Modelling and Comparative Assessment of Polyamide-6 Manufacturing towards a Sustainable Chemical Industry

Abstract

Introducti on Environmental issues such as climate change become increasingly important for our society as we face the challenges of limited natural resources and growing human population, with a growing middle class in economically emerging regions aspiring to a higher standard of living. Persisting greenhouse gas emissions seriously a ect climate change. e annual global emission of carbon dioxide (as main greenhouse gas) increased to 30-35 gigaton CO 2 by 2019. Most of it (80%) originates from the burning of fossil fuels to generate heat and electricity (1)(2). Globally, the contribution of industry is approximately 25% (1). e annual CO 2 emission in the Netherlands was 179.3 megatons in 2018. e direct contribution of industry was 36.7 megatons (21%) and energy generation (industry and public) contributes for 58.2 megatons (3). 1.1 National and international environmental policies Following the Paris Agreement (4), national policies such as the Dutch 'Energieakkoord' (5) and other national and international agreements based on the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris aim at intensive reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions will have to be net-zero between 2040 and 2060, according to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) scenarios, lest the average temperature rise will exceed the 1.5-2 °C maximum stipulated in 2015 by the Paris agreement (6). e European Union (EU), on behalf of all Member States, has hard commitments to reduce GHG emissions by at least 40% in 2030 compared to 1990. e recent Dutch government coalition agreement 2017-2021 'Trust in the Future' (5) exceeds the EU commitments: at least 49% GHG reduction in 2030 compared to 1990, which corresponds to an additional annual reduction of 25 million tons CO 2 equivalents, while at the European level today even stronger reductions are considered (55%). In the Netherlands, according to the Dutch government coalition agreement 2017-2021 (5), relatively large emission reductions (49% GHG reduction in 2030 compared to 1990) have to take place, primarily in the industrial sector, because there is a large technical saving potential. is puts the spotlight on the chemical industry and oil re neries: by far the largest GHG emitters in Dutch industry. 1.2 Consequences for the chemical industry A study by Ecofys and Berenschot for the VNCI (7) reports that, with innovation, it is indeed technically possible for the Dutch chemical industry to achieve the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. However, the speci c question is how the chemical industry Chapter 1 16 • (Re)activating natural CO 2-sinks, e.g. (re)forestation, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). (9)(15)(19) Key hurdles have been identi ed in the net-zero CO 2 routes (9): (a) the availability, accessibility, and acceptance of CO 2 storage sites (CCS); (b) the very high electricity and energy demand for the CCU route, with the associated strict requirement of very low carbon-intensity of the electricity mix; (c) the availability of land for bio...

Performance of Additively Manufactured Fuels for Hybrid Rockets

“…The chemical formula, heat of formation, and density of all chemicals are required to perform CEA calculations. The density and heat of formation for all the fuels considered here were sourced from the literature [17,67,[74][75][76][77][78]. However, the methods presented in the literature to estimate or measure the heats of formation of the fuels varied drastically.…”