Some of the cleanest Caprolactam factories are shutting down 🧪🏭🚧
The production of a chemical used to make Nylon+plastics, results in significant N₂O emissions, a potent greenhouse gas🌿🏠🔥, but emissions can easily be avoided. 🔌💡
industrydecarbonization.com/news/some-of...
Obviously, that does not look plausible, and is likely a data reporting error. Yet, despite having informed responsible authorities months ago, the EU emission database has not been corrected.
It is not the only strange issue in EU emission databases: industrydecarbonization.com/news/errors-...
Elkem Ferrosilicon Plant Iceland
The plant you can see in this picture had CO2 emissions of around 300-400 thousand tons annually up until 2014. But, according to an EU emission database, it had no emissions for the three following years and only around 1/1000th of the emissions in later years. 🔌💡
/thread 🧵
More in my latest newsletter. And if you prefer a video, I presented this at the #39C3 - a recording is available: media.ccc.de/v/39c3-green...
In all likelihood, the data📊 was entered in the wrong unit🤷♂️
Less clear is why an ArcelorMittal steel🔩 plant & a Yara fertilizer🌾 plant in France🇫🇷 have diverging emissions for some years in the ETS and the EU's Industrial Emissions Portal. (Brought to my attention by @leonardstimpfle.bsky.social)
It's so much that it is hard to believe this really happened. And that is not the only odd thing I found in emission databases. Another factory in Iceland, Elkem's ferrosilicon plant, did not report CO₂ emissions for multiple years, and afterwards, they fell by a factor of 1,000 twice.
Was there a massive leak of a dangerous greenhouse gas in Iceland🇮🇸 in 2011-or was it a data📈 reporting error?
Emission databases show that the Norðurál aluminium factory🏭 released 60 tons of SF₆ in 2011 — but no such emissions in any other year. 🔌💡 industrydecarbonization.com/news/errors-...
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SF6, a Greenhouse Gas 25,000 times as bad as CO2 💨🟡🌍🔥
It's been known that reported📊 SF6 emissions & measurements☁️ don't match. Now, scientists have been able to identify a significant SF6 source in Southern Germany - a chemical plant🧪🏭 operated by Solvay
industrydecarbonization.com/news/super-e...
A Solvay factory in Bad Wimpfen emits far more than reported. Solvay and local authorities are now in legal disputes over orders to reduce & measure emissions. It's probably safe to say that this is truly impactful climate research by Katharina Meixner, Andreas Engel, and their many collaborators.
It also has an extreme impact on the climate, with a 100-year global warming potential of ~24.000. Studies have warned that atmospheric measurements and reported SF6 emissions don't add up. And now, it looks like the research was able to find a major source of these discrepancies.
It's the worst known greenhouse gas, and a factory in Southern Germany emits a lot of it 🌍🏡💨🏭
Sulfur Hexafluoride or SF6 is a gas that has been used in Nike shoes (until 2006), Magnesium production, soundproof windows, and electric switchgear. 🔌💡 /thread 🧵
industrydecarbonization.com/news/super-e...
The UNFCCC makes it needlessly difficult to download emission data📊📈
I am now providing a service that allows downloading bundles of tables that the UNFCCC — for whatever reason — does not want you to access easily. 🔌💡
industrydecarbonization.com/news/why-is-...
Will Enerkem's Waste Gasification tech work in Spain after it failed to deliver in Canada? ♨️🗑️ Repsol wants to build a Waste-to-Methanol plant in Tarragona🇪🇸. The tech was used in Edmonton🇨🇦 for ~10y, but never came close to its expected production volumes. industrydecarbonization.com/news/is-ener...
Given Enerkem's poor performance in Edmonton, it is worth asking: why does Repsol think that the tech will work better in Spain? Is it worth additional money💶 from the EU🇪🇺 and indirectly Spanish🇪🇸 taxpayers? Unfortunately, neither Enerkem nor Repsol wanted to talk to me. More in my latest newsletter
While Enerkem's projects in CA failed, one in Spain moves ahead. Ecoplanta at Repsol's Tarragona complex🧪🏭 is probably Enerkem's last chance to succeed. Ecoplanta only came to pass after plans for the extension of an energy tax🏛️ in Spain were dropped after the party Junts declined to support it
Is Enerkem's Waste Gasification technology a Failure or a promising Climate Solution?
Gasification of waste🗑️ and biomass🪵 could be an enormously helpful tool to make circular+renewable chemicals. Yet, the list of failed gasification projects is long.🔌💡 🧵
industrydecarbonization.com/news/is-ener...
Most existing CO2 storage is something called Enhanced Oil Recovery. Existing CCS usually uses easye CO2 sources, and gas-fired power plants are the opposite of that. A key determinant for the costs of CCS is the concentration of a CO2 source. Check my video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO72...
Sometimes, I feel we're talking about different worlds of CCS. One is the world of ideas that people may have about what CCS might look like. The other is how actual CCS projects look in the real world.
CCS does not look like you may think💨🏭
Carbon Capture and Storage is certainly one of the more controversial technologies to mitigate climate change.
When I observe discussions about it, I am often frustrated.
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Looking for new ways to make clean Hydrogen?🌱💧
Peregrine Hydrogen says they have a way that requires 1/2 the electricity by integrating it with another process. By doing so, they make a 2nd product & there is an industry that needs both: Phosphate mines⛏️⚒️🪨
industrydecarbonization.com/news/this-hy...
If you want to know why companies whose names you may have never heard - like Bigadan or BioCirc - may soon be more important players in the carbon removal space than well-known names like Climeworks, check my latest newsletter.
A smarter way of doing BECCS could be to tap into existing processes that create CO2 as a by-product - like Biomethane upgrading. Biogas from anaerobic digestion is a mixture of Methane and CO2. If those gases are separated, which is often already done, CO2 is available in high concentrations.💨
An alternative way of removing carbon from the atmosphere is BECCS - Bio Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage. However, "naive" BECCS, i.e., having a biomass power plant 🪵🔥 with a carbon capture unit, isn't exactly cheap.
Is Biomethane a smarter path towards Carbon Removal?🌱🐂🏭
There's a lot of talk about Carbon Removal these days, most people associate it with Direct Air Capture💨. Yet, DAC is excessively expensive, and it is unclear whether that will ever change. 🔌💡
industrydecarbonization.com/news/you-wan...
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If you find topics like this interesting, consider subscribing to my newsletter: industrydecarbonization.com/subscribe.html
The Tønder biogas plant by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners delivers CO2 for the Kasso E-Methanol plant by European Energy.
It's a form of BECCS (Bio Energy with CCS), but it is very different from "traditional BECCS" (aka: CCS on bioenergy power plants🪵🔥).
While Biomethane with CCS is not exactly at the center of the CCS debate, companies like neustark, The Carbon Removers, Bigadan, BioCirc are working on it.
Biogas from Anaerobic Digestion also contains CO2, and it can be upgraded to Biomethane, also known as Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), by removing CO2. Biomethane upgraders are, in a sense, the renewable🌱 equivalent to fossil gas upgraders.
They provide an easy source for biogenic🌿 CO2.
Apart from the fact that it's usually used for Enhanced Oil Recovery, the sources are, in most cases, fossil gas upgraders💨🏭
Fossil gas💨 usually contains CO2 that needs to be removed. Gas upgraders provide CO2 in high concentrations. Capturing it is cheap.
CCS is a controversial topic to begin with. That has a lot to do with the fact that many see it - often rightfully so - as a delay strategy by the fossil fuel🛢️ industry.
While people have power plants or cement factories in mind, real-world CCS looks quite different.
