U.S. Department of Energy: The U.S. refining and chemical industry is lagging behind in reducing emissions

　　Sinochem New Network News On September 18, the U.S. Department of Energy released a report saying that the U.S. chemical and refining industries could reduce carbon emissions by 20% by around 2035 under current efforts to reduce emissions, but this is still far from the current net-zero goal.

　　To keep pace with the national industrial decarbonization target, chemical and refining production must reduce emissions by about 35% by 2030 and more than 90% by 2050, the report said. "Without rapid and widespread measures to decarbonize production emissions, the chemical and refining industries will continue to be major contributors to U.S. carbon emissions in the coming decades," the U.S. Department of Energy said. ”

　　The U.S. refining and chemical industry can take step-by-step steps to reduce carbon emissions from production by 20% by 2030 without any additional government support, the U.S. Department of Energy said. These include improving energy and operational efficiency, electrification of clean electricity, clean hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and the use of other fuels and feedstocks. The U.S. Department of Energy says these measures can be used within existing facilities and can provide an internal rate of return of at least 10% in the current policy environment. Tax credits can be obtained for the purchase of clean electricity, the conversion of methane reforming to clean hydrogen, and the installation of CCS measures on installations such as natural gas processing, the report said.

　　In the report, the U.S. Department of Energy argues that decarbonization efforts in the refining and chemical industries should be undertaken as early as possible. The U.S. Department of Energy believes that after 2030, decarbonization measures in the refining and chemical industry are unlikely to achieve a 10% internal rate of return, and tax credits in the bipartisan infrastructure law and inflation reduction law will expire. After 2030, without additional policies or cost improvements, investing in the required carbon reduction measures will increase costs for businesses.

　　According to the report, in 2040~2050, achieving net-zero chemical production will require the widespread adoption of the previously mentioned decarbonization measures. This will include increasing the overall clean and reliable power source with storage capacity, the full adoption of clean hydrogen in ammonia production and its significant use in refining, and the use of CCS technology in the chemical and refining industries to capture 170 million tonnes of CO2 per year. These measures in the refining and chemical sectors, if taken on a large scale, would reduce emissions by about 93%, in line with government targets. By 2030, the investment opportunity in decarbonization will be 90 billion ~ 120 billion US dollars, and 610 billion ~ 730 billion US dollars of additional investment will be required in 2030~2050.