Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. was awarded the 2002 United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Protection Award on March 25th in Washington, D.C. The EPA presents this award for “outstanding leadership, personal dedication, and technical achievements in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting Earth’s climate.”
Accomplishments of the recipients include stewardship, product introduction, pollution prevention, recycling and engineering innovation. The 2002 winners were from five different countries with Air Products being the only industrial gas company and only one of two U.S. chemical companies to receive the award.
Air Products has been a leader in ESH for many years, focusing on the safety of its employees and the communities in which it operates, successfully reducing emissions from manufacturing facilities and focusing on the sustainability of the planet. The EPA Climate Protection Award was based on the accomplishments of the Electronics Technology Customer Applications group.
Since its founding more than 10 years ago, the group has been actively involved in assessing the impact of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) on global warming and creatively establishing ways to mitigate PFC emissions from semiconductor factories. It performed steady-state calculations to estimate the maximum effect the release of these gases from the semiconductor industry could potentially have on global warming. The group also established quantitative analytical methods for measuring emissions from semiconductor processes.
Jay P. Maille – EHS Projects Manager
Lam Research Corporation
“Air Products sets the standard for real-time measurement and characterization of exhaust emissions from semiconductor processes … Air Products developed an emissions measuring protocol that has become the standard methodology for characterizing greenhouse gas emissions in the semiconductor industry.”
These methods have become one of the standard analytical protocols used by the semiconductor industry for determining PFC emissions. In 1995, legacy chamber cleaning processes were estimated to be 80 to 90 percent of the source of PFC emissions from the semiconductor industry. Air Products’ Customer Applications Group has developed alternative chamber cleaning procedures and worked with more than 20 customers to optimize in excess of 40 established processes.
For example, Air Products collaborated with Motorola and Applied Materials to develop an NF3 Remote Chamber Clean process that can be used with existing CVD processing equipment and worked with many of our global customers (e.g., TSMC, Samsung, Infineon, UMC) to optimize legacy processes that still use C2F6 as the chamber clean gas. In each of these cases, PFC emissions reductions have generally been greater than 50 percent. In addition, the Customer Applications Group worked with Applied Materials to gain acceptance of the new NF3 Remote Chamber Clean process for new tools, which reduces PFC emissions by greater than 99 percent from traditional CVD chamber cleans.
Professor Farhang Shadman
Univeristy of Arizona
“Air Products has made very significant contributions to the climate protection both through internal research and technology development and through sponsorship of long-term research in this area by other investigators. AP’s success has been primarily due to its strategy of partnership with its customers to achieve the environmental goals.”
The work that has been undertaken in characterizing and mitigating PFC emissions has resulted in over 40 publications, 10 U.S. patents and 11 SEMATECH technical transfer documents and continues to be an active area of research with our customers to drive emissions even lower.
Over the years, the group has expanded into many areas including HAPS and VOC emissions monitoring. The group’s goal is to work with our customers to improve process performance while reducing emissions to the atmosphere.
The Climate Protection Awards began in 1998 and have been presented to 68 corporate, governmental, association and individual winners from 12 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the People’s Republic of China, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Laura Mendicino – Manager, Environmental Process Initiatives
Motorola Digital DNA™ Laboratories
“Motorola nominated Air Products for this prestigious Climate Protection Award in recognition of its outstanding contributions toward reducing emissions of global warming gases for the semiconductor industry. We have worked in partnership with Air Products for the past eight years to quantify our emissions of perfluorocompound (PFC) gases from our manufacturing facilities and to develop alternative chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber cleaning processes that reduce or eliminate these PFC emissions. As a result of this collaboration, Motorola has established an aggressive PFC emissions reduction goal to be achieved by 2010.”
Among the other 2002 winners are the International SEMATECH Emission Reduction Working Group; the Land and Water Fund for the Rockies; the Voluntary Aluminum Industrial Partnership; City of Portland, Oregon; Consol Energy; Denso Water Heater Design Team (Japan); Du Pont; New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; Ontario Power Generation’s Energy Efficiency Program (Canada); and Hitachi Ltd. (Japan).
Air Products’ selection for the 2002 EPA Climate Protection Award demonstrates its commitment to work together with customers to enhance the performance of their processes while reducing environmental emissions.
Air Products touches the lives of consumers around the globe in positive ways every day. The company is recognized for its innovative culture, operational excellence and commitment to safety and the environment. Our aim at Air Products is to develop lasting relationships with our customers and communities based on human qualities: an understanding of their needs, integrity and honesty in the way we do business, and a passion for exceeding expectations.
70 Years of Growth
Air Products was established in 1940 in Detroit, Michigan, on the strength of a simple but then revolutionary idea: the “on-site” concept of producing and selling industrial gases, primarily oxygen. At the time, most oxygen was sold as a highly compressed gas product in cylinders that weighed five times more than the gas itself. Air Products proposed building oxygen gas generating facilities adjacent to large-volume users, thereby reducing distribution costs. The concept of piping the gas directly from the generator to the point of use proved sound and technically solvable.
Air Products Today
18,300 employees around the world
Operations in more than 40 countries
Fiscal 2010 revenues of $9 billion
Ranked 273rd in sales among Fortune magazine’s May 2010 list of the 500 largest U.S. corporations
Serving a Diversity of Markets+
Merchant Gases
Through our Merchant Gases business, we supply oxygen, nitrogen, argon, helium and hydrogen as well as certain medical and specialty gases to a wide variety of industrial and medical customers. We deliver most gases via bulk supply, by tanker or tube trailer, in liquid or gaseous form. For customers requiring small volumes, we supply product in cylinders and dewars, or “packaged gases.” We also produce gases for some customers via small cryogenic or noncryogenic on-site generators through sale of gas contracts and some sale of equipment.
Tonnage Gases, Equipment and Energy
Tonnage Gases is our business supplying large quantities of hydrogen, synthesis gas, carbon monoxide, oxygen and nitrogen, mainly to petroleum refining, chemical and metallurgical customers under long-term contracts. We generally build a facility adjacent to or nearby our customer’s facility and deliver product through a pipeline. Our Equipment business provides liquefied natural gas (LNG) heat exchangers, air separation plants, hydrocarbon recovery and purification equipment, and helium distribution equipment to industry. Within Energy, we own and operate power generation and flue gas treatment facilities and are developing technologies to serve energy markets of the future, including gasification and alternative energy technologies.
Electronics and Performance Materials
Through our Electronics and Performance Materials business, we provide material solutions to a broad range of global industries, leveraging our expertise in chemical synthesis, analytical technology, process engineering and surface science. We supply specialty and tonnage gases, specialty and bulk chemicals, services and equipment to the electronics industry for manufacturing silicon and compound semiconductors, displays and photovoltaic devices. We also provide performance chemical solutions for the coatings, inks, adhesives, civil engineering, personal care, institutional and industrial cleaning, mining, oil field, polyurethane and other industries.
Healthcare
Through our Healthcare business, we provide home respiratory therapies, medical equipment and infusion services to help improve the quality of life of more than 325,000 patients worldwide. With operations spanning 14 countries, we are the market leader in Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Mexico. Our specialist teams serve patients with conditions ranging from chronic lung disease, asthma and emphysema to sleep apnea, by providing oxygen, nebulizer, sleep management and infusion therapies. By continually investing in research and development, we strive to develop new and innovative products and services that deliver improvements to both patients and health services.
GHG Emissions Methodology+
We use the Greenhouse Gas Protocol standard to define organizational boundaries, operational boundaries, emission calculation methodologies (general and specific), sector-specific calculation protocols (nitric acid production), and inventory quality aspects. We use the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Design Principles Guidance for developing our EPA-reviewed Inventory Management Plan, operational boundaries, sector-specific calculation protocols (stationary combustion, mobile combustion, fugitive refrigerants), and Scope 3 emissions guidance.
The calculation and data are subjected to several levels of quality assurance to ensure completeness and accuracy of the resulting emissions inventory. The entire inventory process is documented and subsequently summarized in the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Inventory Management Plan. Air Products reports its emissions to EPA on the Climate Leaders standard, “Annual GHG Inventory Summary and Goal Tracking Form.” The Inventory Management Plan and the Annual GHG Inventory Summary and Goal Tracking Form emissions report are then reviewed by an EPA contractor, providing a further level of quality assurance.
We use the Greenhouse Gas Protocol standard to define organizational boundaries, operational boundaries, emission calculation methodologies (general and specific), sector-specific calculation protocols (nitric acid production), and inventory quality aspects. We use the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Design Principles Guidance for developing our EPA-reviewed Inventory Management Plan, operational boundaries, sector-specific calculation protocols (stationary combustion, mobile combustion, fugitive refrigerants), and Scope 3 emissions guidance.
Understanding Our GHG Footprint
Continued refinement/clarification of JV ownership status and additional data for sites in Asia required us to restate our calendar 2007 baseline year greenhouse gas emissions values under the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders program, representing an approximately 1.5 percent correction due to methodology changes (principally indirect emissions).
For calendar 2009:
Direct emissions (Scope 1) were lower than the previous year, primarily due to lower hydrogen production, decreased process losses from perfluorinated compound production, and the implementation of advanced controls and efficiency-boosting modifications at existing plants, partially offset by the start-up and ramping of new hydrogen plants.
Indirect emissions (Scope 2) were also lower than the previous year, due to broadly lower production at our large ASUs and changes in joint venture ownership status of some existing facilities, partially offset by adding emissions from newly identified sites, a net increase in small on-site ASUs and the production ramp-up of a large ASU in China.
Year
CY2007
CY2008
CY2009
Scope 1—Direct Emissions
(metric tons CO2-e emitted)
Originally Reported
12.33 million
12.33 million
12.65 million
Restatement
13.21 million
13.34 million
N/A
Scope 2—Indirect Emissions
Originally Reported
9.13 million
8.94 million
8.32 million
Restatement
8.76 million
8.68 million
N/A
Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Year
CY2007
CY2008
CY2009
Scope 3 Emissions
Originally Reported
N/A
N/A
0.10 mmt
Restatement
0.12 mmt
0.12 mmt
N/A
This is our first year reporting Scope 3 emissions, representing less than 0.5% of our total emission footprint. We have included transportation/ distribution of goods purchased and business travel in accordance with the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders, “Commuting, Business Travel and Product Transport” guidance methodology. The decline from calendar 2008 to calendar 2009 is due to reduced employee business travel.
We are beginning to assemble a data collection and emission estimation process for purchased goods and services (direct supplier emissions), capital equipment, waste generated in operations, leased assets, employee commuting and telecommuting, and use of sold goods and services.
Initiatives to Reduce GHG Emissions
We’ve focused our efforts on developing and implementing clean energy technologies with the potential to reduce GHG emissions across the energy supply chain. As the world’s leading producer of hydrogen, we enable refineries to convert a variety of sour crudes into low-sulfur, cleaner-burning fuel—and more of it. Beyond traditional steam methane reforming, we also are involved in a number of projects to produce hydrogen energy from renewable feedstocks. We also have unequaled experience supplying massive-scale oxygen systems for solid fuel combustion and oil or coal gasification. And we’ve pioneered a suite of carbon capture, purification and compression solutions, including patented oxyfuel technology with the potential for exceptionally high capture rates. In addition, Air Products has engineered more than 120 hydrogen fueling stations globally—more than any other company—in support of a potential future hydrogen economy. We continue to invest in both internal and external R&D while remaining active in a number of global initiatives working to combat climate change and advocate pragmatic policies and solutions.