A chemical company and its engineering partner have been named winners of two Government-backed environmental awards for making big energy savings and cutting pollution.
Instead of releasing gases that are a byproduct of its resin plant in Christchurch, Momentive Specialty Chemicals has begun burning them in a specialised boiler built by Energy Plant Solutions of Palmerston North.
Momentive project manager David Early said burning the gas, a mixture of hydrogen, nitrogen and organic chemicals, had cut the plant's use of light fuel oil by 90 per cent.
"The project has also reduced our PM10 particulate emissions in Christchurch by 93 per cent, our sulphur discharge by 99 per cent and carbon dioxide by 89.5 per cent," Early said.
He said sustainability was important to US-owned Momentive, a maker of resins for the wood panel industry. The same type of boiler might also be installed at the company's Mt Maunganui plant.
