On its quest to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from its petrochemical facilities, PKN Orlen, Poland’s oil refiner and petroleum major, is tirelessly working on the development of technologies that could enable capturing, storing, and reusing carbon dioxide to produce polymers, at the same time reducing the carbon dioxide emissions from the environment.

The company has reached the completion of its pilot-scale carbon dioxide transformation research and has accelerated the procurement of pilot plans where carbon dioxide is used as feeds. A dedicated budget of USD 509.2 million will be spent by the company in a timeframe of nine years for the large-scale development and implementation of carbon dioxide transformation technology across all the company’s verticals.

PKN Orlen is the first European company that has targeted to attain carbon neutrality by 2050. Under this strategy, the company will set to reduce 20% CO₂ from its plants and 33% CO₂ from its power generation business by 2030. To reach its carbon-neutral target the company will be striding along with four main strategies that involve efficient energy use in production, low- or no-emission power generation, using alternative fuel feeds and promoting green technology-enabled work environment.

Carbon dioxide is a heat-trapping gas, naturally occurring in traces, with the current concentration being 12 ppm by volume. Natural sources like hot springs, volcanoes and geysers have CO₂ in its native form while, rivers, seawater, glaciers, groundwater contain CO₂ dissolved in water. Fossil fuel combustion releases large quantities of CO₂ that trap heat in the atmosphere thereby leading to global warming.

As per ChemAnalyst, the global demand for carbon dioxide is projected to grow at a healthy CAGR of over 4% in the upcoming years owing to its rising use in the oil industry, food and beverages sector, and healthcare industry. The petrochemical industry is the largest contributor of atmospheric CO₂ emissions that have risen way beyond the tolerance limit and hence become the most critical environmental issue of the day. Many companies are adopting green technologies under the rising pressure from environmentalists and stringent government laws. Investing in a technology that could create a circular carbon economy holds a huge potential in reducing carbon footprint and creating useful industrial products.