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Steel, Cement, Aluminum, Paper

Steel, cement, aluminum, paper, and chemicals are the five largest industries in the world by energy consumption.

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Energy for cement is taken from the IEA's Cement analysis 1, aluminum from the IEA's Future of Petrochemicals analysis 2, and the others from the IEA Sankey diagram 3. For primary energy conversions, data from Building Energy Codes Program 4 are used. Emissions figures are from the IEA's Industry overview 5.

Iron and Steel

The iron and steel industries use about 29 exajoules of primary energy worldwide 4, 3. World production of steel is growing rapidly, driven by industrialization in the developing world 6, 7.

Following are estimates of the average energy required to make primary steel from virgin material, primary steel using state of the art technology, steel from recycled scrap, and several potential techniques--carbon capture and sequestration, hydrogen direct reduction, and electrowinnowing--that are not yet widely used.

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Sources: World Steel Association 8 for steel from virgin material, Worrell et al. 9 for state-of-the-art steelmaking, the EIA 10 for steel from scrap, and Fischedick 11 for other techniques, which are not yet widely used. Calculations assume that hydrogen is produced by electrolysis from low carbon electricity. While the electrowinnowing route, which uses electricity directly to reduce iron ore, may save energy in the long run, hydrogen direct reduction is closer to commercialization and likely to be less expensive 11.

Problem:
Emissions from Steelmaking
Solution:
Green Steel
Problem:
Emissions from Steelmaking
Solution:
Steelmaking Electrolysis R&D

Bringing all world steel production to the level of the most efficient plants could save 5 EJ 6 or 6 EJ 12 of primary energy.

Cement

World cement production has grown from 2.55 billion tons in 2006 13 to 4.17 billion tons in 2014 14, with more growth projected in the coming decades due to urbanization and industrialization.

From a greenhouse gas standpoint, cement is of particular concern due to emissions from calcinating limestone to produce clinker, the key binding material. Modern cement production is responsible for the equivalent of 0.54 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of cement as direct emissions 14, or 0.9 tons total, as follows.

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About half of greenhouse gas emissions from cement making come from calcination, and the other half are from energy consumption. Source: Maddalena et al. 15.

The following portrays current emissions from the full cement production process and possible improvements.

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Current emissions are from Maddalena et al. 15, potential reduction from improved energy efficiency and clinker production processes are estimated by the IEA 14, and Maddalena et al. 15 estimate the potential from alternatives to clinker for binding.

Cement made with alternative binding material, such as geopolymer cement, may have lower costs 16 and emissions than cement made from clinker due to avoidance of emissions from limestone calcination 16, 17. However, alternatives are not widely used today due to logistical challenges 18 and a lack of industry standards 15, 17.

Problem:
Challenging of Implementing New Cement
Solution:
Low-Carbon Cement Standards

Aluminum

The world produced about 56 million tons of aluminum in the year through June 2015 19, almost all through the Hall-Héroult process, which uses mostly electricity. Current and potential aluminum production has the following electricity needs.

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Sources: world average electricity from the IEA 20, state of the art from Kvande and Drabløs 21, secondary (recycled) aluminum from the Energy Technology Systems Analysis Programme 22, and estimates from new technology from the IEA 20.

Additionally, development of an inert anode, to replace the carbon-based anodes typically used today, would prevent the release of CO₂ from dissolution of the anode 21.

Problem:
Emissions From Aluminum Production
Solution:
Deployment of Inert Anodes

Forestry, Pulp, and Paper

The largest share of wood products are used for fuel.

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Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 23.

World paper and paperboard demand is projected to grow to over 750 million tons per year by 2050 24.

The United States paper industry has the following current and potential energy needs.

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Sources: The EPA's WAste Reduction Model (WARM) 25 for paper from virgin pulp and recycling, and Miller et al. 26 for best and potential new technology.

Paper can be recycled five to seven times before the fibers become too degraded 27.

The advancement of information and communication technology has not necessarily reduced paper demand as one might expect. Access to the Internet appears to have decreased the demand for newsprint, but it may have increased the demand for office paper 28, 29.

References

  1. International Energy Agency. "Cement". Tracking Clean Energy Progress. Accessed October 14, 2019. ↩

  2. International Energy Agency. "The Future of Petrochemicals". 2018. ↩

  3. International Energy Agency. "Sankey Diagram". Accessed April 18, 2019. ↩ ↩2

  4. Building Energy Codes Program. "Prototype Building Models High-rise Apartment". Building Technologies Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U. S. Department of Energy. April 2011. ↩ ↩2

  5. International Energy Agency. "Industry". Tracking Clean Energy Progress. Accessed October 14, 2019. ↩

  6. International Energy Agency. "Energy Technology Transitions for Industry". 2009. ↩ ↩2

  7. World Steel Association. "Steel Statistical Yearbook 2018". November 2018. ↩

  8. World Steel Association. "Life Cycle Inventory Study". 2018. ↩

  9. Worrell, E., Price, L., Neelis, M. et al. "World Best Practice Energy Intensity Values for Selected Industrial Sectors". Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. June 2007. ↩

  10. U.S. Energy Information Agency. "Recycling is the primary energy efficiency technology for aluminum and steel manufacturing". May 2014. ↩

  11. Fischedick, M., Marzinkowski, J., Winzer, P., Weigel, M. "Techno-economic evaluation of innovative steel production technologies". Journal of Cleaner Production 84, pp. 563-580. December 2014. ↩ ↩2

  12. Saygin, D. Worrell, E., Patel, M., Gielen, D. "Benchmarking the energy use of energy-intensive industries in industrialized and in developing countries". Energy 36(11), pp. 6661-6673. November 2011. ↩

  13. International Energy Agency, World Business Council for Sustainable Development. "Cement Technology Roadmap 2009". ↩

  14. International Energy Agency. "Technology Roadmap - Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry". April 2018. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Maddalena, R., Roberts, J., Hamilton, A. "Can Portland cement be replaced by low-carbon alternative materials? A study on the thermal properties and carbon emissions of innovative cements". Journal of Cleaner Production 186, pp. 933-942. June 2018. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  16. McLellan, B., Williams, R., Lay, J., van Riessen, A., Corder, G. "Costs and carbon emissions for geopolymer pastes in comparison to ordinary portland cement". Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (9-10), pp. 1080-1090. ↩ ↩2

  17. Van Deventer, J., Provis, J., Duxson, P. "Technical and commercial progress in the adoption of geopolymer cement". Minerals Engineering 29, pp. 89-104. March 2012. ↩ ↩2

  18. U.S. Department of Transportation. "Geopolymer Concrete". Federal Highway Administration, Concrete Pavement Technology Program. March 2010. ↩

  19. World Aluminium. "Primary Aluminium Production". Accessed August 1, 2015. ↩

  20. International Energy Agency. "Aluminum". Accessed September 28, 2019. ↩ ↩2

  21. Kvande, H., Drabløs. "The aluminum smelting process and innovative alternative technologies". J Occup Environ Med. 56(5 Suppl):S23-32. 2014. ↩ ↩2

  22. Energy Technology Systems Analysis Programme. "Aluminum Production". International Energy Agency, Energy Technology Network. March 2012. ↩

  23. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. "2016 Global Forest Products Facts and Figures". 2017. ↩

  24. Confederation of European Paper Industries. "The Forest Fibre Industry: 2050 Roadmap to a low-carbon bio-economy". 2011. ↩

  25. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "WAste Reduction Model, Version 15". Excel Spreadsheet. Accessed September 29, 2019. ↩

  26. Miller, T., Kramer, C., Fisher, A. "Bandwidth Study on Energy Use and Potential Energy Savings in U.S. Pulp and Paper Manufacturing". U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficency and Renewable Energy. June 2015. ↩

  27. Holmes, A. "How Many Times Can That Be Recycled?". Earth911. June 2017. ↩

  28. Hujala, M. "The role of information and communication technologies in paper consumption". International Journal of Business Information Systems 7(2), pp. 121-135. Ferbruary 2011. ↩

  29. Latta, G., Plantinga, A., Sloggy, M. "The Effects of Internet Use on Global Demand for Paper Products". Journal of Forestry 114(4), pp. 433-440. July 2016. ↩