South Korean chemical company, LG Chem, has announced that its cathode active materials plant in Wuxi, China will run entirely on renewable energy starting in 2021.

The details:

LG Chem's plant in Wuxi combines lithium compounds (like the lithium carbonate we saw last week) with precursors (like elements such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese) to produce the cathodes used in lithium-ion batteries. Leyou New Energy Materials will be supplying energy from wind and solar sources to LG Chem's plant—effectively reducing production-related emissions by 100,000 tons of CO2 per year.

Bigger picture:

It's true that EVs have less associated emissions over their life-span than traditional vehicles. But if the objective is to make transportation emissions-free, then the entire supply chain to make the EV has to be emissions-free. LG Chem is looking to tackle the emissions associated with the battery materials that make EVs possible.

Read more here on Korea Herald.

Japanese-based chemical company, Sumitomo Chemical, has selected Axens' ethanol-to-ethylene process technology for its waste-to-polyolefins project in Japan.

What are the plans?

First Sumitomo is partnering up with Sekisui Chemical and LanzaTech to convert waste into ethanol (by fermenting syngas). That ethanol will then be dehydrated into ethylene using Axens' technology. Ethanol dehydration as a means to ethylene production isn't new... Braskem has been doing it for a decade.

Zooming out:

Polyolefins (like HDPE, LDPE, and PP) are made by polymerizing olefins (like ethylene and propylene). Those olefins are typically produced by the steam cracking of natural gas (especially in the US). Many countries, like Japan, don't have the same olefin feedstock advantages—which makes waste-to-polyolefins projects like this one more economically attractive.

Read the press release here.

US-based oil and gas giant, ExxonMobil, has announced its new emission reduction plans for the next decade.

What are those plans?

Exxon plans on reducing upstream emissions intensity by 15-20%, methane emission intensity by 40-50%, and flaring emissions intensity by 35-45%. The company also announced that it expects to achieve its 2018 goals of a 15% decrease in methane emissions and a 25% reduction in flaring by the end of 2020.

The fine print:

While Exxon's emission goals are in line with the energy transition, reducing emissions (total emissions) and reducing emissions intensity (emissions per barrel of oil produced) are not the same thing. The subtle difference means total emissions can rise while intensity falls, and that's what separates Exxon's plans from its European competitors (Shell, BP, Equinor, etc.). Exxon is taking the intensity angle because it doesn't expect renewable sources to be enough to supply the world in 2040.

Read the press release here.