THE Dow Chemical Company recently showcased its innovative products in Abu Dhabi to demonstrate its global leadership in the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) industry.

The products from its Performance Fluid Business were promoted at the Thin Film Solar Summit in June.
Dow’s Performance Fluid Business, which has expertise in the development high-performance fluids for solar projects worldwide, has innovative products that help harness the energy of the sun creating better environmental sustainability, says Christoph Lang, technical service and development specialist for heat transfer fluids at Dow. One such product is Dowtherm A.
Elaborating on the product, he says: “Dowtherm A is a mixture of Diphenyl oxide and Biphenyl that has the high temperature stability needed to harness such energy. Its primary role is to collect heat energy from the sun and transport it to a power generating station that converts water into steam, which in turn drives turbines to make electricity.
“The Dow Chemical Company has already or is in the process of supplying enough Dowtherm globally to generate over 500 MW of electricity from the sun. This positions the Dow Performance Fluids Business as the leading supplier of heat transfer fluids in the world for parabolic-trough-based solar systems.”
“With year round sunshine, the Middle East region has a tremendous scope for harnessing the multiple benefits of solar energy,” Lang says. “With the launch of landmark environment-friendly projects like Masdar, as well as a plan to raise solar power generation capacity to 1,500 MW, Abu Dhabi is fast positioning itself as a hub of solar power capability and expertise.”
He continues: “At Dow, we are committed to harnessing the true potential of the sun’s power in order to achieve higher environment sustainability standards. Industry-leading thermal fluid technology, world-scale production and vast supply capabilities are unique assets that make Dow the preferred partner of choice for solar power projects globally.”
Dow’s Performance Fluid Business has been awarded several projects worldwide to supply heat transfer fluids for various solar power projects including in the US and Europe. Some projects in Spain will be using over 5,000 tonnes of Dowtherm A heat transfer fluids that will eventually generate electricity enough for about 120,000 households. These plants will also prevent the release of about 350,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere had traditional fuels been used.
Dow has demonstrated its commitment and leadership in energy efficiency all over the world. Over the last 14 years, the company’s efforts to save energy globally have resulted in the saving of more than 1,600 trillion BTUs of energy and prevented the release of about 86 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Dow has several current and proposed Middle East joint ventures in the UAE, Egypt, Kuwait and Libya as well as in Saudi Arabia, where Aramco and Dow are in the formation process of a joint venture to build, own and operate a world-scale chemicals and plastics production complex in the Eastern Province.