Solvent recovery takes sting out of carbon tax

Grab the CFO and sharpen a pencil. The carbon dioxide tax is coming, and pharma manufacturers need to do something about it.

Drugmakers, of course, are among the biggest industrial consumers of solvents. So they stand to be among those hardest hit by the tax. But solvent recovery may help soften the blow, providing profit protection in the short run and getting processes on track for the inevitable lower emissions future.

To develop a CO2-tax action plan, figure out the impact of the tax on your operation, says Rockwell Automation in Sustainable Plant magazine. Cap-and-trade legislation is likely to yield a tax of $28 per ton.

Then compare an investment analysis of recovery versus incineration, with and without a carbon tax. Rockwell calculates a case where the carbon tax doubles the solvent recovery investment return while posing only moderate or lower-level risk.

- here's the case
- read more from Sustainable Plant (.pdf)

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