The study, however, looked at decarbonisation solutions that are “technically possible” but did not factor in other barriers related to social, economic, or infrastructure issues
The industrial sector in 2022 accounted for 38 per cent and 25 per cent of global final energy consumption and direct carbon dioxide emissions, respectively. iStock photo for representation Most industrial sectors could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 85 per cent by adopting technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and fuel switching to hydrogen or biomass, according to a new study published in Joule.
CCS is a climate change mitigation technology that captures carbon dioxide from power plants and other industrial processes instead of being emitted into the atmosphere. The GHG is then transported to a storage site.
The other option is switching to low-carbon fuels such as hydrogen (green and blue hydrogen), biomass (waste and virgin biomass, and biomass fuels). Green hydrogen is produced by using energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Blue hydrogen is derived from natural gas.
The industrial sector (excluding refining) in 2022 accounted for 38 per cent and 25 per cent of global final energy consumption and direct carbon dioxide emissions, respectively.
However, global emissions from these sectors will need to be almost eliminated to meet the Paris Agreement targets of limiting global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius (°C) above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C.
Decarbonisation options for industries are often sector and process-specific. “These factors, combined with long investment cycles, high energy use, low-profit margins, and trade exposure have led to the sector being characterised as ‘hard-to-abate’,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
As many countries have adopted net-zero targets for GHG emissions, there is a renewed focus on the technological and other options that could decarbonise industry, particularly the large, energy-intensive sectors such as iron and steel, and cement, the researchers stated.
The team calculated the emission abatement options available for sectors such as iron and steel, chemicals, cement and lime, food and drink; pulp and paper, glass, aluminium, refining, and ceramics. They also looked at the technology readiness level (TRL), which measures the technology maturity.
TRL 1-3 are in the research phase while TRL4-6 and TRL7-9 are in the development and demonstration stage, respectively.
The researchers then calculated the emission abatement potential for the most promising technologies in each sector and took the average.
Technologies with medium to high maturity (TRL 6-9) can save nearly 85 per cent of emissions on average in most industrial sectors, the study highlighted.
Low-maturity electric technologies, such as electric steam crackers that can produce petrochemical products, can theoretically save between 40 per cent and 100 per cent of the industrial sector’s direct emissions, it added.
The study, however, looked at decarbonisation solutions that are “technically possible” but did not factor in other barriers related to social, economic, or infrastructure issues.
“We wanted to be explicit about the fact that our focus was the technical side of industrial decarbonisation. There are of course many other barriers to overcome. For example, if carbon capture and storage technologies are needed but the means to transport carbon dioxide are not yet in place, this lack of infrastructure will delay the emissions reduction process. There is still a great amount of work to be done,” Ahmed Gailani, Research Fellow at Leeds’ School of Chemical and Process Engineering and the lead author of the study, said in a statement.
Gailani adds that the paper does not talk about the implementation barriers in certain regions of the world, including in the Global South.
However, “we noted certain challenges such as the high cost of the technologies, the need for infrastructure investment, public acceptance, and lack of policy support. We hope to look more closely at the cost of the abatement options and how this can impact real-world deployment,” he told Down To Earth.
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