Assessing the polyolefin water footprint

Session 2A
1:20

Veronika Ettinger
Borealis AG

Whether it is the clothes we wear, the mails we write or the packaging that keeps our food fresh, the products and services we use every day require a large amount of water to produce. In an increasingly water stressed world, the water footprint of the goods we consume will be a key environmental indicator in the drive towards advancing sustainability.

Like any industrial process, the production of petrochemicals and plastics requires water for cooling, processing and cleaning.

To account for the water “embedded” in products, leading academics Professor A. Allan, Laureate, of the 2008 Stockholm Water Prize, and Professor A. Hoekstra from Tweente University, developed the water footprint, which measures the amount of water used from raw material production to the manufacturing of the finished product.

Building upon a pilot analysis with Uponor in 2008, which aimed at estimating the water footprint of a domestic PE plumbing system, Borealis partnered with the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) to assess for the first time the water footprint of the polyolefins production chain.

This paper elaborates:

• the applied methodology with a brief description of its theoretical foundation
• how the methodology was applied to map the water footprint in the production value chain of a polyolefin raw material producer
• the challenges encountered during the investigation and
• the results of water foot-printing polyolefins

With world population growing quickly and water stressed regions expanding at threatening rates, the need for heightened attention in the handling of precious water resources is of utmost importance in securing the well-being of future generations.

Veronika Ettinger Marketing Manager, BU Pipe