"Documents show that Ascend Performance Materials, the nation’s largest emitter of nitrous oxide, is still emitting significant amounts of the climate super-pollutant."
"Efforts by the nation’s largest emitter of nitrous oxide to rein in the release of the potent greenhouse gas are behind schedule, allowing the emissions, which are relatively easy to eliminate, to continue to fuel climate change.
The chemical company Ascend Performance Materials produces adipic acid, a key ingredient in the manufacturing of nylon 6,6 and polyurethane, synthetic materials used in everything from carpeting to car parts and running shoes. The manufacturing process also produces as a by-product vast quantities of nitrous oxide, a climate super-pollutant.
Ascend vented 27,528 tons of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere from its adipic acid plant near Pensacola, Florida in 2020, the most recent year for which data are available, according to figures the company reported to the EPA. Those emissions were equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of 1.6 million automobiles. That is more than five times the nitrous oxide emissions of any other U.S. plant."
Phil McKenna reports for Inside Climate News February 18, 2022.
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