The Pigments division of Huntsman Corporation has won the 2011 EDF Low Carbon Award; one of 12 awards made annually by the Chemical Industry Association (CIA), for its pioneering work to measure and reduce energy consumption and the carbon footprint at its titanium dioxide (TiO2) manufacturing facility at Greatham in the North East of England.

Speaking at the ceremony, Steve Elliott, CEO at the CIA commented, “The EDF Low Carbon Award is a very popular award this year demonstrating how seriously the industry is taking climate change and energy use. I was delighted to present Huntsman with this award; we welcomed the life cycle approach to carbon management as well as the results achieved in reducing the footprint of this energy intensive process.”

Over the last decade the Greatham site has reduced its carbon intensity by 16% and its energy consumption by almost 30%. This has been achieved through a number of projects across the entire business including an investment of £3million ($4.82m) to fund a project to recycle steam from a waste heat boiler that resulted in an annual reduction of 16000t CO2 and a specific energy reduction of 2 GJ/t.

Steve Tate, Greatham site director said, “Our focus on carbon reduction enables us to identify opportunities not only within our processes, but also upstream with suppliers and customers. We recognize a structured approach to management and measurement offers us the opportunity to better understand our suppliers and customers and together, further drive down emissions. We have also built up a network of partners who have helped us to achieve these results.”