Decarbonisation Technology - November 2023 Issue

Heat trace solutions for the energy transition Mission-critical heat trace solutions for the energy transition industries are essential as more industrial facilities convert to clean fuels and CO 2 reduction

Jim Dawson and Pele Myers nVent

E very country has the responsibility to shift the world away from coal and reduce or eliminate carbon emissions to build a more sustainable world. This shift to cleaner energy brings new challenges and requires innovative heat-trace solutions in many industries to ensure reliable operation and uptime in the safest and energy-efficient way. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is essential in the energy transition as it plays an instrumental role in shifting away from coal and reducing carbon emissions. There is a global race to provide natural gas to the world for industry, power, and heating. Countries with excess natural gas (methane) are currently building LNG liquefaction plants to prepare LNG for export, while countries that need natural gas are building LNG regasification plants. The entire LNG supply chain – from liquefaction and gasification plants to terminals, jetties, and storage tanks – requires specific process temperature maintenance or freeze protection. Biofuels and clean fuels are essential in the energy transition towards attaining carbon neutrality. Biofuels are derived from renewable sources such as plants, used cooking oils, algae, or biowaste. Biodiesel production, fuel terminal retrofits, renewable diesel refinery conversions, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production are in progress around the world. In biofuel plants, each step of the refining process – from the handling and storage of feedstock and final products, over the pretreatment and refining processes, to the blending and transport facilities – requires specific process temperature maintenance or freeze protection.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is essential in the energy transition as it plays a critical role in CO₂ removal from the atmosphere. CCS technologies aim to store the CO₂ underground, and CCU technologies aim to utilise CO₂ as feedstock in other industrial processes such as enhanced oil recovery or e-fuels production. CO₂ can be captured from fuel gas (pre-combustion) or flue gas (post-combustion) in many industrial sectors (such as oil and gas, LNG, biofuels, steel, and cement) or even by direct air carbon capture (DAC) in the atmosphere. In CCS plants, the capture, utilisation or storage stages require specific process temperature maintenance or freeze protection. Hydrogen (H₂) is essential in the energy transition towards attaining a carbon-neutral world. In traditional sectors, H₂ has been used for decades in refineries (for hydrotreatment), petrochemicals, and fertilisers (ammonia). However, new sectors are emerging fast. • Grey H₂ generation is typically done through steam methane reforming (SMR) from natural gas, where large volumes of CO₂ are vented. • Blue H₂ has stricter regulations to capture the CO₂ emissions with CCS technologies. • Green H₂ uses emerging technologies based on a water electrolysis process driven by renewable electricity. This way, H₂ is generated with zero CO₂ emissions and can be used as a clean energy carrier or building block for clean transport fuels. In H₂ plants, the generation, conversion, transport or storage stages require specific process temperature maintenance or freeze protection.