BASF has received funding approval from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action for the construction of the world’s most powerful industrial heat pump.The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is contributing up to around €310 million to the project as part of the Carbon Contracts for Difference funding program.
In the coming months, BASF will start the preparatory construction work for the project at its Ludwigshafen site. Construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2025 and the plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2027.
The planned heat pump will have a capacity of up to 500,000 metric tons of steam per year. The waste heat, which is used as a thermal energy source, is generated during the cooling and cleaning of process gases in one of the two steam crackers at the site. Powered by electricity from renewable energy, CO2-free steam is generated, and most of this steam will be used in the production of formic acid. The heat pump has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 98%. A smaller proportion of the CO2-free steam will be supplied to other BASF production plants via the steam network at the site. In total, the heat pump will reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the company’s headquarters by up to 100,000 metric tons per year.