The modern world is made with chemicals.
The byproducts of the petroleum industry are everywhere. Chemicals are essential for food production and preservation, they’re in 69% of all clothes made globally, and they coat, cover, construct, or pad, nearly every surface in the built environment.
In many ways, how well this one industry can wean itself off of fossil fuel will be a good measure of success for global energy transition and decarbonization efforts.
Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, fossil fuels and chemicals have been inextricably linked – and the chemicals industry stands out among the hardest to abate sectors for global greenhouse emissions. In fact, if the $5 trillion chemicals industry were a country it would be the world’s third largest polluter, behind only the U.S. and China.
Chemicals represent perhaps the most significant challenge for decarbonization because they’re made with and made from fossil fuels. Some of the world’s richest countries have built huge chemical industries and increased use of chemicals (primarily single use plastics) is a sign of growing wealth (consumption is linked to rising GDP).
Ammonia production (a key component of the fertilizers that boost crop yields) alone creates annual emissions of 0.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide, representing around 1% of global CO2 emissions and 15-20% of the chemical sector’s CO2 emissions.
For the chemical industry, finding pathways to reduce reliance on fossil fuels is an existential challenge. But one where there are an increasing number of pathways to success.
Pathways to decarbonization
Identifying alternative feedstocks and shifting to circular practices to reduce demand for chemicals through material efficiencies and end-of-life recycling can go a long way towards resolving the dilemma around fossil fuel inputs, but in the near-term, finding ways to reduce fossil fuel use in chemical production can significantly reduce emissions.
Image credit: Decarbonization of the chemical industry through electrification: Barriers and opportunities – ScienceDirect
While roughly 60% of the fossil fuels consumed in chemical production is used as feedstock, another 40% is process energy. And only 20% of that process energy is sourced from electricity.
Emissions in the chemical industry primarily result from the energy required to provide the heat and pressure needed for reactions – chiefly in steam cracking, gasification, and reforming.
The opportunity for the chemicals industry to electrify its processes using renewable energy and technology that is available now or is currently being piloted, represents a step change in the ways that companies can approach emissions reductions to align with both internal and global targets.
Image Credit: “Decarbonization of the chemical industry through electrification: Barriers and opportunities.” Joule, vol. 7, no. 1
Importance of Primary Chemicals
Within the industry, hydrocarbons are converted into key base chemicals that serve as building blocks for the synthetic fibers in textiles, the coatings and laminates on desks and chairs, the plastic for packaging and a host of other products too innumerable to identify.
These base, or upstream, chemicals are regularly converted into downstream chemicals, and account for one-third of the chemical sector’s total emissions. Petrochemicals like olefins and aromatics producers, and the methanol and ammonia chains (which encompass hydrogen production and downstream fertilizers produced from ammonia) are all examples of base chemicals. Roughly 1 billion metric tons of direct greenhouse gas emissions per year are emitted from base chemical production.
How much heat does the chemical industry need?
Chemical plants require heat at temperatures of up to 1,000°C, but most processes occur between 100°C – 400°C. And a number of existing technologies can replace fossil fuels with electric, renewable, or low-emission alternatives in these processes.
Image Credit: Energy Innovations “Industrial Thermal Battery Report“
For companies in the industry looking to lower their emissions profile, electrifying their processes, or switching to hydrogen or biomass as their fuel inputs can have a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions and help align companies more closely with their stated reductions targets.
Renewable power can be used to generate heat using thermal energy storage technologies or produce hydrogen (using electrolyzers). And companies are developing novel electrochemical and plasma-based pathways to manufacture chemicals.
Electrification
New technologies are coming to market that can directly electrify the production process.
At the end of 2023 Linde, SABIC, and BASF installed the last transformers for their electrically heated steam cracker demonstration plant in Europe.
Using 6 megawatts of renewable energy and what SABIC calls novel heating concepts, the electric steam crackers could reduce CO2 emissions by 90%.
Other chemical companies are also racing to deploy new electrified crackers. In 2022, Dow Chemical and Shell successfully completed the construction of their own pilot version of an electrified cracker in Europe. The companies plan to have a megawatt-scale production facility online by 2025.
And in the United States, LyondellBasell is working with Chevron PhillipsChemical and Technip Energies to work on the design, construction and operation of an electric-furnace demonstration unit.
While these chemical giants are partnering on electrifying crackers, the Finnish company CoolBrook is developing a unique spin on cracking using turbomachines to generate high-temperature process heat. Founded in 2011, the company has its first pilot demonstration ready to come online this year. Partners include Linde, Shell, Cemex, ArcerlorMittal and ABB.
Meanwhile, several early-stage companies and technology developers are pitching thermal energy storage as a route to decarbonization for chemicals. Antora, KraftBlock, Rondo, Brenmiller, all have the capability to store renewable power as heat and then convert that heat directly into steam or back into electricity for industrial applications.
Coupling electrified crackers with thermal batteries can allow plant operators to take advantage of the variable pricing of renewable power, offering potential cost-savings. Currently, in many markets electrification is simply not cost-competitive with the price of natural gas. However, by adding energy storage options, companies can consume electricity when power prices are lower and use the stored energy to power operation throughout the day. Some thermal energy storage companies estimate their solutions can store power economically for up to two weeks.
Hydrogen
While direct electrification can offer certain advantages, electrolytic hydrogen production from renewable energy can provide low- or zero-carbon heat through combustion in applications where direct electrification is challenging and can displace fossil hydrogen use as a feedstock for the industry.
The chemical industry is already the largest hydrogen consumer, mostly as a feedstock in oil refining and the production of commodity chemicals like ammonia and methanol. However, this hydrogen is typically produced from natural gas and other fossil fuels – usually without any carbon capture and sequestration system.
Electrolytic hydrogen, produced from water and renewable energy, represents a significant emissions reduction opportunity, but the relatively low efficiencies and the need for substantial transportation infrastructure (if the hydrogen is not produced on site) render it less effective for use in heating.
The First Steps on a Long Road
Electrifying chemical production can reduce the climate impacts of the industry, but electrification is only one step on a long road toward making sustainable industrial products. Beyond its carbon footprint, many chemicals release air pollutants that can have devastating health impacts on the environment.
To address those concerns, plants still need to have a robust system of pollution reduction equipment and perform regular emissions monitoring to ensure the safe operation of their facilities.
Despite the underlying challenges, the reduction of process emissions is a way for the industry to address some of the easiest to identify – and abate – portions of an industry that remains vital to the modern world. The reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can be substantial and as regulatory and environmental pressures mount, and funding for these solutions increases, companies in the industry may find the pathway of electrification among the most viable to meet near-term emissions targets.
