The plant on Jurong Island in Singapore is the first of its kind worldwide to achieve net-zero emissions in Scope 1 and Scope 2 categories. It operates entirely on renewable energy and meets the highest safety and environmental standards.
At its core is a patented mechanical vapor recompression technology: “The process replaces the use of external steam and reduces the plant’s CO₂ footprint by 76 percent compared to similar facilities in the Americas,” explains Seng Ee Teo, Head of Production & Technology for the Catalysts business line in Singapore.
This innovative technology was developed specifically for the Singapore facility: It uses vapor generated during production to recover and reuse energy. Instead of being condensed and lost as waste heat, the vapor is mechanically compressed to a higher pressure and temperature level. This compressed vapor is then fed back into the process as a heat source, significantly reducing the need for external energy.
“Combined with the use of renewable energy, the plant demonstrates how advanced engineering can deliver practical and scalable solutions for industrial decarbonization,” says Alexander Weber, Head of the Catalysts business line. “It contributes to achieving Evonik’s overarching sustainability goals.”
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Award for innovation
In October 2025, the facility received the EuroCham Sustainability Award for innovations in decarbonization. The award is part of the EuroCham Sustainovation program – an initiative by the European Chamber of Commerce Singapore that recognizes outstanding sustainability projects by companies from Europe and Singapore. Other winners in different categories included DHL and Philips.
“The award confirms that our approach was the right one – especially the consistent and disciplined collaboration across all functions. We were able to show that complex chemical production can meet significantly higher sustainability requirements without compromising operational safety,” says Seng Ee Teo. The plant also supports the Singapore Green Plan 2030, which aims to accelerate the adoption of clean energy and position Singapore as a hub for sustainable manufacturing.
With its strategic location in Southeast Asia, Evonik completes its global production network for alkoxides, which already includes sites in Germany, the USA, and Argentina, and meets the growing demand for alkoxides in Asia.
EuroCham Singapore
The European Chamber of Commerce Singapore (EuroCham Singapore) has represented the interests of European businesses in Singapore since 2001, facilitating dialogue on political and economic topics. The non-profit organization’s members include business and trade organizations from various European countries as well as corporate members.
Alkoxides are primarily used in the production of biodiesel. They optimize the process to achieve the highest possible yield of feedstock. Specifically, alkoxides act as catalysts in a chemical reaction known as transesterification. In this process, triglycerides from vegetable oils, used cooking oils, and other fat-based waste react with an alcohol (usually methanol) to form fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) – the chemical name for biodiesel. The catalysts accelerate the reaction, which would otherwise proceed very slowly or not at all, ensuring that the conversion of triglycerides into biodiesel is nearly complete. Alkoxides are therefore crucial for the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the production process, turning waste materials into valuable energy sources.
Evonik experts expect that alkoxides will also play a key role in chemical recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics in the future – specifically in PET methanolysis, another transesterification process. Here, PET feedstock is treated with methanol and alkoxides such as sodium methylate as a catalyst and heated. This process breaks PET down into its monomers: dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) as the main product and ethylene glycol (EG) as a byproduct. These monomers can then be purified and reused to produce new PET.
Strategic Partnership for PET Recycling
In 2025, Evonik announced a strategic partnership with Oerlikon Barmag to advance chemical recycling of PET waste. The German Remscheid-based machinery and plant manufacturer brings expertise in polymer processing, while Evonik contributes its knowledge of chemical and catalytic technologies. Together, they aim to develop technologies for depolymerization, purification, and repolymerization of PET, with the goal of integrating them into an industrial-scale solution by the end of the decade. The aim is to process heavily contaminated or mixed PET streams.
“Our catalysts are a key driver of sustainability,” summarizes Alexander Weber. “They support Evonik’s ambition to lead in areas such as energy transition and circular economy.”
Sustainability at Evonik
As part of Next Generation Evonik, the company has made sustainability an integral part of its core processes and set ambitious sustainability goals. By 2030, the proportion of sales from Next Generation Solutions – products and solutions whose sustainability profile is above or even significantly above the market reference level – is expected to exceed 50 percent. To meet these targets, Evonik intends to invest more than €3 billion in the growth of these solutions between 2022 and 2030. In the same period, the company aims to invest €700 million in Next Generation Technologies, particularly in actions at production plants and infrastructure to further reduce CO₂ emissions. Additionally, Evonik plans to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 25 percent and Scope 3 emissions by around 11 percent between 2021 and 2030, as validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The company has also sharpened its innovation strategy. Evonik aims to generate additional sales of €1.5 billion by 2032 compared to 2023 with the three innovation growth areas—Advance Precision Biosolutions, Accelerate Energy Transition, and Enable Circular Economy.