Chemical Engineering April 2023 - 34

Cover Story
Part 2
Incremental
Electrification Drives
Sustainability
For decarbonization of chemical processing sites, electrification opens a new world of
efficiencies and cost benefits
Poonam Narang
and Shailesh
Chetty
Schneider Electric
IN BRIEF
UNDERSTANDING
EMISSIONS
THE CALCULUS OF
ELECTRIFICATION
LOOKING AT PROCESS
SPECIFICS
IDEOLOGY BARRIERS
A MINDSET SHIFT
T
he industrial sector is responsible for
one-third of the world's end-use energy
consumption, according to data
from the U.S. Energy Information Administration
(EIA; Washington, D.C.; www.eia.
gov) [1]. Within that sector, the manufacturing
industry emits 20% of the world's carbon dioxide
emissions [2]. Optimizing industry energy
use will be a pivotal component of global
strategies to limit greenhouse gas emissions
and reach climate-saving goals.
The chemical industry is the second-largest
consumer of energy within manufacturing sectors,
according to EIA [3]. Chemical processing
plants use natural gas and other energy
sources to convert raw materials into a variety
of products. Electrifying chemical engineering
processes can be a cornerstone of emissionsreductions
initiatives moving forward.
Electrification has the potential to significantly
reduce reliance on fossil fuels and improve the
sustainability of chemical manufacturing by replacing
fossil-fuel-based processes with electricity
generated by renewable sources - an
obvious benefit for the environment (Figure 1).
But the use of renewable electricity sources
can also reduce the volatility and uncertainty
associated with fossil-fuel prices, making the
production of chemicals more predictable and
cost-effective.
Understanding emissions
A first step in decarbonizing industrial
or
chemical facilities is understanding emissions.
Emissions are grouped by type or scope and
must be addressed according to their classification.
There are three scopes of emissions
per the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol
(www.ghgprotocol.org), illustrated in Figure 2.
Scope 1 emissions are those emissions an
organization is directly responsible for generating.
Common examples include large compressors
or pumps driven by gas or steam
34
turbines and onsite sources of heat or power
generation, such as boilers.
Scope 2 emissions are those emissions
resulting from the grid-sourced generation of
power. These emissions are considered outside
the direct responsibility of the industrial
facility (since it is the utility operator who determines
the energy mix), but the company is
still responsible for these emissions, because
they are driven by demand.
Finally, Scope 3 emissions are all other indirect
emissions. This broad category includes
everything from the emissions generated
through waste management to those generated
in the value chain. For many cases,
Scope 3 emissions not only make up the highest
amount of a site's total emissions footprint,
but are also the most difficult to address.
The calculus of electrification
Industrial activity is a major contributor to
GHG emissions. There is no one-size-fits-all
solution to meet net-zero emissions targets,
but rather countless opportunities for innovation.
It can be said that electrification of assets
requires a careful calculus.
There are two categories of processes that
can be electrified that are the main consumers
of energy in any industrial plant - motion-related
processes and heat-related processes.
Scope 1 and 2 emissions can be optimized
through a hybrid energy mix. Furthermore,
zero emissions from power generation can
be achieved via substituting energy from fossil
fuels with " clean " energy sources. Process
electrification and net-zero power-management
hubs can help users in managing their
energy mix, which in turn optimizes emissions.
A survey from 2020 found that 44% of energy
consumed in industrial settings is fuel
consumed for energy [4]. This includes generation
of heat for processes like melting and
cracking. Ref. 4 also estimates that 50% of
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Chemical Engineering April 2023

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