Fuel or off-gas conditioning represents a winning combination of carbon abatement and improved financial returns Fuel gas hydrocarbon recovery as carbon abatement strategy
Justin Stark Chevron Corporation
MACC framework and process improvement According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), direct industrial process emissions comprised 8.7 Gt CO 2 in 2020, and this is expected to increase due to a recovering global economy (IEA, 2021). However, these emissions must fall by roughly 1.2% annually to align with the IEA’s Sustainable Development Scenario (IEA, 2021). Emissions from energy-intensive industries are generally considered some of the most arduous to decarbonise due to their need for high-grade process heat, long project
development cycles, and the lack of viable commercial-scale lower-carbon replacement process technologies. That said, there are opportunities for operational and process improvement in industrial process facilities that are profitable endeavours while cutting significant carbon emissions. The Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) framework is often employed to track and prioritise such projects, as shown in Figure 1 in a study by McKinsey (McKinsey & Co, 2007). Initiatives are tracked by cost of abatement,
Commercial buildings – HVAC equipment e ciency A orestation of cropland
Residential buildings – HVAC equipment e ciency
Abatement cost <$50/ton
Commercial buildings – Control systems
Industrial process improvements
90
Fuel economy packages – Light trucks
Residential buildings – Shell retro ts
Coal power plants – CCS rebuilds with EOR
Coal mining – methane management
Solar CSP
60
Residential electronics
Commercial buildings – Combined heat and power
Distibuted solar CSP
Active forest management
Nuclear new-build
Residential water heaters
30
Commercial buildings – Lighting
Potential Gigatons/year
0
0 0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
3.0
3.2
Car hybrid- isation
Onshore wind – Low penetration
Industry – combined heat and power
-30
Onshore wind – High penetration Biomass power – Co ring
Industry- CCS new builds on carbon- intensive processes
Coal-to-gas shift – Dispatch of existing plants
-60
Conservation tillage
Cellulosic biofuels
Coal power plants – CCS new builds with EOR
Manufacturing – HFCs mgmt
Coal power plants – CCS rebuilds
Residential buildings – New shell improvements
Existing power plant conversion e ciency improvements
-90
Commercial electronics
Onshore wind – Medium penetration
Natural gas and petroleum systems management
-120
Commercial buildings – CFL lighting
Commercial buildings – LED lighting
Winter cover crops
Coal power plants – CCS new builds
Reforestation A orestation of pastureland
-230
Fuel economy packages – Cars
Figure 1 Depiction of MACC from McKinsey study entitled Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost?
www.decarbonisationtechnology.com
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