons.
For Biacryl, sustainability has been very important, from day one. Mr. Bielawski, commented, “Sustainability needs to live- it is never done! I have children, grandchildren, and I want to give them a planet to live on. What I can impact, I will change in order to make it more sustainable. Compensation for CO2 certificates has started already. We all have a role to play.”
A new production plant was built to reduce their CO2 footprint. The project was one of the most difficult and detailed projects to date. The team succeeded by constantly asking the question: How can we do it differently? Mr. Bielawski outlined, “In our branch, there are high energy costs in production. The team had to find unique solutions, due to financial restraints, in addition to implementing the best techniques that use the least energy. “
The topic of energy has priority, even small amounts of energy are scrutinized to determine how to make it more energy efficient. For example, the tempering oven is placed in the middle of the production plant to provide warmth to the entire building in combination with hyper well-done insulation. The team is very happy with the results and provides high quality, competitively priced products due to the production requirements and techniques they created.
What does sustainable success look like?
- The site produces their own energy with their own photovoltaic solar park (with the exception of the tempering oven which is compensated).
- Biacryl is carbon neutral already – above and beyond the CO2 agreements from Paris Agreements, for Tier 1 Emissions. To act truly sustainable, the renewable energy production must be higher than Biacryl’s consumption. With Biacryl, the production of photovoltaic energy on site is four times higher than the energy consumption of the factory, even transport can be offset!
When asked about what advice he would give to other Röhm customers: “Decision makers must create competence around energy and its usage. Not just around profit, not because someone says it should be done. The energy strategy should be a key area of competence. Know the data, know what a kilowatt costs.”
Maximilian Cubadda, Sales Representative commented,“ Biacryl’s achievements are impressive. Röhm is committed to collaborating with strong partners like this due to the environmental mindset and goals.” Our goals as partners must be aligned to make a powerful impact.
Sustainability is also an integral part of Röhm’s strategy. A roadmap to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 is currently being worked on as a top priority. A first milestone on this path is the “Track 2030” initiative with the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, which result from the production or sale of Röhm products, by 30 percent per ton compared to 2020.
To read more about Biacryl, click here.