Manufacturing Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with United States Consumption of Organic Petrochemicals

Abstract

The production of commodity organic chemicals today is both primarily sourced from and powered by fossil carbon resources. Toward decarbonization of this key global economic sector, it is imperative to quantitatively understand the contributions to energy usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along the petrochemical manufacturing supply chain, which can inform judicious policy development and impactful technology options to improve or reimagine existing manufacturing practices. To that end, here we use the Materials Flows through Industry (MFI) tool to estimate the supply chain energy and GHG emissions for 51 organic petrochemicals and 6 intermediates that are globally produced at a capacity of at least 1 million metric tons (MMT) per year. This analysis focuses on supply chains in the United States, from which industrial data are readily sourced to obtain accurate energy and GHG emission estimates. Analysis for each chemical includes contributions from sourcing chemical feedstocks, electricity use, and fuel usage for transportation and manufacturing. This analysis predicts that process fuel, which is primarily used for heating, dominates GHG emissions in all cases except for chlorochemicals, where electricity is used extensively for the chloroalkali process and results in a large electricity GHG emission contribution ranging from 7 to 54% of total GHG emissions. Additionally, the contribution of electricity to GHG emissions ranges from 6 to 63%, representing the decarbonization potential in the transition toward renewable electricity with existing manufacturing processes. Taken together, these data serve as a critical baseline toward industrial decarbonization of the organic chemical sector, against which to compare changes to the electrical grid and industrial heat sources, improvements to existing technologies to manufacture the same chemicals, and new technologies to source alternative feedstocks to manufacture direct or functional replacement chemicals.

Catalytic Acidolysis: Impact on In Situ Pine-Lignin Repolymerization

“…A holistic analysis of petrochemical resins should assign carbon-storage credits realized in the wood composite industry. Furthermore, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from petrochemical production and downstream resin manufacture can also be reduced by changing the process energy sources. , This scenario suggests that petrochemical wood-bonding resins might be environmentally friendly now, and improvements are within reach. , Simply reducing the carbon footprint of petrochemical wood-bonding resins should be the highest priority while also striving for renewable and, hopefully, regenerative technologies.…”

“…43,44 This scenario suggests that petrochemical wood-bonding resins might be environmentally friendly now, and improvements are within reach. 39,43 Simply reducing the carbon footprint of petrochemical wood-bonding resins should be the highest priority while also striving for renewable and, hopefully, regenerative technologies.…”

Structure sensitivity of the electrochemical hydrogenation of cis,cis-muconic acid to hexenedioic acid and adipic acid

“…The current commercial approach to synthesize AA is through oxidation of petroleum-derived cyclohexane in the presence of air and nitric acid. 16,17 Recent efforts to develop greener routes for AA production have focused on replacing cyclohexane with lignin-derived phenol; 18 however, the overall process to obtain ketone-alcohol oil from phenol is costly and environmentally unfriendly. 19 cis,cis-Muconic acid (ccMA) has gained significant attention as a biomass-derived platform intermediate to synthesize AA.…”

Perspective on the Development of Monomer Recovery Technologies from Plastics Designed to Last

“…It is estimated that around two kg of crude oil is used for the production of one kg of synthetic polymers. However, this number is extensively higher for molecularly more advanced polymers as those found in thermosets. − Cross-linked polymer networks defining thermosets result in highly durable materials. Another layer of complexity is added for fiber-reinforced polymer composites.…”