Oxxynova GmbH, based in Steyerberg, has taken another step to expand its existing business activities. Oxxynova, a distiller of chemical methanol, tetrahydrofuran/methanol, tetrahydrofuran and diol compounds, has now been certified by TÜV Nord as a waste management company, enabling it to recycle and recover energy from these waste materials and substances.
With a distilling capacity of 12,000–48,000 tonnes for each substance type, the company provides dedicated contract distillation or conventional disposal for its customers, with thermal disposal complementing the existing service offering. Oxxynova works within the distillative recycling sector in line with the demanding quality, health and safety standards of a conventional chemical company. The company is also known as a European producer of the raw material dimethyl terephthalate, which is required for technical resins.
Oxxynova also offers energy recovery and disposal services for external residues and waste water.
Collection and temporary storage for waste or chemical side-streams is also available. In addition to this, Oxxynova has its own rail connections for deliveries, which is particularly beneficial for large volumes. An on-site laboratory enables the company to analyse all incoming waste and chemical streams and each reprocessed recyclate.
The company places particular focus on recycling high-volume chemical streams for this business sector.
“The infrastructure created to handle our conventional chemical business means we are ideally suited for the thermal and distillative recycling of large volumes of waste and chemical streams of at least 1000 tonnes per year. Having our own rail connection also gives us a huge advantage in terms of logistics for handling annual volumes upwards of 2000 tonnes,” emphasises Managing Director, Dr Klaus F. Puell.
Oxxynova’s expertise, particularly in distillative recycling of methanol-containing streams, has been systematically transposed into a new business model in recent years. “Our goal is to develop customised recycling solutions, which always focus on the concept of sustainability,” explains Head of Sales and Key Account Management, Katrin Vondran-Parmigiani. “Volker Blume, who is responsible for all things technical in Business Development, looks at each type of waste individually. In close collaboration with process engineering colleagues and management led by Dr Frank Strübe, individual recycling options are developed, which not only meet the high quality requirements of the chemical industry, but, wherever possible, also produce reusable raw materials from the waste,” adds Vondran-Parmigiani.
Sustainable handling of chemical substances and the reduction of petroleum-based raw materials in chemical processes has been being strongly promoted in the chemical industry for many years. The German Circular Economy Act, which was amended in 2012, laid the foundations for this. Many substance compounds that can be recycled are often classified as waste by manufacturers and then thermally disposed of. However, in many cases it is possible to recycle this ‘waste’ very effectively and it can be reused and returned to the material cycle in its purified state. This is where Oxxynova comes in; through its membership of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), the company has committed itself to various guiding principles and initiatives, such as the Responsible Care Initiative, as well as sustainable action with regard to the environment and people through various certifications (EMAS, Ecovadis).