Decarbonization Technologies Research Articles

Global copper cycles and greenhouse gas emissions in a 1.5 °C world

Moving towards a 1.5 °C world could fundamentally alter the future copper cycle through two key drivers: the implementation of decarbonization technologies and the imposition of an emissions budget on production activities. This study explores the impact of these drivers on the global copper cycle using a dynamic material flow analysis, coupled with an optimization technique. The results show that global final demand for copper could increase by a factor of 2.5 between 2015 and 2050, reaching 62 million metric tons, with approximately 4% of the increase coming from copper used in renewable energy-based power plants and 14% coming from electric vehicles. While there are sufficient resources to meet this growing demand, the greenhouse gas emissions of the copper cycle could account for approximately 2.7% of the total emissions budget by 2050, up from 0.3% today. Assessment of possible mitigation efforts by the copper industry shows that this can be halved, but will still be 35% short of the emissions budget target based on proportional responsibility, i.e., applying the same mitigation rate to all sectors. Rather, collective action is required by all stakeholders interacting with the copper cycle to bridge the mitigation gap, including through efforts to drive advanced sorting, higher fabrication yields, extended product lifetimes, and increased service efficiency of in-use copper stock.

Decarbonising the refinery sector: A socio-technical analysis of advanced biofuels, green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage developments in Sweden

The oil refinery industry is one of the major energy users and responsible for a large proportion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This sector is facing multiple sustainability-related transformation pressures, forcing the industry to adapt to changing market conditions. The transition to a low-carbon economy will require oil refineries to adopt decarbonisation technologies like advanced biofuels, green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, the development and implementation of these technologies is not a straightforward process and may be inhibited by lock-in and path dependency. This paper draws on expert interviews and combines the Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) and Multi-level Perspective (MLP) frameworks to examining the niche level development of three emerging technologies in the context of deep decarbonisation of refinery. This research finds that the development of the three decarbonisation technologies shares some of the challenges and opportunities and exhibits technology interdependency to some extent. Among the three TISs, advanced biofuel is the most mature in terms of knowledge base, actor-network, legislation framework and market function. Green hydrogen and CCS encounter stronger momentum than before and can benefit from possible synergies across various sectors. However, the analysis also reveals the lack of market formation, mainly due to the lack of policy instruments for niche markets. Here, policy recommendations for accelerating deep decarbonisation of the oil refinery industry are discussed. Finally, we contribute to the sustainability transitions literature by exploring the dynamics of emerging TISs for industrial decarbonisation.

Reframing incentives for climate policy action

A key aim of climate policy is to progressively substitute renewables and energy efficiency for fossil fuel use. The associated rapid depreciation and replacement of fossil-fuel-related physical and natural capital entail a profound reorganization of industry value chains, international trade and geopolitics. Here we present evidence confirming that the transformation of energy systems is well under way, and we explore the economic and strategic implications of the emerging energy geography. We show specifically that, given the economic implications of the ongoing energy transformation, the framing of climate policy as economically detrimental to those pursuing it is a poor description of strategic incentives. Instead, a new climate policy incentives configuration emerges in which fossil fuel importers are better off decarbonizing, competitive fossil fuel exporters are better off flooding markets and uncompetitive fossil fuel producers—rather than benefitting from ‘free-riding’—suffer from their exposure to stranded assets and lack of investment in decarbonization technologies. The traditional understanding of obstacles to climate change action highlights economic costs and free-riding. Mercure et al. show that, in contrast, climate action in many regions is economically favourable and advancing rapidly, but to avoid potentially destabilizing levels of stranded fossil fuel assets demands urgent and rapid economic diversification.

Scaling Deep Decarbonization Technologies

AbstractThe 2020s represent an unprecedented time to address climate change in the United States given the opportunities provided by its large renewable resource base and decreasing technology costs, and the threat to humans and ecosystems due to rapidly emerging climate impacts. This study addresses technical, societal, and policy issues for scaling deep decarbonization technologies, describing and extending the analysis presented at a National Academy of Sciences workshop convening modeling, industry, and other experts. Prominent modeling studies estimate that solar and wind electricity generation technologies must be deployed at more than four times their current highest annual rates, and solutions are needed for low‐carbon firm generation and energy storage. These studies also show electric vehicle sales needing to increase from 300,000 vehicles per year to annual sales in the tens of millions. Scaling these technologies poses substantive challenges. Other more difficult emissions reductions will need to come from decarbonizing corporate value chains and the heavy industry sector. Negative emissions technologies will compete as mitigation options but scaling these pose substantial resource requirements. Further, decarbonization is not simply an issue of technologies. Reaching net‐zero emissions is a transformation of society occurring over decades, not years. The societal aspects of decarbonization involves developing a social compact around the need to decarbonize and benefits that will accrue. Policy elements encompass federal, sub‐national, economic, and regulatory approaches. Because technologies, political priorities, and societal opinions will change over this time, consensus‐building scientific institutions including the National Academies will enable the independent technical and policy advice needed.

Decarbonisation of shipping: A state of the art survey for 2000–2020

In the global effort to reduce Green House Gases and carbon emissions, there is great importance for the shipping industry to decarbonise and move forward into a greener future. However, there is a lack of academic commentary on how attempts at various decarbonisation methods reported in research articles have developed over the 21st century, particularly in line with the relevant policy and regulatory developments. This paper analyses how the shipping industry has decarbonised by utilising 294 papers from 2000 to 2020. By analysing 20 years’ worth of research, this paper delivers a comprehensive review of shipping decarbonisation research and analyses the evolution of its themes as a function of time. It therefore aids to develop a greater understanding and comparison of governmental, economic and academic perspectives (and their potential alignment) for the industry to decarbonise. For 2017–20 the key shipping decarbonisation technologies were summarised and their advantages, disadvantages and current academic literature applications are revealed. Furthermore, the analysis of the evolution of shipping decarbonisation research themes reveals clear research gaps in the current literature and guides the development of a future research agenda with the prediction of future opportunities and potential for shipping decarbonisation research developments for the shipping industry.

Analysis of innovative decarbonation technologies by methanation

:In the development process of Romania, the energy sector for 2030 contributes essentially through its influence on the quality of life, the environment, the competitiveness of the economy, as well as the climate [1]. Thus, the energy sector from Romania must become more economically efficient, less polluting, and more technologically advanced.This paper presents the analysis of innovative methanation decarbonation technologies, the following aspects were pursued: methanisation, the reactions involved and the importance of the methanisation process, methanisation technologies and methane use, decarbonisation through methanisation, the importance of catalysts in methanation processes, decarbonisation with Carbon Capture Storage (CCS), catalyst enabled processes. Behind modern methanation decarbonization technologies is a history of over 100 years based on research and development [2]. At present, methanization is in the attention of scientists, industry, and energy companies, because: fossil fuels are a finite resource that will soon be exhausted; the energy system is constantly changing, and renewable energies are playing an increasingly important role in it; increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere contributes to global climate change.

A risk framework for optimising policies for deep decarbonisation technologies

Massive resource infusion and coordination between state and market actors are needed to develop and diffuse deep decarbonisation technologies. This makes wise policy design imperative. Policy-makers are confronted with a plethora of diverging views on which policies are preferable for a low carbon transition, and which interventions, such as R&D funding, information, environmental taxes, or bans, should be employed to achieve necessary and sufficient technological transformation. Focusing on market and technological investment risks, we offer a conceptual framework that explains why no silver bullet policy or single theoretical approach exists in regard to decarbonisation. Our framework highlights that policies need to be designed with these risks in mind and aids in the key task of matching problems and policies, thereby also facilitating judicious use of resources to optimise climate benefits from resources spent.

Challenges and responses of the economy of the Republic of Tatarstan to decarbonization processes

The processes of global energy transition are increasingly becoming one of the main driving forces of both the transformation of the existing market model and the technological foundations of the functioning of energy facilities. The reorientation of the world economy towards decarbonization threatens the stability of the functioning of many previously seemingly unshakable technological solutions and approaches in the field of system integration of the fuel and energy complex, which, in turn, stimulates the search for a new paradigm of its development. The manifestations of transformation are observed at various levels of the economic hierarchy: inter-country, country and intra-country. The development of mechanisms for the response of Russian manufacturers to the realities of the energy transition requires testing at real facilities. According to the authors, Tatarstan can become an indicative region for the development of approaches to achieving carbon neutrality. For a preventive forecast of the attainability of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) indicators, the authors propose a conceptual approach to assessing the development of decarbonization technologies, based on a combination of economic and mathematical methods, which allows us to develop an organizational and legal basis for the process, form and evaluate criteria for the effectiveness of innovations and the conditions for their implementation.

Principle Demonstration of Fuel Cell System with CO2 Capture

Recently, the desire of decarbonization is increasing on the part of the general public worldwide as many companies take part in RE100 initiative. Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. declared to reduce 10 million tons carbon dioxide emission by 2030 in “Compass 2030” which is company vision of Tokyo Gas group in November 27th, 2019. We drive CO2 net-zero including emission from customer and lead the transition to a decarbonized society. To achieve CO2 net-zero, we will take two actions. The first one is expansion of use of renewable energy. Second is development of decarbonization technologies for gaseous energy, which include effective use of natural gas, use of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).Fuel cell system is expected to use natural gas effectively. In Japan, residential fuel cell system has already installed extensively since the first model was sold in 2009. Tokyo Gas have also studied fuel cell technologies for over three decades. These days, we developed and reported mono generation system which had AC-power generation efficiency of over 65.0%LHV and output of 5kW. In this system, anode lines of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks are connected in series. A fuel regenerator is placed between two-stage SOFC stacks, which remove H2O from the anode off-gas of first-stage SOFC stack. Then, the regenerated anode off-gas is used as a fuel of the second-stage SOFC stack. Hence, this system can be operated at high total fuel utilization (Uf) value of over 90% and enable each SOFC stack to be operated at safe Uf condition for each, simultaneously. We could make easy flow system by using condenser as fuel regenerator.This system can reduce much CO2 than existing power resource because of its higher efficiency, but still exhausts some amount of CO2 gas. To achieve decarbonized society, further reduction of CO2 emission for fuel cell system will be required. Therefore, we focused on CO2 separation membrane as a fuel regenerator which has high selectivity for both H2O and CO2. In previous work, we performed DC-power generation of 75.5%LHV by connecting membrane module as the fuel regenerator of the two-stage SOFC system. CO2 recovery rate from membrane reached to about 40%. To improve the CO2 recovery rate, we invent the new system as figure 1. The new system recycles regenerated anode off-gas which was removed H2O and CO2 by CO2 separation membrane. The membrane has high selectivity of H2O and CO2. In addition, a separation at the membrane was driven on the differential pressure by decompressing without sweep gas. As a result, high concentration of CO2 was recovered. In ideal situation, the new system will be operated under Uf of 100% and recovered CO2 of 100%. In this study, we demonstrated this system as shown in figure 1. Membrane was put in fuel cell module. It was operated at a total Uf of 97.1%, and power generation efficiency reached DC 77.3%LHV at power output of 5.65 kW under the thermal self-sustainable condition without the electric heater. Assuming the efficiencies of the auxiliary machines and the power conditioner to be respectively 94% and 95%, the estimated AC-power generation efficiency of the hot module was 69.0%LHV and CO2 emission factor reached to 294 g-CO2/kWh. At the same time, CO2 recovery rate was 85%. We achieved high efficiency and low in this system. In the future, we have to discuss about the use of recovery CO2. Figure 1

Technology Focus: Decarbonization (July 2021)

Have you noticed the change in the oil and gas industry over the past year with its engagement in carbon management, decarbonization, and net-zero-emissions targets? Policy support and technology advances in alternative energies have delivered massive cost reduction in renewables more quickly, and to a greater degree, than expected. Over the past few years, more of the world’s capital has been spent on electricity than oil and gas sup-ply, and more than half of all new energy-generation capacity is now renewable. Some elements of society, therefore, have suggested that this is the beginning of the end for the fossil-fuel sector and call for investors to turn away from oil and gas and “leave it in the ground.” In more than a century of almost continuous change, however, the oil and gas industry has a long track record of innovative thinking, creative solutions, and different business models. SPE papers and events that covered decarbonization during the past year show that a wide variety of solutions already exist that avoid, reduce, replace, offset, or sequester greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is clear, therefore, that decarbonization technologies will now be as important as 4D seismic, horizontal wells, and hydraulic fracturing. That is why we now bring you this inaugural Technology Focus feature dedicated to decarbonization. The experience and capability of the entire JPT community in decarbonization is critical. Please enjoy the following summary of three selected papers on the role of natural gas in fuel-switching; carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS); and hydrogen technologies that deliver the dual challenge of providing more energy with less GHG emission. There are many ways to engage in the SPE decarbonization efforts in the remainder of 2021. Regional events have addressed CCUS, hydrogen, geothermal, and methane. There is also the new SPE Gaia sustainability program to enable and empower all members who wish to engage in the alignment of the future of energy with sustainable development. The Gaia program has an on-demand library of materials, including an existing series on methane, and upcoming similar events on other energy transition, natural capital and regeneration, and social responsibility priorities. Get involved through your SPE section or chapter or contact your regional Gaia liaison to find out what Gaia programming you can support or lead at www.spe.org/en/gaia.

Оцінка сердньозваженої собівартості виробництва водню в Україні

The overview of decarbonization technologies of the gas industry, particularly Power-to-Gas technologies using renewable or excess electricity to produce hydrogen via water electrolysis is presented. Also, a comparative analysis of the main types of electrolyzers for hydrogen production – alkaline and with proton exchange membrane (PEM) is presented, and the conclusion that the PEM electrolyzers using renewable electricity is advisable for implementation in Ukraine. A comparative analysis of available most reasonable data sources regarding estimates of "green" hydrogen production cost is presented. The article also presents the mathematical formulations for levelised hydrogen production cost calculation and input data for calculation. The input data were obtained based on cited sources and own estimations taking into account Ukrainian specific conditions, i.e. PEM electrolyzer operating conditions. The results of the own calculation and ones performed by the cited authors are given. The results of the calculations showed that the key initial parameters that affect the cost of hydrogen production in Ukraine, as in other countries, are capital costs, the cost of electricity, and the electrolyzer load factor. The increase of load factor decreasing levelised cost of hydrogen production, which is important to account for the design of hydrogen production facility. In particular, the production cost of hydrogen using PEM electrolyzer could be reduced from 15.73 $ US/kg H2 to 7.34 $ USA/kg H2 if electricity supplied by NPP at night at "night tariff" will be used instead of electricity from the photovoltaic plant. The results of calculations showed that the obtained hydrogen production costs in Ukraine for both cases - the use of electricity from renewables and from the grid are comparable to European estimates of the hydrogen production costs. Keywords: decarbonization, gas industry, electrolyzer, hydrogen production, weighted-average levelised cost

Decarbonizing cement production

Paul Fennell is a professor of clean energy at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. His work encompasses the decarbonization and re-thinking of industrial processes, including the production of iron and steel and cement manufacture. He also works in the broader field of industrial decarbonization, including synergies between industry and power generation. Steve Davis is a professor of Earth system science and civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Irvine, where he researches trends and drivers of GHG emissions, net-zero emissions energy systems, and the environmental impacts of energy production, climate change, and international trade. Aseel Mohamed received an MSc in advanced chemical engineering from Imperial College London. Her research focused on investigating the various decarbonization technologies used to capture CO2 emissions in order to mitigate climate change effects.

Rock physics and experimentation in decarbonizing the future

The transition to a low-carbon future involves every component of our productive life — from the energy we use, to the buildings we construct, to the materials we use in our daily lives. Realistically, the shift onto a low-carbon path cannot happen instantly but requires adopting short- and long-term solutions while assessing whether the solutions work in the physical world in which we live. In the short term, incremental technological improvements, such as transitioning to energy sources like natural gas, have the potential to yield immediate benefit to air quality and pollution. In the mid and long term, however, more far-reaching decarbonization technologies must be pursued to achieve game-changing outcomes. In the geosciences realm, leading technologies span from cleaner energy solutions to exploring alternative earth-inspired materials and processes. These include CO2 storage in geologic disposal sites along with its reuse for material manufacturing, the development of enhanced geothermal systems expanding the use of geothermal energy, and adapting subsurface processes to engineer greener processes and materials through geomimicry. In this landscape, experimentation and rock physics are at the crux of understanding rock-fluid processes and are the premise and foundation of decarbonizing our future. All of these applications require experimentation for wider public acceptance to avoid hasty solutions that are counterproductive. The cross-disciplinary nature of each endeavor is pivotal in assessing how processes induced by fluids, their chemistry, and thermal capacity affect the physical and mechanical properties of treated environments. This paper provides an account of the role that rock physics will play in leveraging knowledge across the nanosciences to underpin our path to a decarbonized future through chemical and thermal stimulation practices, solid-CO2 reactions, and engineering processes that manipulate geology to produce materials with functional properties.

Low-carbon production of iron and steel: Technology options, economic assessment, and policy

Summary Given increased urgency to transition the global economy to net-zero CO2 emission, governments and industry have increased focus on decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, including steel making, which contributes roughly 6% of global CO2 emission and 8% of energy-related emission (including power consumption emission). This paper reviews current global iron and steel production and assesses available decarbonization technologies, including hydrogen injection, solid biomass substitution, zero-C electricity substitution, carbon capture and storage (CCS) retrofit, and combinations of these decarbonization approaches. Blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) dominates production (71%) and is particularly stubborn to any decarbonization technology. Direct reduced iron to electric arc furnace (DRI-EAF) production is 5% and growing, it appears to have better decarbonization potential to move toward net-zero. Secondary steel production using mainly steel scrap in electric arc furnace (EAF-scrap) is 24% of global production and has both the lowest energy consumption and is technically simplest to decarbonize through electrification but is limited in market share to recycled steel capacity. Of the options assessed, blue hydrogen, carbon neutral biomass, and CCS appear to have the lowest cost and highest technical maturity. However, no single approach today can deliver deep decarbonization to the iron and steel industry and all approaches lead to substantial production cost increase. No uniform ideal solution exists, and different geographies, infrastructure, and economies will determine the local optimum solution with viability and cost. Policy measures will be required to provide financial incentives for decarbonization and to avoid unwelcome outcomes such as emissions leakage or job loss.

ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ ДЕКАРБОНІЗАЦІЇ МЕТАЛУРГІЙНИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ

The article considers the possibilities of using decarbonization technologies in the production of steel products. The world experience of using advanced technologies is generalized and the possibilities of their application in metallurgical production are presented, taking into account the emissions of carbon dioxide responsible for the greenhouse effect and global warming of the Earth. The directions of research projects in the metallurgical industry, the results and the conclusions that follow from them are presented. Possibilities of application of decarbonization technologies in the process of preparation of charge materials, production of cast iron and steel are shown. It is noted that the trend of decarbonization of steel significantly changes traditional metallurgy. At the same time, the possibilities of modern technologies of metal production do not allow to significantly abandon the use of natural gas and carbon (coal and coke) as a reducing agent and energy source in metallurgical production processes. Possibilities of modern and perspective metallurgical processes concerning production of products with the minimum carbon trace are shown. The problems facing the metallurgy of Ukraine to reduce СО2 emissions and the introduction of technologies for decarbonization of metal production are highlighted. It is shown that for the implementation of steel decarbonization processes it is necessary to take into account the following: the need for structural restructuring of the metallurgical industry; the need for radical modernization of the metallurgical industry through the introduction of fundamentally new energy-saving production technologies; limiting inefficient exports of raw materials and semi-finished products; introduction of "green" steel production technologies; strengthening the role of research in the production of metallurgical products with low carbon footprint; strengthening the interaction of science, enterprises and the state in the implementation of global projects for the production of low-carbon metallurgical products.

Decarbonization Technology Investment in Shipping Operations Under Cap-and-Trade

Decarbonization Technology Investment in Shipping Operations Under Cap-and-Trade

The role of gases in the European energy transition

The role of gases in the energy transition is a different, and much more immediate, issue in the EU, compared with other global regions. Net zero targets for 2050 mean that in order to retain the gas market and the extensive network infrastructure which has been developed, zero carbon gases will need to be developed, and natural gas (methane) will need to be decarbonized. Maximum availability of biomethane and hydrogen from power to gas is estimated at 100–150 billion cubic meters by 2050 (or around 25–30% of gas demand in the late 2010s. Therefore, large scale hydrogen production from reforming methane with carbon capture and storage (CCS), or pyrolysis, will be needed to maintain anything close to current demand levels. Costs of biomethane and hydrogen options are several times higher than prices of natural gas in 2019–2020. Significant financial support for decarbonization technologies — from governments and regulators — will therefore be needed in the 2020s, if they are to be available on a large scale in the 2030s and 2040s. If the EU gas community fails to advance convincing decarbonized narratives backed by investments which allow for commercialization of renewable gas and methane decarbonization technologies; and/or governments fail to create the necessary legal/fiscal and regulatory frameworks to support these technologies, then energy markets will progressively move away from gases and towards electrification.

Short-term European Union Allowance price forecasting with artificial neural networks

The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) was created to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Companies producing carbon emissions have to manage associated cash flows by buying or selling carbon allowances. Moreover, future carbon prices could affect company decision making on decarbonization technology investments. In this paper, we forecasted short-term future carbon allowance prices using an artificial intelligence tool: a neural network. The resulting mean error was 1.7617 %. This is indicative of very good performance for a time series whose evolution is influenced by subjective economic and political decisions. The inclusion in the forecasting model of variables possibly directly related to the evolution of the price of CO2 emission allowances did not improve prediction accuracy. Therefore, we can assume that emission allowances evolve following a random path. The neural network provided reliable predictions which agents selling or buying allowances can use to make their decisions.

Adaptive Distributionally Robust Optimization for Electricity and Electrified Transportation Planning

An increased penetration of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in the transportation sector will raise electricity demand inevitably, while dramatically changing its temporal and spatial patterns. This will result in more reliability stress and security constraints on existing and planned electricity generation and transmission assets, at a time utilities are facing pressure to do more with less. This paper proposes to address grid limitations, which may constrain large-scale PEV integration in future grids, using a novel planning model for transmission and generation expansions under uncertainties, based on adaptive robust optimization via scenario-based ambiguity sets. The new model can achieve decarbonization of both the electricity and transportation sectors economically, while meeting the electric grid reliability requirements. It also incorporates PEV charging controls over the planning horizon aiming at facilitating the maximum PEV penetration in the used test cases, more economically and realistically, considering current technology trends. Successful applications of the proposed model on a 118 bus test system and the simplified Ontario’s transmission grid demonstrate, in a satisfactory manner, its capability and effectiveness for planning deep decarbonization technology paths.

Techno-economic implications of flexible operation for super-critical power plants equipped with calcium looping cycle as a thermo-chemical energy storage system

Calcium Looping (CaL) cycle is a promising energy-efficient and cost-reduction decarbonization technology as well as a thermo-chemical energy storage system. This process is based on multi-cycle carbonation – calcination of CaO – CaCO3 system. In this work, the CaL cycle is used both to decarbonize super-critical power plants and to improve the plant time flexibility using its energy storage capability. The coal and lignite super-critical power plants have 1000 MW net output with a 90% decarbonization rate. Corresponded non-decarbonized cases were also considered to calculate the energy and cost penalties for CO2 capture. In-depth evaluations covered the following elements: characterization of decarbonized super-critical power plants with CaL cycle with/without solid sorbent storage; defining a detailed integrated assessment methodology; performing detailed calculations of the main performance indexes and sensitivity studies using various key technical and economic elements. Base load operation without solid storage (as reference) and flexible part load operation with solid storage were assessed to see their influence on the overall performance indicators. The sorbent storage option improves the plant flexible operation (assessed for one-week period), reducing the capital cost by about 7–9% and the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) by about 4%.