Two important agreements for the supply of LNG with two mining companies based in the great north of Chile, make Lipigas the company with the greatest distribution coverage of this energy at the national level. These are Quiborax, a Chilean non-metallic miner that produces boric acid, and Algorta, a leading miner in iodine production. Both will replace the use of diesel and fuel oil 6, respectively, in their drying and steam generation processes.

It should be noted that liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a type of gas that becomes a liquid through a cooling process. This facilitates its transport to remote places and becomes a real option for industries far from gas pipelines. In recent years, Lipigas has strongly innovated in its LNG offer, as an alternative to lower quality fuels in various productive sectors, including mining.

In this case, both companies will reduce particulate matter emissions by more than 90%. Quborax in its two plants in Arica and Antofagasta, while Algorta will do so in its operations in Iquique and Antofagasta. In addition, Quiborax will reduce its emissions by almost 9,000 tons of CO2 annually, which means a 25% lower carbon footprint and equivalent to removing 3,000 cars from circulation.

“LNG in Chile has shown successful results and is a sustainable energy, with the best cost-efficiency ratio for industrial and mining thermal processes in companies seeking a cleaner operation. At present, we already continuously supply LNG to 20 types of industries located in the south central zone of the country and now we are adding mining in the northern zone of Chile, with a coverage that goes from the Region of Arica and Parinacota to the of Los Lagos”, says Esteban Rodríguez, manager of Green Hydrogen, Biofuels and LNG at Lipigas Companies.

Allan Fosk, general manager of Quiborax highlights that “this strategic alliance with Lipigas is in harmony with the path that we started several years ago, oriented towards the materialization of an operation that is increasingly cleaner and more sustainable at an environmental level. Climate change is an unavoidable reality and should make us aware of the adoption of the best and largest possible measures to reduce our carbon footprint and polluting emissions. All the effort and investment in this regard are worth it and help mitigate this complex scenario that we are experiencing as a planet. That is the commitment of our company and we will continue to insist on that in the future”.

Other innovations

Added to this are other types of innovative solutions based on LNG, such as the use of LNG as a raw material for the production of hydrogen and hydrogen peroxides for the salmon industry in the Biobío region and the construction of the first LNG service station to supply a fleet of 35 heavy-duty trucks, inaugurated in September 2021, in Linares, Maule region. Continuing with this challenge towards decarbonization, it will soon install a second station of the same type in Tabolango, Valparaíso region, which will serve its own and third-party high-tonnage trucks. With this, Lipigas seeks to advance in the formation of a national corridor with service stations, located from north to south at strategic points for long-distance freight transport.

“Our challenge at Lipigas is to provide comprehensive energy solutions, with fuels with low greenhouse gas emissions, so that our industrial and freight vehicle customers can lower their carbon footprint,” says Rodríguez.

Along the same line of decarbonization, in the field of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Lipigas’ main business, the company signed an agreement with Suburban Propane and Oberon Fuels, a commercial producer of renewable dimethyl ether (rDME), to develop in Chile and Latin America a gas of renewable origin, which is mixed with LPG to obtain a low-carbon product that could be used with the same domestic cylinders and existing infrastructure.

Photography: Courtesy of Quiborax