September 27, 2024
Evonik's expanding methionine strategy: Sustainability, innovation, and growth in Asia and beyond
As demand for animal nutrition grows, especially in Asia Pacific, Evonik continues to expand its operations to meet the needs of this dynamic region.
The company recently completed the expansion of its MetAMINO (DL-methionine) production facilities in Jurong Island, Singapore.
In this exclusive interview, eFeedLink sits with Dr Gaetano Blanda, head of the Animal Nutrition Business Line at Evonik, to discuss the company's strategic approach to growth, the role of artificial intelligence, and their vision for the future of sustainable animal nutrition.
Evonik's Methionine Asset Strategy is a hallmark of its efforts in operating in the methionine market, based on the principles of customer proximity, cost leadership, and sustainability. Could you share with us the latest updates on this strategy?
Dr. Gaetano Blanda: The asset strategy has been in place for some time now and remains a key focus for the coming years. The core of the strategy is centered around our customers and partners. This led to the development of our three-hub strategy: a plant in Singapore for the Asia-Pacific market, a plant in Antwerp, Belgium, for Europe and the Middle East, and a plant in Alabama, US, for the Americas.
Our goal is to be as close to our customers as possible, with production facilities located near key regions. This is why we recently expanded our Singapore facility, which is part of a broader plan to upgrade and expand all our assets in these three regions.
Our approach is two-fold: strengthening our cost leadership while maintaining a strong focus on sustainability. Every investment we make contributes to lowering our carbon footprint. For instance, our Singapore expansion adds 40,000 tonnes of capacity while reducing the specific product carbon footprint by 6%. This is a significant achievement.
In our last interview (VIV Asia 2023, Thailand), you pointed to Evonik's enduring interest in the Southeast Asian market. As Jan-Olaf Barth (now head of high-performance polymers business line) said at the "Sciencing the Global Food Challenge" press event, Evonik is "here to stay" in Asia and it is "set for further growth". Given Evonik's interest in the Southeast Asian market, do you foresee further investments in the region? Could increasing capacity at the Singapore plant meet future demand?
Dr. Gaetano Blanda: Yes, as my colleague Jan-Olaf Barth mentioned, we have been in this region for many years and intend to remain here for many more. Over the past decade, we have significantly invested in the Singapore plant, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in October. We've grown from zero to 340,000 tonnes of capacity, with over US$1 billion invested in this period.
Our focus remains on serving our customers by providing high-quality products and reliable service. If the market demands more, we will invest further in the region, either expanding local capacity or supporting it from our European facilities. But rest assured, we will continue to serve the Asia-Pacific market in the years to come.
We noted Evonik's utilisation of green hydrogen at its Singapore methionine Plant. This chemical element is notably more expensive to produce compared to grey hydrogen. In this regard, how does Evonik balance the demands of production sustainability and the need for financial sustainability in using green hydrogen to reduce its carbon footprint?
Dr. Gaetano Blanda: When it comes to sustainability, we balance three factors: environmental impact, economic viability, and social responsibility. For green hydrogen, we've determined that it strikes the right balance.
Through our collaboration with Linde, we have explored ways of producing green hydrogen that do not rely on natural gas. By producing green hydrogen in this way, we are able to maintain our cost leadership while significantly reducing our carbon footprint.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming integral to many industries. What is the extent of AI's role within Evonik?
Dr. Gaetano Blanda: I believe AI will fundamentally change how we operate in the future. We are increasingly investing in AI across various functions, from sales and supply chain management to procurement and production. Specifically, at our Singapore plant, we've already started using AI tools to enhance production processes.
We plan to establish a dedicated team in Singapore to focus on integrating AI into our operations. While we're still learning, we've already seen positive results and will continue to push forward in this area, especially in Singapore.
In relation to the asset strategy we discussed earlier, and your role as head of Evonik's Animal Nutrition Business Line, could you share your agenda for this year? Additionally, what is your focus for 2025?
Dr. Gaetano Blanda: For this year, the primary focus has been our significant, double-digit million-dollar investment in Singapore. In total, we are currently investing over US$300 million, which, as you can imagine, is one of our top priorities. This ties into our
plans for 2025 as well.
Our immediate priority is to bring the Singapore investment online and optimise it, while also completing our ongoing investment at our US production plant in Mobile, Alabama by Q2 of 2025. This is likely what the market is watching most closely. Beyond that, we're placing a strong emphasis on sustainability.
We're exploring what changes we can make in our production plants to align with our roadmap for reducing our carbon footprint. Through the "handprint" approach, we are able to reduce environmental impact not only within our own value chain, but also for our customers and their customers.
As you may know, Evonik, or the former Degussa [whose shares were acquired by RAG Beteiligungs AG — which was then converted to Evonik Industries AG in September 2007], was a pioneer in the low crude protein diet concept, and we continue to push it forward because we strongly believe in its benefits.
For instance, using this concept reduces the space needed for crop growth, decreases water consumption, limits deforestation, and most importantly, lowers nitrogen emissions that contribute to climate change. This is the path we believe is right for the future.
We also recently published our second MetAMINO ATLAS, which includes a database of over two million broilers, layers, swine and aqua species from 19 trials conducted in 12 countries. These performance trials provide evidence to our customers that the concept is not only beneficial for them but also for the environment.
To summarise, we are pushing sustainability both internally by advancing our technology and externally by providing technical services to our customers and partners. This leads me to another key area we're focusing on: innovation, which is essential across all fields.
As a company rooted in science, we believe that science-based, data-driven solutions are the right way to move forward.
However, research takes time. Sometimes, you don't see results for a year or two because you must conduct extensive testing, and that's what we're currently doing.
We're investing much more in innovation in various areas. These priorities — supporting our asset strategy, advancing sustainability, and driving innovation — will continue to guide us in the coming years.
As someone not from Asia, I was truly impressed by how seriously sustainability is taken in Singapore. Countries in the Asia-Pacific increasingly understand the need for change in chemical production but also recognise that chemistry is essential to addressing global food challenges. We want to contribute to solving these issues, especially as resources become more limited.
It was inspiring to see how much authorities appreciate companies like Evonik making intentional efforts toward this change, even though it's costly. It's far cheaper to do things the old way, but that's not the direction we're taking.
Every single investment Evonik makes must contribute to sustainability. Sustainability is the backbone of our business strategy, which is why projects like backward integration in the US and our expansion initiatives are so critical — not just for our customers but for the environment and everyone living in these regions.
- Nicholas Yong, eFeedLink
