The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced on March 25th that it would provide $6 billion for industrial sector emission reduction projects, the most expensive industrial decarbonization investment in US history. 6 billion US dollars will finance 33 industrial projects, including seven chemical projects being invested by Dow and ExxonMobil. The goal of funding these projects is to reduce carbon dioxide by more than 14 million tons a year, equivalent to the net emissions of 3 million gasoline vehicles a year.
The seven selected chemicals and refining projects show how the chemical and refining industries can turn their carbon intensity from a disadvantage to an advantage, according to the US Department of Energy. These projects plan to upgrade captured carbon to value-added products, to use recycled products to produce high-quality fuels and materials, and to replace fossil fuels with decarbonized fuels. A total of 1.212 billion US dollars (about 8.8 billion yuan) has been funded for seven chemical projects, as follows:
ExxonMobil's carbon reduction project at the Beaton olefin plant received $331.9 million. The project will revamp a new type of burner at the Beaton ethylene plant in Texas, using hydrogen instead of natural gas in high-temperature combustion equipment. The revamped equipment will be able to use up to 95% of clean hydrogen fuel, which will reduce the plant's current carbon emissions by half.
Orsted Abig S will receive $100m in funding to build an e-methanol plant along the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas. The plant produces 300000 tons of e-methanol a year, and its carbon footprint will be reduced by 80 per cent or more compared with traditional production methods. E-methanol will be used as fuel for shipping and other transport industries.
BASF plans to develop a project in Freeport, Texas, that uses plasma gasification and renewable energy to convert liquid by-products into syngas, which is used as a low-carbon feedstock at its Freeport plant. BASF is expected to use plasma gasification and renewable energy to replace natural gas, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the BASF Freeport plant by about 90 per cent. The project will receive US $75 million in financial support.
LanzaTech and T.EN Stone&Webster Process Technology will receive up to $200m in funding for sustainable ethylene production from renewable energy and carbon dioxide along the Gulf Coast of the United States. The project converts captured carbon dioxide into ethanol and ethylene through the application of biotechnology-based processes and green hydrogen.
The chemical production electrification and heat storage project, led by Ashland subsidiary ISP Chemicals, Tennessee Valley Authority and electrified Heat Solutions (ETS), plans to replace natural gas boilers with electric heating, thereby reducing steam production-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Ashland's chemical plant in Calvert, Lancentucky by nearly 70 per cent. The project will receive US $35.2 million in financial support.
Dow will receive $95 million to build a plant to produce lithium battery electrolyte solutions along the Gulf Coast of the United States. The project will capture up to 100000 tons of carbon dioxide per year from ethylene oxide production and use carbon dioxide to produce the basic components of electrolyte solutions.
Eastman Chemical is building an ethylene terephthalate (PET) recovery and decarbonization project in Longview, Texas, with funding of up to $375 million. The plant will use methane depolymerization technology to decompose waste PET into dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol. The plant plans to decarbonize process heating operations using a combination of thermal storage and on-site solar power generation, reducing the carbon intensity of the product by 70 per cent compared with fossil native PET. Source: Sinochem New Network